(underlined words are internet or email links) Plant of the Month for March 2005 Tulip Class (group) -
Lilianae
Herbaceous perennial By Jim Carson, Horticulture Chairman
There are over 100 species of Tulips and several hundred hybrids. If you would like to have some beautiful color from tulips next spring plan to purchase your bulbs and plant in September to November. They can be planted in pots or in your garden. Planting in pots the first year can help you avoid destruction by severe weather and/or rodents. Pots – clay dries out faster, insulates better, but can crack easier; plastic dries slower, but does not insulate as well and is susceptible to UV damage (getting brittle and breaking). Soil should consist of 45% garden soil mixed with 45% of a horticultural potting soil (45%) and 10% calcite for sharp drainage. 100% horticultural potting soil is fine for pots. Place 2-3 inches of rock and gravel in bottom of pot. Plant the bulbs at a depth of 2-3 times the height of the bulb in pot with point side up. Ten to twelve bulbs are about the right number for a twelve-inch pot. In the garden bulbs should be planted to a depth of 4-6 inches. Give a good soaking directly after planting and then keep moist, but with good drainage. The plants should start showing in late autumn to early winter. They need a good cold snap to set the bulb. Several applications of a complete fertilizer need to be made. Be careful not to use a liquid fertilizer unless the soil is moist. This is to prevent irreversible damage to the plant and reduces your chances of getting more bulbs. Tulips can bloom early spring through late spring (different varieties bloom at different times). Flowers can last from several days to three weeks. During active growing tulips prefer full sun. Once flower dies, and quite rapidly the other parts of the plant will yellow, dry and fall off. The bulb has now gone into hibernation. Now is the time for the great treasure hunt. You dig up the bulbs and find where you had planted one you may now have 2 or 3 or more. Bulbs should be stored in a dry warm place. The quality of future bloom depends to a large degree on the high summer temperatures. Plants in garden can be left alone to do their own thing. Rainfall, type of soil and drainage of the soil, the duration of the cold and its onset (whether it arrives fast or progressively get colder), late frosts, the length of the summer and the maximum temperatures, sun exposure … all play critical roles in the growing of tulips. As
relatively inexpensive as tulips are now, they were not always that
way. Sometime in the year 1637, a Dutch farmer was in the market for
a tulip. Upon finding a bloemist who carried the specific variety of
flower that he desired, the farmer entered into negotiations with the
flower-seller. When an agreement had been reached, the farmer acquired
his flower-bulb. The purchase price that the farmer apparently deemed
reasonable for a single tulip-bulb of the Viceroy variety included “two
loads of wheat and four of rye, four fat oxen, eight pigs, a dozen sheep,
two ox heads of wine, four tons of butter, a thousand pounds of cheese,
a wedding bed and linens, some clothing and a silver beaker.”
Such a high price, estimated at approximately 2,500 guilders, for a
single tulip was not unusual. During the height of the Dutch ‘tulip
mania’ in the seventeenth century, a Semper Augustus, considered
to be even more precious than the Viceroy tulip, could bring in close
to 6,000 guilders. In fact, tulip prices and the practice of tulip speculation
became so excessive and frenzied that in 1637 the States of Holland
passed a statute curbing such extremes.
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