Fullerton home has flower power
By Michael Mello
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
FULLERTON – It's that time of the year again.
Wayne Daniels' front yard has again become a carpet of tulips, daffodils, and freesias, a montage that years ago earned him the title of Fullerton's Tulip Man.
Retired high school biology teacher Wayne Daniels, 74, planted over 3,300 tulip bulbs in the front yard of his Fullerton home. He has been planting the tulips for more than 20 years and now many of his neighbors are following his lead and planting tulips in their yards.
He has about 3,300 tulip bulbs in the ground, with more than 200 daffodils and freesias for variety.
This year the Woods Avenue landmark display also runs around the corner down Lois Lane. Some of Daniels' neighbors there took some of his extra tulip bulbs and have planted them in their own yards.
The blooms started earlier this year – in mid-January – because of the heavy fall rains, and are at their peak now.
"Hopefully, they'll last a week or 10 days more," Daniels' said, but that depends on Orange County's capricious weather, namely the heat.
North Orange County's mild winters keep tulips from "resting" over the winter, so bulbs have to be planted each year to ensure blooms.
Daniels, 74, a retired high school biology teacher, makes a Costco run in late summer, then refrigerates the bulbs for a few months to ensure they go dormant. After Thanksgiving, the planting begins. He has been growing tulips in his yard for three decades.
This year a few neighbors stopped by to help, as did more than 30 students from nearby Golden Hill Elementary School.
Daniels' home is at 668 N. Woods Ave.
