My tulips were quite nice this year.

Mind you, I can't take credit for them. I didn't put the bulbs in, they were here when we bought the house. They had done some work to the foundation and then were left with a bunch of bare dirt under the living room window, so they threw in some bulbs and now that we've been here two and a half years and I've pretty much let things spread how they felt like, the pattern is establishing itself and all I have to do is sit back and observe, and edit. I enjoy editing.

So almost as soon as the tulips bloomed they were plucked and taken to the shed. Flowers last a long time there, even without water. On days when I'm prone to fanciful notions I attribute this to magic; on days dominated by reason I come up with other answers. The real answer isn't of much concern to me, for the most part. I expect it's a mix of magic and science.