Dwarf Tulipa-PBS and Alpine Topic of the Week
Mary Sue Ittner (Sun, 22 Feb 2004 21:24:54 PST)

Dear All,

I really enjoyed Mark's introduction to this week's topic with all those
great web sites with pictures of tulips I love and some I have never heard
of. Like Jim McKenny I am fond of tulips of many sizes. Back before I was
addicted to bulbs someone gave me tulips as a wedding present. The ones I
planted in the ground only bloomed well the first year and may have sent up
a bloom or two the second year before they went to bulb heaven, but I have
always grown some in containers since.

My infatuation with hybrid Gladiolus diminished when I started growing
species and the same for florist's Cyclamen which now seem to have flowers
that are much too big, but I still love some of the big tulips.

But this is about the dwarf tulips and I am fond of them as well. I have
tried planting a lot of them in the ground here in Northern California and
sometimes they surprise me with a returning bloom, but even the ones that
are supposed to do well in the ground in California haven't for me. So when
the leaves die back I dump them out of their containers, save the larger
bulbs, store them in a paper bag in a warm spot (upstairs in my non air
conditioned house), and then put them in the refrigerator for 4-6 weeks
late October or November and plant them again in containers in December.
Whether all of them really need chilling I don't know. It just seems easier
to treat them all the same.

So which have worked this way? The very best has been Tulipa batalinii. I
have ordered some 'Bright Gem' and some that were supposed to be red I
think and maybe some 'Bronze Charm', but they have always looked the same
color to me which may just have to do with the source.

Tulipa linifolia has also been a good performer. One year I got some of
them mixed in one of my T. batalinii pots. At first I was quite
distressed, but it ended up that just extended the period of bloom in that
container. Tulipa linifolia planted at the same time as T. batalinii always
comes up weeks to a month earlier and blooms earlier as well. I was able to
separate them in dormancy for the most part since the bulbs were slightly
different. I rather like thinking of them as separate species if they are
going to look and behave so differently. When you grow something from seed
or buy something it is nice to have a good idea of what it is going to look
like.

I've grown Tulipa tarda in the past, but for some reason I can't remember
eventually tossed it. Or was it Tulipa kaufmanniana? Whatever I think it
wasn't a very good performer. Last year I succumbed to a low priced package
of five different Tulipa species at Orchard Supply. They were so cheap I
didn't feel I could lose. Tulipa tarda was in that package and it didn't
bloom. I've replanted the bulbs so they will get one more chance.

In that same packet was Tulipa turkestanica. I used to grow it when I lived
inland and I really liked it, but here on the coast my bulbs dwindled and
eventually stopped blooming. These last year were quite charming so it will
be interesting to see if they decline again.

Tulipa bakeri 'Lilac Wonder' is another very satisfactory Tulipa. I have
planted this in the ground hoping it might come back and occasionally see
it returning, but it does much better for me in containers using my usual
method. Funny, but I've never found its foliage "chubby." I'll have to look
at it this year more closely.

I now am growing Tulipa clusiana which I purchased from Lauw. Before I had
purchased some from a catalog that turned out to be one of the cultivar
forms instead. At first I was very disappointed, but the cultivar is a very
beautiful thing that has bloomed for me every year since so I don't mind.
The species is really charming however so I like them both. I also grow
what I had under the name of Tulipa clusiana var chrysantha. This one
returned for me for a number of years in the ground in Stockton where it
came up in my "rock garden". Here on the coast it tends to split into
smaller bulbs a lot and only a few bloom the following year.

Tulipa vvedenskyi is a charmer with silvery wavy edged foliage and large
orange-red flowers. It seems to be a good repeater. I just added a picture
of it to the wiki from last year that I never got around to adding at the
time it bloomed. I think the foliage is really cool and the flowers are
surprisingly big.

I have also grown Tulipa praestans for years from an original purchase of a
variety 'Fusilier' which was supposed to produce many flowers per stem. If
it did the first year I can't remember. It never has since. That I am sure
of. After blooming in great profusion three or four years ago it hasn't
bloomed since, but the bulbs last year seemed bigger in dormancy so I am
keeping my fingers crossed that this year they will bloom again. My memory
of these bright red flowers was that were really beautiful.

Tulipa orphanidea I purchased from an unnamed source were tiny bulbs and
did not bloom after several years so I passed them on to the BX hoping
someone else would have better luck.

I looked at the web sites of three of the members of this list:

BulbMeister.com
http://bulbmeister.com/flowershop/fpl2003/…

Pacific Rim native Plant Nursery
http://www.hillkeep.ca/bulbs%20tulipa.htm

Odyssey Bulbs
http://odysseybulbs.com/scillatoveltheimia.html/

and there were some tulips listed I have not grown and am interested in. So
my question to Russell, Kelly, and Paige is can you tell us which of the
species bulbs you sell do best in different climates. I am especially
interested in ones that I might be able to grow, bloom, and get to bloom in
subsequent years in Northern California even if I have to grow them in
containers and give them an extended cooling period each year. Have your
customers in different areas given you any feedback about which ones do the
best for them?

My attempts at growing these from seed exchanges have not been very
successful although I have some T. clusiana from my own seed coming along.
I have wanted to have enough of it to plant in the ground since it is
supposed to be one that will bloom in the ground in California.

Mary Sue
Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers