"Do you want some tulips?"

Middle Cat asked me. She was sorting out the order from the garden company she had ordered the bulbs from.
"Not particularly," I told her - but only because I was not sure where I could put them. They need to be kept in the fridge before planting. It does not get cold enough here to leave them in any sort of store shed. 
"Right, I'll be round later with the rest - in about half an hour."
Being Middle Cat I made that an hour and she did turn up about sixty-five minutes later.
I now have six hyacinth bulbs - and discovered that the Senior Cat has planted other things in the pots I planned to put them in. I may need to pay a trip to the garden place myself. 
There are also daffodils. We already have some of the usual yellow ones. They always remind me of London. You knew spring was coming when the daffodils appeared for sale in the streets.  
The new bulbs say "mixed". The photograph looked interesting so, here's hoping. 
There are also some freesias - when Middle Cat remembers to give me the packet. They are going in the window type boxes Senior Cat keeps under the front window.
We  have some irises too - given to us by my late mother's secretary and a late neighbour. The neighbour's garden was filled with gladioli and irises in spring. It looked like something out of an impressionist painting.
I love all these things. I (almost) like the way they are not there all year round. I know if they were there all the time I wouldn't anticipate them and get that small thrill when the first one appears.
But what I find extraordinary is that, right now, all these things are apparently nothing more than brown lumps. I can remember Ms Whirlwind looking at some when she was small and saying, "But they don't look like flowers." 
No, they don't. How does it happen?