These Tulips Made Me Cry

I know.  It's completely ridiculous.  I planted these tulip bulbs last October or November (imagine that, I can't remember...) and a couple of weeks ago I had completely given up hope that they would show themselves this spring.  I waited all winter, SO excited for spring to come so that I could enjoy my beautiful tulips.  Friends' and neighbors' flower beds were all filled with beautiful spring blooms, but mine was bare.  But then, just a few days ago, my kids and husband met me at the back door with the happy news that they had counted twenty-two tulips coming up in the flower bed!  I did a little happy dance and then wiped my eyes.  I think I worried my husband a bit.

Here is the flower bed where they are planted.  Last fall, it looked just like the rest of my yard:

...a lifeless expanse of rock bordering nearly the entire backyard.  We didn't bother planting anything the first summer we were here, because we honestly didn't think we would be here long enough to mess with landscaping.  Now, of course, two years later, I wish we had dug right in that first summer.  Oh well.  Live and learn.  But, last fall, I had just had ENOUGH of the barrenness, and decided that I WOULD have some color in my yard come spring.  So I hauled all of the rocks off that particular stretch of land and just dumped them in the corner.  What else could I do with them?

I don't know why that table is upside-down on the rocks....but that's the corner where I dumped all of them.  I am hoping that I can convince my husband to get rid of all of the rocks this spring/summer and plant beautiful plants and flowers all around our backyard.  Maybe a few lilac bushes.  They do really well here in western NE.  If you have any suggestions for other plants and flowers that grow well here, please comment and let me know what they are!

Some of them are taller than others, and many that I planted haven't shown up at all, but I don't even care.  They are the most beautiful little tulips I have ever seen.