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19 Facts About Tulips

21 Apr

I love spring, and I love flowers, good thing the two go hand in hand. The tulips haven’t bloomed yet, just the daffodils, but I’m anxiously awaiting the season of tulips and while I wait I thought I would add some interesting facts about tulips. My 19 Facts About Daffodils is my highest viewed post on my blog and it stuns me every day to see how many people come to learn about daffodils.

I have photographed all of these tulips you see here. I love all colors and I’m trying to see how many different varieties of tulips I can photograph.

19 Facts About Tulips

1. Tulips are the 3rd most popular flower (roses are the most popular)
2. Originally from Turkey, tulips were brought to Europe during the 16th century and introduced into Holland.  Facts About Tulips
3. Over 100 species and 4000 varieties of cultivated tulips. Majority of tulips are grown and exported from Holland. Tulip Facts
4. Average height of a tulips is 10-70 centimeters, each flower has 6 petals,  and the flower life span is 3-7 days.

Yellow Tulips in spring

5. National flower of Turkey and Iran is the tulip. (History of the Tulip)
6. Tulip flowers are supposed to be a token of passion, love, romance, and a perfect lover. (So why is the rose given at Valentines day?)
7. Tulips are classified into 15 different classes based on floral charateristics, time of blooming and other traits.
8. Tulips belong to the same botanical family as onions and lilies  (20 Facts About Tulips)The most popular color of tulips is red, Red tulips mean “Declaration of Love”  (20 Facts About Tulips)

DSCF0429_sm

9. Tulips Should be planted in the fall
10. Although tulip flowers  are edible, and eaten during WWII, tulip bread is “…not very good…” according to a survivor of the war in the Netherlands (20 Facts About Tulips)
11. Tulip wine, however is supposed to be very good and makes a lovely white wine Making Tulip Wine
12. Albany New York has one of the largest Tulip festivals with over 100,000 tulips in bloom

19 Facts about Tulips

13. The largest Tulip grower in the United States is RoozenGaarde in Mount Vernon Washington. Owned by the Roozen family who has been growing tulips in Holland and the 14. United States since the early 1700′s
15. Tulips will bend and twist towards the light, even when placed in a vase (Interesting facts About Tulips)
16. When buying Tulips for planting the bigger the bulb the bigger the bloom. (The Flower Expert)
17. The origin of the word Tulip might be from the Turkish word “tulbend” for turban (The Flower Expert)
18. Tulip Mania occurred in the 1600′s and people have been known to trade livestock for tulips (History of the Tulip) Inflated prices caused the Tulip bubble to burst and left many Dutch bankrupt.
19. The tulip is the official symbol or the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. (Tun Facts About Tulips)

I’m sure there are many other facts. Add your tulip fact below in the comment and please feel free to share this post or images on Pinterest. I LOVE Pinterest and find my biggest photography inspiration there. So stay tuned for some macro flower images once they start blooming here.

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Woman with Gun---Robbers Run

14 Aug

Reblogged from :

What better way to start this sunny Sunday than to feature an empowered female protecting her store, her employees and her customers through the clear expression of her Second Amendment constitutional rights.

Watch the rats run when this grandmother whips out her gun.  The jam up at the exit looks like a 1920s silent film comedy spoof.

These oh so macho men thought they had an easy target until out of nowhere they received a couple of blasts of retribution. 

Read more… 29 more words

I could not help but post this. Normally my blog stays out of politics and anything controversial. But, this is great and if more criminals thought more store owners could protect their property there may be less crime. By the way, I love reading this blog, she makes so much sense and articulates ideas in a way I wish I could.

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19 Years Experience In Social Media

26 Aug

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Social Circles

“Social Media”, a buzzword that people flock to and yearn to understand in business.  Entering “social media” +business in Google yields over 35 million results.  Wow, just a little overwhelming?

The term “social media” is relatively new, however I have been participating in social media for almost 20 years, beginning in the early 1990′s. Anyone remember CompuServe? That is where I jumped on and I haven’t left.  I spent hours searching online forums, even during the days of limited internet participation and topics. The history of social media “technically” goes back to the 1970′s, although the audience was limited.

In 1997 I started using social media for marketing and business purposes as a marketing consultant for a niche pet supply company,  Oxbow Animal Health (aka Oxbow Pet Products). Social media was really responsible for the start of a very successful world-wide company. We were in the right place at the right time. They were one of the first pet companies in 1995 to have a website with a shopping cart and I believe one of the first companies to use and leverage social media.

Although we didn’t know really what to call it at the time we were often amazed at the power of online networking. UseNet groups,  typically using university servers,  spread information across the country and the world in seconds. Groups such as Etherbun, HouseBunny, and PetBunny had over 1000 passionate well-educated subscribers who received messages in their email box about pet care, news and where to buy the best hay, or toys for their house rabbits.

Many of these communities transferred to e-groups, then to Yahoo groups. Now, organization and social members use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.  Social media ADHD is now endemic. A few target portals with thousands of participating members has now fragmented into many smaller portals with less effective message streams. There are now more social media groups that you can keep track and manage, many ineffective for your business.

Although a lot has changed, the basics and core values that made social media powerful  20 years ago still apply today.

Basic Social Media Rules:

  • Learn where your customers live online. Visit, listen, and learn
  • Don’t try and be all places at once, be picky, choose sites wisely
  • Provide information, not just advertising
  • Participate socially and often with community leaders
  • Have something valuable to say
  • Give references on facts  (opinion is nice but everyone has one)
  • Apologize and be humble
  • Develop relationships with people
  • Read before you post, once it’s there, there is not taking it back
  • Flamers are still not welcome
  • Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Integrate your internet efforts with “real life” marketing.

I’d like to hear your early years in social media and how it affected your business, product or brand, especially if you really didn’t know what you were doing at the time.  Next quarter might just be Social Media for the Pet Industry, stay tuned.

3Quarters2Day Marketing Add a comment, send me a tweet, let me know what you think.

Photo from Deviant Art (a little known social media site)

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Memorial Day Parade, Washington DC

10 Aug

The students from Elmwood-Murdock High School march down Constitution Avenue in Washington DC for a once in a lifetime event they will never forget. They received the invitation because of the numerous awards they had won in marching band competitions such as Harvest of Harmony.

Record temperatures were recorded in Washington DC that weekend, and the black uniforms made it a challenge for the kids, but they endured over an hour of marching like troopers. Again, congratulations to everyone. For more information and pictures visit my original post on the Washington DC trip.

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Friendly’s Restaurant

13 Jul

Friendly's SundaesI’m not too passionate about restaurants, but Friendly’s is my exception.  For those of you that live west of New York you may not understand the reasoning, but then again stick with me a for two minutes. This I have to blame my teenage years. Every outing with my high school friends ended with a trip to Friendly’s: the beach, tubing, movies, you name it Friendly’s was involved. Maybe it’s the reason I lost 20 pounds my freshman year of college, we didn’t have Friendly’s.

Friendly’s is a New England tradition, the ice cream parlor around the corner where young and old can met in the corner booth, order a Happy Endings Sundae for 99 cents and have it served in a real glass sundae glass with whipped cream and a cherry on top.  Don’t know if Happy Ending are still 99 cents, but in the 1980′s they were just the right price. Some of my friends liked Fribbles better. (No, not Tribbles, but I wonder where they got the name) Fribbles are deliciously rich shakes, that almost need a spoon.

Jim Dandy Sundae

Get extra spoons though because with my group of friends sharing wasn’t an option, it was mandatory. Sharing sundaes is such a tradition at the restaurant that Sharable Sundaes were created, starting with the Jim Dandy

Sure, they serve burgers, salads, fries and the like, but who really goes to Friendly’s for real food when they have a whole menu dedicated to sundaes!

Maybe it was the name that is inviting? It just sounds like a place for friends, family and good times. As a marketing geek I love the concept from start to finish. The name, the friendly setting, and the branding of the company has transcended generations and miles. I recently met someone in Nebraska who misses the sundaes as much as me and we are both fans of the Friendly’s facebook page. With over 100,000 fans there are a lot of people that love Friendly’s. I even read their Mom’s Just Want to Have Fun blog

So now I marry my food passion with social media passion. Every Friendlies Facebook  post receives dozens, if not hundreds, of comments and likes. Talk about a social media success! But it proves that online social media is just not a stand alone marketing method, it starts with “real” social media with “real” customers who have a social connection.

Friendly’s couldn’t be more social in the physical world, it’s all about interacting with friends. A perfect formula that transcends into online social media.  Excitement and new products are created, in this case new ice cream flavors and new salads. Social media is a great place to listen to your audience, and comments about store locations, hours, and complaints are posted as well. What a great way to listen to your customers. Every now and then the CEO of Friendly’s get’s on to chat. I’m campaigning for a Friendly’s restaurant in Nebraska, don’t know if I’ll get it, but it’s fun asking. I love it!

Mint Chocolate Cookie Crunch

The only advantage to now not having a neighborhood Friendly’s is I can still walk through the doorway without walking sideways. Metabolism after age forty is a terrible thing.

But when I go home I still gather with my best friends and order the mint chocolate chip cookie sundae shared over laughter and tears all those years ago.

Yes, longer than 2 minutes, but it got you craving for ice cream didn’t it.

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