We are the most intriguing biggest little Stuffed Animal shop in California
We also feature Decorative House and Garden Flags for the home
plus amazing Three-dimensional Greeting Cards!
Store Hours:
Monday-Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10 AM - 6 PM
Thursday 2 PM -7 PM
Sunday 11 AM -5 PM
1410 Industrial Park Ave. at the Tri-City Shopping Center in Redlands, CA, 92374
(email:startulipstuffies@earthlink.net)
Extremely easy access from Interstate 10 in Redlands between San Bernardino and Palm Springs!
Find us NOW at our NEW HOME, at 1410 Industrial Park Avenue in the Tri-City Center
Open 7 days a week!
Friends from Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura Counties and beyond: Do you pass "routinely" through Redlands on your travels?
Make Us a “regular” stop!
Today is Monday, July 13, 2020
We will be OPEN until about 6 PM today
NOTICE: We will be CLOSED ONLY on Tuesday, July 14, of this week for one last summer botany foray into our local mountains. We will resume regular business hours on Wednesday, July 15, and thereafter--until we take a few days the last week in July to go meet our NEW Australian Shepherd Puppy in Kingman, AZ....!!!
We have resumed our REGULAR BUSINESS HOURS and you can come inside to shop if you are comfortable with that!
We are slooooooowly transitioning our look from spring to summer, but it is taking us longer than usual because we have been working so hard unpacking, pricing, photographing and displaying all the newly arrived Decorative Flags--and New "Stuff" inside our Shop!
Ah, after a visit to the craft store, we managed to update the flowers in the bicycle baskets on those little fences outside our shop--and to get our Greeter Boxer into a little less Spring and a little more Patriotic garb to match our July/Summer Decorative Flags (LOTS more to choose from inside the Shop)! Now on to a little work on the window dressings and the panels at the back of our retail area... hopefully finishing before it's time to switch to Fall decor!
Just know that, no matter how we look right now, we are definitely worth a visit to see the tons of new product for you to enjoy inside our shop while we re-dress our decor...!
Now that people can now come into our store to shop, we are removing our online shopping carts here on our website. However, even though we are taking down items specifically listed on our website for online purchase (we just cannot show enough!) and curbside (or inside) pick-up, we will happily create a custom invoice for any requested item from our inventory (as seen on social media--or call us and we'll send pictures!) through Paypal and we can still do curbside delivery if needed. We know our inventory pretty well, so don't be afraid to ask about specific items you may not see on FB or our website at any given moment! We want to help in any way we can!
We hinted several weeks ago about a special project we were working on and now we can finally tell you about it!
We received a very special shipment from Two-Group/Breeze Decor Flag Co. on Monday, June 29! It included some custom House and Garden Flags in a special design we created just for Redlands!
and follow them on Facebook at:
Since we had no idea how well this concept will be received or supported by the Redlands Community, we had runs of only one dozen each of these flags printed by our long-time, local to SoCal Flag supplier, Two-Group/Breeze Decor Flags. These are available in store for as long as they last, but Two-Group has our artwork and can print more with probably about a two-week wait. We will take prepaid orders for additional flags once we run out of the first printing. We should note that these are quality, double-side flags that read correctly on front or back. The cost for the House size is $35, including sales tax and for the Garden size, $20, also including sales tax, which we will pay.
Although we live in Yucaipa, we have always loved doing business here in Redlands because of how it does function as a community, probably due a lot to its own richly diverse history and culture, with members coming together to help each other when the going gets tough! We are honored to have the opportunity to participate in giving back a little!
HERE is the Design:
Uh-oh...
We just realized that we ordered so much "Stuff" for our Medical Area from both I Heart Guts AND Giant Microbes that we had to expand our display for this "interesting" Collection...
The I Heart Guts shipment arrived last month and plush Body Parts/Organs from this supplier found their way onto the shelves of our newly expanded Medical Area! They have now been surrounded by plush Cells, Organelles and Molecules in a shipment from Giant Microbes that was delivered a few days later!
Giant Microbes used to package a number of their cells and germs as mini pieces of three inside of a deep Petri Dish. They no longer do this, probably for the same reason sleeve after sleeve of Petri Dishes shipped to the research lab Kathy once worked at were returned for replacement--Petri Dishes are incredibly subject to fracturing with the slightest ding in the right spot, so losses probably made this kind of packaging, while adorable, a case of diminishing returns! That is certainly not to say we no longer can get, for example, plush Red Blood Cells. They simply are only available only as individual, larger (the "giant" in Giant Microbes!) pieces. As you can see, these are at least as cute, if not more so, as the mini versions! In order for you to better see them, we will be showcasing additional plush Cells that arrived in the most recent shipment from Giant Microbes and are now surrounding the I Heart Guts plush Body Parts in our Medical Display Area!
If you are going to make plush Red Blood Cells you pretty-much HAVE to make plush White Bloods Cells as well! No worries! Giant Microbes does just that! (Now in store in our Medical Area!)
And to be sure those Red Blood Cells can properly clot as needed, there must also be Blood Platelets, AKA thrombocytes) Not enough Platelets in the blood can result in bleeding that cannot be stopped, but too many can cause spurious clots that can cause heart attacks and strokes.
And, of course all of those different kinds of Blood Cells need some kind of medium to swim around in while being transported throughout the body to do their jobs. Enter Blood Plasma, a bit of a challenge to convey as an individual plush item. Giant Microbes' solution to the problem is to present Blood Plasma as a single "liquid" droplet, albeit a slightly fuzzy one (which we also think looks a little like a fried egg...), lacking nothing at all in terms of "personality"!
Meet a plush version of a Stem Cell! Stem Cells are undifferentiated cells, for example those found at the center of early mammalian embryos, that have the capacity to develop into almost any kind of specialized cell needed to function in various developing/adult tissues. Deciding what specialized cells stem cells ultimately become is a highly complex process depending on precise regulation mechanisms, but until that happens a Stem Cell has the capacity to develop in any direction. Note how this trait is suggested here by the rainbow coloration and neutral expression of the as yet undefined plush Stem Cell!
Our very favorite thing abut supplying our Medical Area is what a great marriage the plush Body Parts from I Heart Guts make with complimentary plush Cells from Giant Microbes!
Here is a perfect case in point: The plush Heart is from the former and the Heart Cell is from the latter. We love how anatomically correct I Heart Guts has made the Heart--and that the Heart Cell from Giant Microbes not only makes a faint heartbeat sound, but lights up in concert with it when pressed...!
Here's another great example of I Heart Guts providing the plush organ, in this case a highly detailed Section of Skin, including a hair follicle and its attendant hair, and Giant Microbes making the individual Skin Cell(s), although much more "giant" than the scale of the chunk of skin!
If we can have a plush Pancreas from I Heart Guts, it seems only fitting to also have plush Pancreatic Beta Cells from Giant Microbes! Since Beta Cells are the ones specialized to produce Insulin to manage blood sugar levels, Giant Microbes includes a plastic model of an Insulin (gigantic!) Molecule stashed away inside a special zippered pouch inside each Beta Cell!
Today's Medical Dynamic Duo is plush organ, the Stomach from I Heart Guts accompanied by an individual Stomach Cell from Giant Microbes!
It take a LOT of Muscle Cells to build a big strong Muscle. Luckily, Giant Microbes makes plush Muscle Cells and I Heart Guts has the "Muscle" to provide the plush organ they make up!
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OK--we almost always go to Douglas Company for beautifully executed realistic plush animals, especially like Dogs, Cats and Horses and wildlife like Raccoons, Owls, Sloths, Wolves, Foxes, et. al. (and we got a bunch of all of those in our most recently arrived shipment, too), but this time we could not resist their NEW offering of ridiculously cute silly plush Foodie Animals!
Are you hungry for a Corgi Burger or maybe a Taco Chihuahua? Or how about cooling off with a Watermelon Llama or a Uni-cone? There is even a guacamole evoking Avo-Gato! We have them all--find them in our Fantasy Area (ya think?)
On May 5, although we were aiming to explore within some eastern portions of the High Desert, we made a very specific detour to Desert Center, so we could be sure we could visit the Lily Preserve just north of there on our eventual way toward the Eastern Mojave Preserve. We had a particular reason for this check-in at this time, well after the Desert Lilies and most of the spring annuals have gone to seed, dried up and/or perhaps been devoured or just blown away!
The early weeks of May, when most people are thinking more about heading up in elevation rather than out to the hottest parts of the low desert is when the Desert Ironwoods BLOOM! Throughout the year these trees look more like brooding dark druids than anything capable of producing bold-faced beauty, with tiny dark leaves hiding their shaggy, silver-gray trunks, giving them an all-and-all rather skaggy, almost menacing appearance! Then they suddenly shed all of those leaves over a few week's time and completely blend into the light tints of the desert skies, all but "disappearing" from anyone's attention. (If you don't "see" the Ironwoods where you know they should be, look closely--they are in the midst of a miracle!). We weren't sure what stage of shedding leaves the trees in this area were in as it seemed some close by along Interstate 10 may have already been displaying foliage in its new spring-green regrowth (about the only time the vegetative bodies of these trees might be noticed as "pretty"), meaning they had already flowered and re-costumed themselves, soon to darken again for another harsh year in the desert...
We were delighted to find that the Ironwoods on the Lily Preserve were still in early to late stages of dropping their old leaves--and some, like this one, were essentially "naked", but fully budded, ready to explode in another week or so into a canopy of lavender fizz, covered with sweet-pea style flowers!
When that happens pollinators will arrive to glory in the abundance of pollen these flowers will provide--and the scene of a bunch of BIG (for the desert), even ponderous trees covered in clouds of frothy blooms will rival anything the High Desert Poppy fields have to offer--and almost NOBODY seems to know about it!
We're BAAACK from a nature photo-gathering foray loop on Wednesday, May 20! We traveled this time from Box Canyon in Mecca Hills south of I-10 from the Cottonwood Station off ramp to Joshua Tree National Park, back through Mecca and Coachella on Hwy 86 to Highway 111 to the Palm-to-Pines Highway into the San Jacinto Mountains, up and over to Anza, then following Bautista Canyon Road back to Hemet and up and over again to Idyllwild and down to Banning, the I-10 and home!
Just as was the case at the beginning of our May 5 explorations when we made a point of visiting the Desert Lily Preserve before heading north for the "main" part of our journey, on May 20 we made the very specific decision to head out to Box Canyon in Mecca Hills (the road is FINALLY open, having washed out AGAIN during this year's later spring rains!) before spending some time in The San Jacinto Mountains!
Why go all the way out there when the low desert herbaceous wildflowers are long-gone? Well, there are also a lot of Ironwood Trees in this area and when we passed them on May 5 we were genuinely confused as to their status of leaf drop and bloom. While the Ironwoods near Desert Center were at the front end of blooming two weeks ago, their fellows near Mecca Hills were still pretty much still fully leafed out. It has been our experience, although we've only been paying attention for the last ten years or so, that Ironwoods typically shed ALL of their leaves and THEN shoot dense, wisteria-like flower sprays, all opening at once, basically covering the entire trees with flowers that effectively "camouflage" them from casual view as the blossom colors match the intensity of the background hues and those of the sky! We've learned that the Ironwoods are in bloom when they essentially "disappear"!
We think the substantial late rains and unusually moderate temperatures this year in this region might have also "confused" the flowering patterns of the Ironwoods here. We found them to finally be blooming (possibly day-length finally became a powerful enough signal that it is time regardless of the weather), but at only about 50%, both among the many trees and on each individual tree, appearing to start top-down on those, with lots of leaves still present on much of each tree, a situation we have never previously witnessed!
We are still baffled as to why these amazing trees don't get much, if any attention like the annual blooms of e.g., poppies or smoke trees often do, when Ironwoods are such good-sized trees, appear in reasonable numbers and become absolutely engulfed in gorgeous lavender-pink sweet-pea shaped flowers around 3/4" long!
The pollinators definitely get their attention; you can hear the trees absolutely buzzing within a few feet of them!
THE SMOKE TREES are in flower NOW (as of June 2, 2020)!
We found these relatively "close by" at the edge of Palm Desert just as Highway 74 starts to climb into the mountains. There is a (currently closed) Visitor Center on the northeast side (left side, if you are headed up) of this road at this location. The Smoke Trees are in a large wash with hiking trails (there is parking!) on the (right) southwest side of Highway 74.
THIS is the desert tree whose spectacular showiness when in full bloom rivals the Lancaster poppy fields in both beauty and fame. But you have to be willing to be in the desert right now, when it is starting to flirt with triple-digit temperatures almost daily!
Unlike the Ironwoods (which we put in a similarly newsworthy category, although they just don't get the same press), that shed their leaves entirely just before or during the process of blooming, putting out fresh new leaves once flowering is done, Smoke Trees have little in the way of familiar-looking leaves most of the year. What leaves they have are less than an inch long and are rather ephemeral, appearing in spring and gone by early summer. Instead, the dominate feature noticeable with these trees is the fact that each flower axis ends in an impressive thorn, giving the trees an overall spiky appearance. The Smoke Tree (like the Ironwood, in its own separate genus) is a member of the Pea Family, along with a number of Indigo Bushes with more or less normal leaves in the same genus, Psorothamnus. The species name for Smoke Trees, "spinosus", honors the unique appearance of these trees due to the unusual specialization of the ends of those shoots!
We had spent a fair amount of time in or near the San Jacinto Mountains during May and early June, so we had to take a quick look in our nearer "backyard", the San Bernardino Mountains. Our first visit there this year was on June 9--when it seemed to be a little late for lower elevations (chaparral) and a little early for higher elevations (above about 6500'). Although we made another trip into these mountains after the July 4th weekend, rest assured we did find plenty of native plants in bloom on June 9!
The Fish Creek Trail had been closed for quite some time, first due to the huge fire that swept though the San Gorgonio Wilderness a couple of years ago and then because of the potential for flooding in the burn zone after two years of greater than normal precipitation, but it is finally open! And just about everything botanical except for maybe the pine trees, which will take longer to notice (there are saplings...), is coming raging back! In case there was any remaining concern about the Aspen Grove at Fish Creek, rest assured that the Aspens are rebounding, possibly more healthy and vigorous than before--and standing well above our heads! You have to "tunnel" through their lush regrowth to stay on the trail! (Whew!)
Here is our July DISCOUNT COUPON that now appearing in the Redlands Coupons Monthly already delivered to a mailbox near you!
If you happen not to receive one in the mail, we have a stack of them just inside our door. Be sure to take advantage of all of the awesome deals inside, including ours!
And we HAVE a WINNER!
Sal R. from Redlands just WON ALL of the swag in our Fantastic Spring Customer Appreciation Gift Basket!
CONGRATULATIONS Sal!
If you happen NOT to be Sal R. from Redlands, never fear! We have ALREADY begun to collect qualifying entries for our "Down on the Farm" Summer Customer Appreciation Gift Basket Drawing:
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Graduation "Stuff" (also House and Garden Graduation Flags) is still available in-store!
Here are the just arrived NEW Patriotic Decorative Flags from Custom Decor! We ordered BOTH the House and Garden sizes AND the matching 6" round Accent Magnet for each design, except the last one, which was only available as a House Flag.
OK--We made the "mistake" of taking a look at Custom Decor's selection of "Farmhouse" designs--and we simply could not resist the House and Garden sizes of these two more delightful than we expected Pigs frolicking among the pretty spring flowers along with all those Butterflies. Looks like "Hog Heaven" to us! In store NOW!
As it starts to heat up as we head into Summer we figured our Flag selection should be doing the same! In store now are the House and Garden versions of this Flag featuring HOT colored Summer Zinnias being visited by equally intensely hued sunny yellow Butterflies. And we also ordered the matching 6" Accent Magnet!
If your Summer includes bright Butterflies and Zinnias, should it not also be populated with Sunflowers, Daisies and Bees? This House or Garden Flag and matching 6" Accent Magnet can take care of that! In store NOW!
Summer is the time for lemonade and if you're gonna have lemonade, you git to have Lemons! We simply could not resist these citrus themed House and Garden Flag and matching 6" Accent Magnet designs, given their Redlands-compatible subject matter and how at home this mini tree planted in a Victorian-looking ceramic pot would be on the terrace, front porch or in the foyer of any of the beautiful local historic mansions in town.... In store NOW!
This Red-Hot vintage Pick-up Truck with the sun glinting off of its lovingly polished wax job just about screams "SUMMER!", especially loaded as it is with huge Sunflowers and Daisies and parked in a field of same! This design is in store now as both House and Garden size Flags and the matching 6" Accent Magnet!
As the heat of summer intensifies it can be a real relief to gaze on a Decorative Flag image in the cooling hues of Blue! We love this design for that very reason, besides the fact that Hydrangeas are pretty attractive in any case! Both House and Garden Flags in this style plus the matching 6" Accent Magnet are in store NOW!
We are not sure which element of design on this flag style is more attractive, the Columbine Flowers or the nearly matching Hummingbirds happily feeding on their nectar, but we love this richly hued and highly detailed summer vignette as a subject! No matching Accent Magnet exists for this design, but we BOTH the House and garden size flags are in store NOW!
This pretty flag featuring a potful of hot orangey-pink Geraniums attracting equally colorful Bees and Butterflies is on the retirement list at Custom Decor, so only the House size was available, but we couldn't resist nabbing a couple of those for Summer! In store NOW!
Here is another lovely flag on the retirement list at Custom Decor--and it was so pretty we had to grab a couple of the remaining House size Flags before they were gone (Garden size was already sold out)! In store NOW!
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Here is our additional selection of Patriotic Flags! Quantities are limited as indicated!
One of these "Patriotic Owls" in the Garden Size only
"Patriotic Barn" One Garden size left!
"Patriotic Birdhouses" in House Flag size only
"America Banner Star"
Two House size available
"Patriotic Bunting and Geraniums"
One House size left!
"Patriotic Hydrangeas"
One House size left!
"Patriotic Chair Welcome"
One House size flag left!
This fun printed and Appliqued Flamingos Flag has a trio of these elegant, albeit somewhat silly Birds with felt wing accents standing visually intertwined above a base of flowers, some of which are also dimensionally rendered! Also equally detailed on front and back, we do have this style in both House and Garden sizes!
Here is a printed, Watercolor style rendition of a pretty Pink Flamingo surrounded by swirls of fanciful pastel tropical leaves and blossoms! Printed opaquely to read correctly front and back!
Similar motifs as the design right above, but nothing pastel about this intensly hued, printed Tropical Flamingo Flag! Available in House and Garden sizes!
A printed plethora of Ladybugs and Daisies! House and Garden sizes available
Orchids and Birds "splendidly" printed on both House and garden size Flags
Printed Toucan and Tropical Foliage House and Garden Flags
Here are some adorable, extra-quality Baby Spring Barnyard critters from Douglas:
This cute cast of 4" long Barnyard Babies includes two fluffy mottled (but quiet) Chicks, one Golden-tan, one Black and White, and a downy Yellow Duckling that comes with a quacky sound chip!
One or both of these two 5" tall little Lambs from Douglas would be a perfect addition to any Easter Basket--or to anyone's collection of Barnyard beauties! Available in all white or with a black face and hooves!
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NOTE: #2 Tri Corgi is SOLD OUT
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NOTE: Number 2 (Red Dragon) is SOLD OUT)
Note: The Orangutan is currently SOLD OUT
Note: #2 Wolf is SOLD OUT!
The above items ONLY are currently available to order online now using the shopping cart feature beneath each group.
We hope to continue to update with more items, but if you see something of interest on the rest of our website please contact us (email or land-line, no texts) and we will almost certainly be able to accommodate you individually and directly!
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Our current Fairy and Fantasy selection:
Look at ALL of the Plush Dog Breeds we have in stock!
Thanks to "contributions" from First and Main and Douglas, our entire Dog area is freshly restocked--and brim full with breed choices!
Just FYI, we've added some interesting creatures to "fill in" our Prehistoric Collection...
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We have refilled all those empty "leaves" on our "Tree" (now again) full of Audubon Birds with the authentic sound chips recorded by Cornell University! Back in stock are Meadowlarks, Mockingbirds, House Sparrows, House Finches, Black-capped Chickadees and Eastern Bluebirds!
We also just filled in a bunch of gaps in our Forest Habitat with new pieces from Wild Republic!
Here is a montage showing critters added from the most recent shipment!
These unique pieces from Wild Republic just assisted in repopulating our South American Rain Forest Habitat!
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Sad news:
Our beautiful day on April 1 appreciating California's native plants flowering in our local deserts (far away from other people) ended sadly when we returned home to find our beloved Australian Shepherd Foxy expired as if asleep in her kennel. We are devastated because this came as a shock, especially as Foxy was always one of our healthiest dogs, and had our vet look into possible causes. It turns out the Foxy had a silent tumor, hard to detect with no symptoms to suggest its presence, on an artery at the base of her heart. It finally caused a rupture that bled into the pericardium of her heart. We consider it a blessing that she showed no signs of distress until her last few days and then slipped away peacefully after a long and happy life of being much loved. Eventually, we will replace the gaping holes in our heats with another fur baby, but for now our hearts are aching..Rest in peace, Foxy. We'll see you on the other side of that Rainbow Ridge....
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It is hard to believe that Star Tulip Stuffies, House of Fine Stuffed Animals has been open for over four years home again in Redlands, CA (we started here back in 2003 in the now-defunct old downtown Redlands Mall)!
We have lived and worked and been your neighbors in this area for more than 40 years! Star Tulip Stuffies was originally opened as a storefront in the Redlands Mall back in 2003. Since then a growing following of stuffed animal aficionados has managed to find, support and spread the word about us.
From the very beginning our intent has been to bring our customers the very best selection of the finest quality plush creatures we can find while keeping our prices as rational as we can.
We are all about choices; we like nothing better than to present several different companies’ version of the same animal because we have found that every designer will have a different take on that same critter. Thus, if you visit us, which we certainly hope to make you curious enough to do, you should not be surprised to find that, not only do we have an “unusual” creature, say a porcupine or an opossum, rendered in plush, but that we also will likely have four or five or even more styles from as many different manufacturers (with accompanying differences in sizes and prices!) of that individual kind of animal! This also means that while you will find respected and familiar names like Gund, Ganz, Douglas Cuddle Toy, Fiesta Toys, Aurora, Wild Republic, etc. on many of our products, we make a point of searching out quality companies less well known, especially in California, that you may only brush up against on a trip to the zoo or aquarium (we really love the educational kick provided by those extremely realistic representations!) or while traveling east of the Rocky Mountains (many retailers are simply unwilling to stand the cost of shipping some of these…)--or that are just outrageously esoteric (we have plush germs--in Petri dishes, no less--by GiantMicrobes and body parts--if I only had a brain--from I [Heart] Guts!
Our selection is so diverse (we are simply stuffed with “stuff”, but then “stuff” is what we do!) in order to keep track of everything we have resorted to arrangement by habitat! When you visit (by now you know you have to if you can…) you will eventually notice that our entire shop is suggestive of the interior and exterior of a gigantic fantastic playhouse or dollhouse. “Inside” live authentic Raggedy Ann and Andy, Sesame Street characters, etc. Also living the pampered “indoor” life are plush Cats and Teddy Bears “Outside” you will find our rather extensive collection of realistic Dog Breeds (this is a personal favorite category of ours, so if someone makes a decent version of a specific breed, we will try to have it for you!), Barnyard Animals, Horses, Frog and Turtle ponds, Forest critters, Desert animals, Birds, and creatures of Central and South America, Australia, Africa and Asia as well as an area devoted to Ocean life! There is even a section “inhabited” by the fantasmagorical creatures of the imagination including dragons, faeries, unicorns and the like!
About Our Name: The “Star Tulip” part of our name alludes to our other life as occasional botanists! “Star tulips” are members of a rather large genus, Calochortus, meaning “beautiful grass”, of native Californian lilies that includes species with enchanting common names like “butterfly” or “mariposa tulips” and “faerie lanterns”. The butterfly tulips have large goblet-shaped tulip-style flowers, often marked with spots and bobbing in the breeze above their cohabitating grasses like the insects they appear to mimic. The more diminutive faerie lanterns have closed flowers on slender overarched stems and could easily be imagined to light the nighttime activities of elfin woodland inhabitants. Our tiny namesakes open fully wide and close to the ground as if they were stars scattered across the forest floor! The alliteration of “Star Tulip” and “Stuffies” was just too tempting to pass up!
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