A Cemetery Comes to LIfe — With Tulips

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Every year at Easter time an Oakland, California, cemetery comes to life — with tulips.

Most of the tulips are growing out of the ground, the handiwork of the cemetery’s groundskeepers. But a week or so ago dozens of them showed up in one-of-a-kind bouquets, the handiwork of local florists, garden clubs, and design students.

The occasion was the Friends of Mountain View Cemetery’s Annual Tulip Exhibition.

If you miss the outdoor tulips this season, not a problem. Mountain View is a destination unto itself at any time of year. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (of New York’s Central Park fame) 150 years ago, the place is jumping with dead celebs, including Ina Coolbrith, Julia Morgan, Frank Norris, Bernard Maybeck, Bill Knowland, and Trader Vic Bergeron.

Armed with a visitor’s map, you too can know where the bodies are buried.

By now my faithful readers know that I’ve got a thing about tulips. So, of course I dropped everything last weekend, including getting ready for upcoming author events for Wrestling with God, to take in those tulips over at Mountain View.

BTW, Ginny Prior wrote some kind words for Wrestling with God in my old newspaper, the Contra Costa Times.