COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Many farmers who get bitten by the flower farming bug turn their beds into a wide array of plants, such as sunflowers, amaranth, dahlias, zinnias, marigolds and celosia statice.

Paul and Stacey Sharp, of Little Creek Flowers in Cookeville, opted to stick to just one flower variety – the tulip.

“This farm has been in my family for over 50 years, and it’s always been a working farm,” Stacey said. “The past few years, I’ve really been wanting to expand it into agritourism, and this spring I finally talked everyone into doing tulips.”

Yeah, 50,000 tulips.

“I think agritourism is the new generation of farming,” Stacey said. “It gets people outdoors and they can learn and, in this case, see beautiful flowers and even take some home as well.”

Tulips typically bloom in spring ranging from late March to mid-May depending on the variety and weather conditions. The Sharp’s tulips didn’t disappoint and were large, showy and brightly colored: red, orange, pink, yellow and white.

Stacey’s father, Wayne Moss, has operated a produce stand on the farm for many years. His was called Little Creek Produce. He gave the idea of tulips his blessing as the thought of adding tulips to attract folks to the farm and keeping it alive sounded like a good idea.

And while Stacy’s farming roots run deep, Paul’s don’t.

“I didn’t grow up on a farm, but I did grow up working on some farms when I was in high school back in Virginia,” Paul said. “But when I met Stacy, it was all over after that. I’ve been involved for the past four years or so and I don’t really see us stopping. It’s been awesome.”

The Sharp’s farm is in proximity to Tennessee Tech and attracts college students and faculty, but also families in and around Putnam County. Any motorist will tell you 50,000 tulips are hard to miss from the roadside.

“Paul called me one day and said, ‘I just ordered 50,000 bulbs.’ And I said, ‘Alright, so we’re in it,’” Stacey said. “We worked closely with our provider for the bulbs. That, and my dad’s knowledge of farming for decades, has been huge. We feel good about what we accomplished this first time around.”

Paul said, “We talked to a lot of different tulip farmers and a lot of it came down to taking a risk and seeing what worked for us and this farm. We had to change and alter quite a bit of the existing farm to accommodate a parking lot and some other things, but it really worked out well.”

The couple (who were married March 20) planted the bulbs, hoping they would bloom right before their wedding. They did just that.

“Getting these bulbs to stay in the ground for as long as possible was huge for us,” Paul said. “When we think back to what we did when it was freezing cold in December, wearing three layers and riding behind a tractor and dropping bulbs in the ground. Everything has been such a blessing.”

Stacey said, “If you really want to test a relationship to see if it’s the right one, do a big project like this. He knew when he met me this was it for me, and he’s always had a great work ethic, too. We both just know we’re going to put 100 percent into anything we do, and that’s been huge.”

And huge it was. This past spring the Sharps were able to offer two-and-a-half acres of U-pick tulips, which ended up being roughly three miles of actual rows of flowers. With a flat $5 entry fee at the gate, visitors were able to enjoy the scenery and flowers. For those wanting to take some flowers home, the Sharps charged either by the stem or per dozen, whichever the customer preferred. After picking the tulips, customers got their flowers wrapped and packaged for transport home.

“We still want to grow a little bit more,” Stacey said. “We want to do more bulbs next year and keep them healthy and keep the varieties really pretty. I’m a quality over quantity kind of person and Paul is too.”

The Sharps plan to offer sunflowers in the fall, adding a rotational crop and striving to keep the agritourism part of the farm alive.

Tulips are typically planted in the fall for spring blooms. The plants prefer well-drained soil with a slightly acidic to neutral pH. Tulips thrive in full sun in the northern regions and partial shade in the south.

Tulips should be dug up and divided every three to four years if planted in the ground, or they can be left in pots for multiple years.

Growers will tell you that tulip farming requires significant investment in labor, infrastructure and marketing.