Tulip Credits

Here is the scene, seven people walking down the legendary Lincoln Road pedestrian mall in the South Beach section of Miami. It is a hot humid summer evening, the street is packed with people heading home from work, out to dinner or just wandering around. The cafes and bars are in full swing even though it is a Wednesday evening. It doesn't seem like this town gets much rest.

Lincoln Road, South Beach

This evening, along with the rest of the multicultural buzz of Miami, there are four Dutch people, one Canadian and two Americans each with a large bucket of stunning Sun Valley Tulips. The game they are playing is, "Who can get hand out their bucket of tulips first?"

One would think this is an easy task, handing out free flowers on a busy metropolitan street. We found out, it's not as easy as it sounds and it actually is a weird exploration into the state our society.


Learn more about our gorgeous soil grown tulips HERE

At a corner, a couple women wait to cross the street, I hold out a 10 stem bunch of yellow tulips.
"Free tulips, have a bunch."

"No, thanks."

"No really, they are free."

"That's OK, no thank you."

"So you don't want free tulips, no strings attached?"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Well...OK. Wow they are beautiful, thank you"

"Have a nice night" as the light turns, we walk away to the next unsuspecting victim.

The woman shouts back, "Are you guys on Twitter?"

"@LilySunvalley" I reply, as I turn my gaze to an older gentleman sitting at a park bench smoking a cigar, "Here you go sir, free tulips tonight."

"Oh, why thank you young man, they're beautiful." He replies in a thick Cuban accent as he graciously accepts them.

Next an attractive younger couple, I hold out a bunch of purple tulips, "Free for the lady." The guy looks at me with hard glance, pulls his girl close and keeps walking. She looks over her shoulder, a little dismayed.

"Free Flowers" I say to the next couple, "No thanks" They seem friendlier, "no tip, no strings, not selling time shares, just giving away flowers" They stop and accept the bouquet, "Thanks!" as they admire the blooms.

With seven people all doing this down the street, people start to lighten up, the maître 'd at an outdoor cafe, produces a vase from under his stand for us to fill.

At the next cafe, some older men wave me over. They know the value of flowers, their temporal nature and their singular beauty, if crazy people are handing them out for free, they aren't going to be shy.

I offer a bunch to an older woman, "I don't like red, ...do you have yellow, oh wait look at those purple ones, can I have those?" in a thick New Yorker accent.

A slick guy on rollerblades goes by, eyeing us suspiciously, "Free tulips!" I proclaim, and hand out a bunch for him to grab mid-stride.  He puckers his face, and just before he skates off empty handed shouts, "Free, my ass!"

We arrive at a delightful watering hole, the leader of our tulip gang, the famous Dutch flower designer, Pieter Landman has a word with the bartender, she blushes a little, he places some tulips on the bar and suddenly all of us have been a served a refreshing glass of white wine. We sip our wine and watch the stream of people walk by the cafe, many of them carry tulips at this point. We recount how much effort it took to give away free flowers, is our society cynical? Yes. Interestingly, it seems the younger people were more weary of it being some sort of scam than the older people, perhaps this happened all the time in the old days?


Pieter Landman and some buckets of California grown tulips...just be for being given away.

It was a great exercise in the power of flowers to brighten someones day or just the unexpected joy of being in the right place at the right time. For the next several days how many people enjoyed those tulips sitting in a vase in their home or office? I am sure they not only enjoyed their color and scent but also the way they were handed out in a random happy go lucky way. When was the last time you got something totally for free?

Perhaps we need a new special day in the spring, when we build a tradition of giving out free flowers. Like most gift giving, I must confess that I shared in the greatest reward because it felt so good. Perhaps, just for myself I should buy a dozen stems a week, with the singular goal of giving them away to 12 random people. Would my life be richer? Yes. Would it break the bank? No.

In Russia, they have a beautiful tradition. On the first day of school, all the students bring a flower for their teacher. This must set such a great precedent for the semester. What is it about flowers that make them so magical? Their fleeting beauty? Their dramatic poses? Vibrant color? The fact that we can all grow them or of course... their scent that somehow clears out a day's worth of stress with one whiff? They are tied to our memories, to music, to our family, to all aspects of life.

A customer in the cafe is eyeing the bartender's big bucket of tulips, there is one last bucket at our table, Pieter points to the tulips, then to the customer, I think there may have a been a wink, perhaps a nod. It seems the bartender has explained the arraignment. Our last bucket of tulips disappears and miraculously our wine glasses stay full.

Evening turns into night, it has been a long day, and all the glasses are empty. "One more round?" the bartender asks.

I venture the question, "Do we have any tulip credits left?"

She smiles as she nods, "one more round it is."

And we toast the end of a rare and special day.

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-Lily
“The earth laughs in flowers.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson