Dylan, you addressed your question to Christiaan, but I want to butt in because there seems to be the germ of a misunderstanding in the question itself. You wrote "if they replace themselves each season they are better considered as something other than bulbs." Hardly anyone would say a tulip bulb is not a true bulb, but tulip bulbs undergo a nearly complete replacement yearly. Speaking broadly and very simplistically, all true bulbs contain a corm. The corm (by which I mean the stem tissue) is the only part of the tulip bulb which persists from year to year. It is the true (although much compacted) perennial stem of the tulip plant - the new replacement bulbs are formed along this stem. The tulip bulbs one digs in June are not the tulip bulbs one planted the previous fall. Does that help make it any more sensible? Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where the first peonies of the year are already gone. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/