Dear Jim: this is why, tulips grown in Japan and sent to the USA can not be relied upon to flower at the same time. Not too important in the garden, but very important if being forced. I understand the production fields in Japan are scattered and then the bulbs sent to wholesalers who sell them. They are often the early fall bulbs seen in discount houses, the display often decorated with windmills, etc., but no mention that they are 'Dutch' bulbs, but such is implied. Dutch bulbs can be forced and will be ain flower at the same time, the climatic zones in holland being much the same for all growing/production areas. Cheers, John E. Bryan Jim McKenney wrote: > > At 07:15 AM 6/28/2004 -0700, Jane McGary wrote: > >I've certainly noticed different timing of emergence between bulbs brought > here > >in fall and the same bulbs a couple of years later, when they've settled in. > > In a USDA publication issued in 1926, David Griffiths wrote about the > commercial cultivation of tulips in the US. One of his observations - a > warning to potential consumers - was that tulips of a given clone grown in > different areas do not necessarily bloom together. He had access to tulips > grown at the Bellingham, Washington State station and tulips grown here in > the Washington, D.C. area. If those bulbs were mixed in a mass planting, > the result was irregular bloom. Griffiths speculated about the cause - at > one point he believed it to be due to the differences in soil character, > although he also suspected conditions in handling and other factors. > > Jim McKenney > jimmckenney@starpower.net > Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where I still have lots of > tulips to dig. > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php