Tulips in our garden and Emily Dickinson’s garden and poem

As I promised the tulips in our garden, I am posting this in their honor and praise. They may not be as many as in Phipps but as pretty and proud, if not more so. Emily Dickinson’s floral poems are oftentimes subtle; the theme hidden or implicit. The following is about her tulips and their responsiveness to her affection.

She slept beneath a tree
Remembered but by me.
I touched her cradle mute;
She recognized the foot,
Put on her carmine suit, --
And see!

“Put on her carmine suit” sheds further light that most of Emily’s tulips are red; the same as those in ours, as Kate (in anticipating William & Kate’s coming wedding, I’ll address Katy as Kate in a celebratory mood) is often a Lady in Red and she was the one bought those tulip bulbs last November. Carmine is a natural food red coloring, so “put on her carmine suit” is her blooming red tulips.