In Praise of (some) tulips
James Waddick (Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:36:07 PDT)

Dear friends,
Tulips are something of a love/hate relationship here.

We've had some do well and persist for year while others
either dwindle quickly or prove just way too delicious for the toothy
gourmets here.

Current long term success are T sylvestris. We were
originally given this by a friend who grew it in light shade. We
planted this in a slightly shadier spot and it soon produced a sod of
foliage and few but lovely bright yellow flowers. We move a few to a
much sunnier spot and the plant totally changed form into a taller
more delicate plant with multiple large flowers on almost every stem.
It is still a mad runner. Wouldn't be without it and squirrels seem
to avoid it.

A new addition, but proving very happy here is T. clusiana
'Lady Jane'. After only a few years it seems like each bulb has
"clumped up" and the flowers are most exuberant. It has the
peppermint red -white buds that open into a flat 'tulip' shape of
pure white with a small yellow center. They are putting on a great
show right now.

And one of the longest lasting deserves attention although it
is far more modest in all ways. The name seems to jump around some.
It is listed on the wiki as T pulchella, but otherwise as T. humilis
or with a cv name (which I seem to recall, but the label is long
gone). The flowers are subdued deep red on the outside, but flare
open to show a dark center( purple black), a pink intermediate zone
and the out third red -violet. This has been here untouched for
years and blooms reliably each year. When in full bloom, the flowers
essentially hide the foliage. Unaffected by our climate or bulb
eaters.

We have other tulips that stay around even some of the larger
flowered Dutch cvs and some with variegated foliage, but none thrive
as well as these three.

Others seem to come and go, alas. Best Jim W.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +