Lucy Raises Tulips – I Love Lucy season 6, originally aired April 29, 1957
Lucy Raises Tulips is a very funny episode of I Love Lucy, dealing with Lucy having a friendly rivalry with her neighbor Betty Ramsey (Mary Jane Croft‘s final appearance on the series). When she brags about her beautiful tulip garden, and how she’s a shoe-in to win again this year, and how nice Lucy’s garden looks for a beginner. All of this is more than enough to stoke Lucy’s competitive fires, and she is determined to defeat Betty at her own game.
Fighting over the lawn mower
As part of the upcoming lawn contest, Lucy has Ricky mow the lawn with their new riding lawn mower. This is one of my favorite parts of the episode, as Ricky and Fred start fighting over taking turns using the new ‘toy’, and ‘mother Lucy’ has to intervene. However, shortly afterwards, the boys decide to play hooky, and leave the lawn half unfinished. They plan to finish the lawn when they get back. But, Lucy comes out to inspect the lawn, and is livid that the job is only half-done. She’s so angry, in fact, that she enlists Ethel’s help to start the riding lawn mower – which then takes off with Lucy as its’ helpless prisoner.
Alas, poor tulips
Lucy later returns, and breathlessly relates the story of how the renegade lawn mower took her through the town, the highway … and through Betty Ramsey’s flower garden! Lucy is on the verge of tears, as she realizes that Betty will think she did it on purpose … until she has a brain storm, and decides to replace them with plastic flowers from the store. Later on, Ricky returns and decides to finish mowing the lawn in the dark … and mows down Lucy’s flowers by mistake! Until Fred gets the idea of replacing them with plastic tulips …
Judgement day ..
The next day, as the judges come by to examine the neighborhood gardens, Betty Ramsey is upset as she’s disqualified. Since her tulips began melting under the hot sun! And Lucy is winning the prize, until her tulips begin melting on-camera … Leaving Ricky to try to explain …
Lucy Raises Tulips is a personal favorite I Love Lucy episode from the sixth season, and is available as part of the I Love Lucy season 6 DVD collection.
Funny quotes from Lucy Raises Tulips – I Love Lucy
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): [talking about wax tulips] Ethel, how can you have imitations when you can have the real thing?
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): I’ve been wondering that ever since I married Fred.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Husbands make me so mad! They promise to do something for you and then they don’t do it.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Come on now, take your turns like little gentlemen.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): [looking at riding lawn mower] It’s got a crank like the old Model T’s, remember?
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): That was quite a bit before my time.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Oh, Ethel!
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): I go as far back as the Stutz Bearcat, and no further!
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): Oh, Lucy, you must have been terrified!
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): I’ll say. If I ever let my roots get dark, I’m afraid they’ll be snow white.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): First that monstrosity took me right through the main street of town. From the way people came out of their houses to watch me go by you’d have thought I was Lady Godiva.
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): Lucy, where’ve you been?
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Oh, where haven’t I been? I’ve seen parts of Connecticut I didn’t even know existed.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Next thing I knew, I was on the Boston Post Road.
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): The Boston Post Road! Why did you go onto a busy highway like that?!
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): It wasn’t my idea! That beast has a mind of its own! I was on that road for a mile and a half. Against traffic all the way!
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): Lucy, was there much damage?
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Well every lawn between here and town is half mowed.
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): Well, at least nothing too terrible happened.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Don’t be so sure. As I was coming back I plowed straight through Betty’s garden.
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): Lucy, what happened?
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): [makes a violent horizontal slashing motion] Whoosh!
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): All of ’em?
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): All the tulips. When I looked back all I could see was a sea of stems.
Trivia for Lucy Raises Tulips – I Love Lucy
- This is Mary Jane Croft’s final episode as Betty Ramsey.
- In real life, Lucy loved flowers and grew them in pots around her Beverly Hills home. Her favorite flowers were peonies and lilacs which grew quite well in the East where she was raised.