Ben, I meant that there is no 100% virus free bulbs on the market. Even the BKD (Bloembollenkeuringsdienst = the dutch institute for flowerbulb inspection) says that 1,5% virus infection is OK. ( http://bkd.eu/Pages/08%5FPublicaties/… ) There is just no-one who can eliminate viruses from tulips. They also have a list of acceptable infection for different countries, the most demanding are the Japanese. Here you can read about it ( http://bkd.eu/Pages/05_Inspecties/… ) What you can buy as a pre-packed flowerbulb with a nice picture on the front is usually the lowest quality. At the beginning of august we received a shippment and sometimes 3 of 10 bulbs were allready dried out because of Fusarium infection. It is also true that they are low price products. I was just suggesting that buying from a specialty nursery may avoid disappointment. But you can go to Keukenhof yourself and see that even in the plantings you can find infected plants, even in the Oranje-Nassau pavilon. I was there, I saw several with my own eyes. Jim, you may have the Absalon and Perfecta varieties. Jan