Jim McKenney wrote: As for Tulipa sprengeri, it is gradually colonizing my entire garden > and becoming a weed, but I don't care. I like it. It's easy from > seed; don't waste your money on expensive bulbs. > > There is a "Trotter's Form" but just how it differs from the more > usual strain I do not know. 'Trotter's Form' is much bigger than the normal one, supposedly standing up to 3 feet high. I have not seen it in flower, but I have some capsules here that are 6 cm long. They came from Elizabeth Parker-Jervis, nee Trotter, who tells me that it appeared in the garden of her father, Dick Trotter (one time Treasurer of the Royal Horticultural Society), and that it was E.A. Bowles who advised its selection and naming. She has obviously kept the stock pure, but whether that is generally the case I cannot say. I have young bulbs of it from her, so I await flowers with great interest. From the size of the capsules I hazard a guess that it is a tetraploid. John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Garden Manager, Colesbourne Gardens Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP