The pink Mariage tulip arrived at a house in Northwest Washington just before 12:30 p.m. It was nestled in a white vase alongside 29 other tulips, smelling of honey and citrus.
The bell rang.
A woman answered.
Valentine’s Day was almost here.
Washington, D.C
In D.C., some Valentine’s Day tulips come from an Alexandria basement
She and her husband, Daniel, named their business Port City Flowers, and they dreamed of one day buying a farm and growing fields of blooms.
So Katie and Daniel cleared the basement for growing. They bought two dehumidifiers and four fans to keep the room at about 70 degrees and 55 percent humidity; sank about $2,000 into refashioning a separate room into a “cooler” to store bulbs and cut flowers; and hung LED lights near extra bottles of champagne and spare tools. Near a map reading “Adventure awaits,” they installed two tables lined with hydroponic trays. On them, they planted roughly 2,000 bulbs.
Every morning and every evening, they walked downstairs and studied the trays. They checked to see which flowers were ready to harvest and which were showing signs of cell damage — their stems shaped like the beginning of a frown.
Five days before Valentine’s Day, the dark basement was bursting with color. The Pamplona tulips glowed red, the Dream Touch a deep purple, and the Mariage were just starting to open their petals, revealing layers of gentle blush pink. Katie felt like she and her husband had brought spring to Alexandria two months early.
She plucked 140 tulips, including the Mariage, and placed them in white and blue buckets. Then she hauled them to the cooler.
Two days before Valentine’s Day, Katie picked up the buckets, loaded them into her car and drove to a green storefront just outside Adams Morgan.
Amber Flack, the owner of Little Acre Flowers, grabbed the buckets and took them into her shop. Inside was a Valentine’s Day assembly line: Scissors gnawed at stems, razors sliced wrapping paper, and water slapped against dozens of empty vases.
It was Flack’s first Valentine’s Day as the owner of Little Acres, a flower shop that only sells locally grown blooms. The business runs in part on customers seeing value in locally planted flowers, which can last longer and are better for the planet. Roses, among the most popular cut flowers in the world, rarely grow in the D.C. during wintertime — unlike tulips.
Flack took the tulips from Burke and placed them in a fridge, sliding the door shut. Flowers were arriving from across the region: White forsythias, which smelled like nectar. Ornamental kale. Snapdragons. Then she went back to the fridge, grabbed the bucket of tulips that included the Mariage, and tucked them one by one into a white vase — balancing the shades of pink and peeling off leaves to find the right amount of green to complement the pink rather than overshadow it.
About 11:30 a.m., a man wandered in. He asked if he could buy a bouquet. The tulips outside had reminded him that Valentine’s Day was only two days away, and he had yet to plan anything for his wife. Flack told him that the store only took online orders. He rushed home to put one in.
Just before noon, Todd Geiwitz, who owns a local delivery company, picked up the bouquet with the Mariage tulip and loaded it into the back of his van. It was one of 60 deliveries on Monday, and about 400 through Valentine’s Day.
Geiwitz drove through tree-lined streets in upper Northwest Washington, past joggers and goldendoodles on long leashes. Then he arrived at his first job of the day. He opened the back door of his truck, and the smell of honey and citrus filled the damp February air.
He walked up the front steps to a bright blue door and rang the bell. Lauren Laitin answered. She saw the Mariage tulip glowing among the other flowers, its petals now mostly unfurled.
“Thank you so much,” she said. “This is so awesome.”
Washington, D.C
Nonprofit sues the federal government over plans to paint Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue
With a blue sky above the Lincoln Memorial, people walk along the reflection pool in Washington, D.C., on June 9, 2023.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
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Jose Luis Magana/AP
A nonprofit is suing the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum over the decision to resurface the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool at Washington D.C.’s National Mall, and to paint the pool’s basin blue.
The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), an education and advocacy organization. In the suit, TCLF is asking a federal judge to halt the project, saying that the Trump administration failed to have the project reviewed federally, as is dictated by the National Historic Preservation Act.
President Trump revealed his plans for the pool do-over last month in “American flag blue,” saying that the project would take one week and $2 million, and that it would be completed in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. A few days later on Truth Social, the president posted a fake image of himself and several of his administration officials in swimsuits, along with an unidentified woman in a gingham bikini, lounging in the water with the Washington National Monument at the rear. (Swimming in the reflecting pool is prohibited by federal law.)
In a YouTube video posted by the White House on April 23, Trump called the pool “filthy dirty” and said it “leaked like a sieve.” In that video, Trump said he was going to call three companies that he has worked with in the past – “all they do is swimming pools” – and say, “Give me a good price.”
The New York Times reported last Friday that the contract for the reflecting pool’s resurfacing was awarded in a $6.9 million no-bid contract to a company called Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which previously has never held any federal contracts.
An employee at the Atlantic Industrial Coatings confirmed in a telephone call on Monday that it has been contracted for this project, but referred all other questions to the Department of the Interior.
The Times reported on Monday that the final cost of the project could be upward of $13 million, per documents it says it has obtained. The Department of the Interior did not confirm the cost of the project, but wrote: “The contract price reflects the effort necessary to expedite the timeline of completing the leak prevention coating project—more people, more materials, more equipment and longer hours ahead of our 250th.”
In an unsigned statement emailed to NPR Monday afternoon, the Interior Department wrote: “The National Park Service chose the best company to expedite the repair of the iconic Reflecting Pool ahead of our 250 celebrations. The choice of American Flag Blue will enhance the visitor experience by making the pool reflect the grand Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. NPS is also investing in a state-of-the-art ozone nanobubbler filtration system and will now have a dedicated crew who will maintain the grounds’ from wildlife. The Department is proud of the work being carried out by our Park Service to ensure this magical spot can be enjoyed for not only our 250th, but for many generations to come.”
Critics of the project, including TCLF, don’t share that vision – and are taking particular umbrage at the color.
“The reflecting pool should not be viewed in isolation; it is part of the larger ensemble of designed landscapes that comprise the National Mall,” Charles A. Birnbaum, the president and CEO of TCLF, said in a statement emailed to NPR Monday. “The design intent, to create a reflective surface that is subordinate, is fundamental to the solemn and hallowed visual and spatial connection between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. A blue-tinted basin is more appropriate to a resort or theme park.”
The National Park Service regularly cleans out algae, goose droppings and other detritus from the reflecting pool. The last major renovation of the reflecting pool, which included the installation of a new circulation and filtration system, took place during the Obama administration at a reported cost of $34 million.
Before founding TCLF in 2008, Birnbaum served for 15 years as the coordinator of the Historic Landscape Initiative for the National Park Service.
TCLF has another open lawsuit against the federal administration: it is one of eight cultural and architecture groups currently suing President Trump and the Kennedy Center board over the planned renovations of the complex, which are planned to start in July.
The memorial service will be held at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial at 1 p.m.
WASHINGTON D.C. – A brave K-9 hero from the region will be honored at the Annual National Police K9 Memorial Service on Monday afternoon.
K-9 Knox died in the line of duty last year after he was accidentally hit by a police vehicle while pursuing a suspect involved in a stolen vehicle incident. He was a 3-year-old German shepherd and had served as a narcotics detection and patrol apprehension K-9 for the Roanoke Police Department since May 2023.
The memorial service will include a wreath-laying ceremony and will be held at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., at 1 p.m. The event will open with a musical performance by Frank Ray, and the guest speaker will be Deputy Jared Hahn of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit.
The San Antonio Police Department Blue Line Choir will sing the national anthem, and the Emerald Society Pipes & Drums band will also perform.
Copyright 2026 by WSLS 10 – All rights reserved.
4 things to know about the weather:
- Shower chance Monday morning
- Cooler Monday
- Midweek rain chance
- Warmer end to the week
Showers continue to move west with a cold front tonight. There will be a break in the rain overnight, but showers return for the start of the day on Monday. Monday afternoon will be dry, but noticeably cooler.
Sunshine returns Tuesday, but the break in the rain will be short-lived with rain chances on Wednesday
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
QuickCast
TONIGHT:
Showers early
Mostly cloudy
Wind: N 5-10 mph
LOW: Low 50s
MONDAY:
Morning shower chance
Wind: N 5-10 mph
HIGH: Upper 60s
TUESDAY:
Sunny
Wind: N 5-10 mph
HIGH: Near 70°
WEDNESDAY:
Shower chance
Wind: S 5-10 mph
Gusts at 20 mph
HIGH: Low 70s
SUNRISE: 5:59 a.m. SUNSET: 8:10 p.m.
AVERAGE HIGH: 75° AVERAGE LOW: 56°
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
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