Thank you, Jane. Kurt did get in touch with me with the pictures. Fascinating! Its funny how native wildflowers are often "weeds" while those from other countries are the finest treasures! Same can probably be said from any country's point of view. I do grow a few kinds of tulips. Besides the big hybrid types, I have a small patch of "Lilac Wonder" (bakeri?). They already have 4" of leaf growth, and it seems like they divided into two or three bulbs for each one I planted. Makes me wonder if they will flower? On moles, I think they only have teeth on the upper jaw. I have a theory that the damage they cause to bulbs is from their claws when they are moving under the surface, severing any shoots under the surface. What looked like green leafy growth of some tulips last year pulled out of the ground with nothing attached last year. Jerk moles... Message: 3 Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 11:14:51 -0800 From: Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Subject: Re: [pbs] Tulip species pollination ecology Message-ID: <E1Y5JIt-0007Sy-SP@elasmtp-mealy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Travis asked, >I am looking for evidence or direct observations of floral visitors >or pollinators of species Tulips in their native habitats. There is >little empirical evidence of the pollination ecology of wild tulip >species. All I could find was a journal paper on beetle pollination >mentioning a few species of tulips as fitting the beetle pollination syndrome. Kurt Vickery, an expert on wild tulips, noticed this question and wrote me, sending a photo of beetles pollinating wild tulips. He says he has not noticed many insects visiting the wild plants. I haven't noticed any on garden species tulips, but they certainly set seed in this area (Portland, Oregon). Travis also mentioned having trouble growing tulips in his southern Oregon garden because of burrowing predators. This was a big problem for me when I lived in a vole-ridden country place, but now that I live in a suburb there are no voles or field mice apparently present, and I see well-established colonies of commercial tulips in the neighborhood. I don't buy tulip bulbs for fear of introducing viruses, but I'm growing many from seed and hope to have some raised beds built for them this summer. I'll lay heavy-duty woven groundcloth under the beds to prevent moles (which are a problem here) from coming into them; the local mole species eats some plant material, though mostly worms and insects. You can also protect your tulips by planting them in strongly made plastic mesh pots, obtainable from water-garden suppliers. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA -Travis Owen RR, OR