Lucy Raises Tulips

"" episode
"Lucy Raises Tulips"
	Season 6, Episode #25 ; #178 in Series
Series:
Network:
Air date:	April 29, 1957
Written by:	Bob Carroll, Jr.; Madelyn Martin; Bob Schiller; Bob Weiskopf
Directed by:	William Asher
Production code:	6-25 / 179-A
	Episode guide
IMDB	Lucy Raises Tulips
Episode chronology
"Country Club Dance"	"The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue"

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/LucyTulips.jpg http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/RunawayLawnmower.jpg

Lucy Raises Tulips was the 178th overall episode of I Love Lucy, also the 25th episode of season 6, the final season of the series. The episode was directed by William Asher, originally aired on CBS-TV on April 29, 1957.

Synopsis[]

Lucy is determined to beat Betty Ramsey in Westport's "best-looking garden" contest, and she accidentally runs over Betty's tulip garden with a lawn mower.

Plot summary[]

Lucy is anxiously awaiting the day of the garden competition, where she hopes her beautiful tulips will beat out Betty Ramsey's, who has won the contest for the last three years in a row. Everything about her garden looks wonderful, except for the lawn, which needs to be mowed. Lucy pesters Ricky to mow the lawn, but he doesn't realize how important the contest is to his wife, and he goes off with Fred and Little Ricky to a baseball game having only mown half the lawn. So, Lucy tries to mow the lawn herself, and she ends up riding the power mower all over town, not knowing how to stop the machine.

During her runaway mower trip, she accidentally cut down all of Betty's tulips and had to replace them with wax tulips. When Ricky gets home, Lucy demands that he mow the rest of the lawn, and he does so. However, it's too dark for him to see what he's doing, and he mows down all of Lucy's tulips! Like Lucy's idea for Betty's ruined garden, Ricky replaces Lucy's tulips with wax ones. The next morning, while waiting for the garden contest judges, it is very hot, and Ricky is panicking that the wax tulips will melt before being judged. And sure enough, both Lucy and Betty are disqualified for having wax tulips that melted. For once, a guilty Ricky has to do some fast explaining to a furious Lucy.

Trivia[]

Lucy's tulips are pink, Betty's are yellow.
We learn that Fred's middle name is Hobart.
When Lucy calls Ricky by his full name, she says "Enrique Alberto Ricardo y de Acha III." In episode #121, Ricky's first name was "Ricardo," and he also had the second middle name of "Fernando." Having his first name be "Enrique" makes more sense, though. Who would name their child Ricardo Ricardo?!
The official name of the trophy Betty's won for the past three years is the "Best Garden" cup.
Harry Munson is the one who got Fred, Ricky, and Little Ricky the Yankee tickets.
Lucy rides for a mile-and-a-half on the Boston Post Road against traffic!

Starring[]

Guest Starring[]

Richard Keith ... as Little Ricky
Eleanor Audley ... as Flower Judge
Mary Jane Croft ... as Betty Ramsey
Ruth Brady ... as Grace Munson
Peter Brocco ... as Flower Judge