PARTING SHOT
Every year, an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 tulip bulbs are planted by Monticello’s gardeners between October and early December. After slumbering through the winter months, these tulips are a springtime highlight — a tradition that dates to Jefferson’s time. Tulips were one of Jefferson’s favorites. In fact, he mentioned them more than any other flower in his Garden Book. While in Paris, he sent double tulip bulbs home in 1786, and in Jefferson’s retirement years, Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon kept Monticello supplied with the “best Tulips of Various kind.” Jefferson shared his love of flowers with his family, and their enthusiasm for horticulture was captured decades A Colorful Tradition
later in a vivid remembrance by his granddaughter Ellen Randolph Coolidge. “What joy it was for one of us to discover the tender green breaking through the mould, and run to grandpapa to announce, that we really believed Marcus Aurelius was coming up, or the Queen of Amazons was above ground,” she wrote. “Then, when the flowers were in bloom, and we were in ecstasies over the rich purple and crimson, or pure white, or delicate lilac, or pale yellow of the blossoms, how he would sympathize in our admiration, or discuss with my mother and elder sister new groupings and combinations and contrasts. Oh, these were happy moments for us and for him!”
26 SPRING / SUMMER 2023
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