My favourite subject: tulips. As far as I know the Classified List and International Register of Tulip Names (1981, -the date before I born... funny to read such an old book) says that Grand Duc is the synonym of Keizerskroon. That is also in Jan Dix's latest catalogue. The big thing is in Holland there is a monthly 65 mm rainfall average, tulips grow in sand (zand in het Netherlands) so that is why they can grow even 17/+ bulbs. They feel there very well. In Hungary the commonly sold 10/11 bulbs lasts only 2 years, (we have 45 mm average rainfall). Here the professionals say tulips can be grown for 3 years, than the stock degrades by virus infection. Well as there is usually 2-5% (depends on supplyer and variety) infected bulbs from Holland we can grow them only 1 season, which is quite short. In the last years tulip growing semms to end here. Duc van Tol: There are several clones under this name. In some years they may come back in cultivation, cause they are exhibited now in fairs e.g. Keukenhof. Short stem: It is caused by the lack of proper rainfall here, winters are cold enough... ----- Original Message ----- From: Jim McKenney To: 'Pacific Bulb Society' Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 10:01 PM Subject: [pbs] Some old tulips Last fall I splurged a bit on some of the antique tulips offered by Old House Gardens. Some of the cultivars obtained (such as Dillenburg and Keizerskroon) are sorts I grew years ago when they were regularly available in the trade. Another, Absalon, I last had in the late 1970s or early 1980s from the old Peter de Jager company. I still have photos of these old acquisitions, and it will be interesting to compare the newly acquired stocks when they bloom. One new acquisition has helped to reshape my understanding of the so-called single early tulips: finally, after a lifetime of knowing about the Duc van Tol (older books spell it Thol) tulips, there is one blooming in the garden. All that I had read about these did not prepare me for what actually bloomed in the garden. The word which comes to mind when I look at this is squat. I don't really mean that in a pejorative sense: the plant is low and broad and so is the flower. And it has the fragrance still found in some of the single early tulips. It's easy to see why the single early tulips quickly displaced the Ducs: the stems of the single earlies are just enough taller and the flowers are just enough bigger to make them much better suited to garden display. Now that I've seen a genuine Duc, I'm better prepared to accept the supplier's claim that the stocks provided under the name Keizerskroon are the real thing. I've had tulips under this name in the past on several occasions. The name persists in catalogs, probably because the genuine article is the only readily obtained eighteenth century tulip. The new Keizerskroon is blooming now, and it has a flower shape I had not noticed in the prior acquisitions: the base of the flower forms a deep bowl - and it's not a big flower. To believe that such ancient tulips still exist is hard for someone who lives in a climate such as this where most tulips - unless cared for very carefully - have a life span of about two years. And when I consider the tumultuous history of the Low Countries, it becomes even harder to believe. But there is a part of me that wants very much to believe it, and that part is very happy this week. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where Mijnheer McKenney is spending a lot of time around the tulip beds. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php