I am always talking with reporter Stacey Mulick, the star diva of our Crime & Breaking News Team, about various garden things. If her boss would let me, I'd poach her off the C&BN team and make her a full time SoundLifer and garden writer. As if that will ever happen, but a garden editor can dream, can't she?

This week, we've been talking repeatedly about our tulips. Until this week, mine were stilted and short (no sun!!) and hers have been MIA thanks to a few crazy critters in her yard.

So she poses the following as a question-slash-gripe for all of you, our faithful Get Growing readers:

I must admit I have tulip envy.

I drive around and see colorful clusters of red, yellow, pink and orange tulips. Then, I return to my house and see the scant few tulips that have survived in my yard. In previous years, I’ve planted dozens upon dozens of tulips in my flower beds.

Each spring, the numbers of tulips sprouting from the ground continue to be less and less. It’s hard not to get frustrated by the disappearing bulbs. I can now count on one hand the number of tulips blooming in my front AND back yard. (The only exception is the tulips in containers out back – they have come back.)

I’ve read that tulips are tasty snacks for many garden critters so I am thinking of giving up on tulips all together. My hyacinths continue to thrive and the rabbits didn’t munch the flowers off my spring crocuses this year. Victory!

Anyone else have tulip problems? I’d take suggestions about how to keep my tulips away from the critters.


-- Stacey Mulick

Out at the Willapa garden last weekend I worked on our wind-damaged greenhouse a bit and then decided to build my mom a bean pole frame.

The one she's been using for years was super flimsy and would fall over once the beans got too big.

The top of a cedar tree blew out in the Dec. 1 storm, landing squarely on a fence surrounding some pear trees. After replacing the fence and bucking up the top I set aside some limbs. That's what we do at Willapa: never let good cedar go to waste. For generations my family has been using cedar limbs and saplings to mark our oyster land. All wood rots eventually but cedar lasts longer than most.

Cedar is such an amazing wood. First peoples used them (and still do) for canoes, clothing, housing, masks, chests and hundreds of other purposes.

These limbs were very curving as they are want to be so I made two tripods and then inserted an extra long one across the two tripods. It's all secured with super strong twine. Mom will plant pole beans at the base of each leg and let them twine up and across the horizontal pole.

I'll let you know whether this one falls over or not.