The recent Bulb Garden issue features raising bulbs from seed, and the genus Tulipa is a good incentive for that. Tulips are in the early part of their flowering period here in western Oregon. I haven't any purchased bulbs in the garden because I wanted to keep my species collection as virus-free as possible -- though that may be difficult in a residential neighborhood. The older tulips here are mostly from Archibald seed collections, particularly their collections from western Iran. More recently Kurt Vickery has sent out a wonderful range of Tulipa species collected by himself and some colleagues in Turkey and Central Asia. Some species have taken as much as seven years from sowing to flowering, but most flower in the third or fourth year. Seeds sown in fall generally germinate the first winter, but this year a number of species haven't germinated, and may wait another annual cycle; I have no idea why they're behaving differently under the same conditions. On the other hand, a species sent me in January 2020 is already germinating. The very first to open here is the unique Tulipa regelii (an Archibald collection) with its crested leaves; the flowers are starry white, yellow-centered, and not very striking. It has set good seed the past two years with hand pollination, but I left it alone this year, thinking it might like to save its energy, something like letting a prize broodmare have a year's barren rest. There are 5 clones here, so their offspring should form a good population. Don't write asking me for it yet, please. The Iranian Archibald expedition turned up plenty of tulip seed, not all of which could be identified from dry capsules. They offered half a dozen numbered packets at a special price. From these I have (I think) three different species. The most vigorous one is almost certainly Tulipa montana, increasing well and producing many small flowers of the purest red. The other two are both red, with larger flowers and different foliage. I'll try T. montana outdoors in a raised bed, or perhaps on the rock garden -- it is really a bit too leafy for the latter, but it would look very pretty and natural this time of year. Two Vickery collections are flowering close together, and both are unusual and delightful. Tulipa lemmersii, a species described in 2009, is a small one with perfectly formed cup-shaped flowers of light clear yellow. The other has been known as Tulipa rosea but is more properly a color form of Tulipa korolkowii, from eastern Tajikistan. Its pink color is strong and nearly pure, but with a faint hint of orange on some parts of the tepals, and it has attractive undulate, gray-green leaves. I made a raised bed in the open especially for tulips that increased and matured well enough to risk experimenting, and so far it's successful. Here is Tulipa rhodopea (a member of the T. hungarica complex), an Archibald collection from Bulgaria, with lovely large, rose-red flowers. A Vickery collection send as "aff. florenskyi" is also quite happy, one of the many big, bright red ones. I put some small seedling bulbs of Tulipa greigii on a rock garden last summer, but they've been sadly chewed by slugs -- too much dense cover near them, probably. I don't like to put tall, late-flowering bulbs into my bulb lawn because it's best to have it ready to be mown in June, but maybe a few tulips would work there. Some of them grow on rocky places, but others compete successfully with tall grasses and herbs. A very good book on the subject is Diana Everett, The genus Tulipa: Tulips of the world (Kew, 2013), with the author's helpfully detailed paintings that show the details of style, anthers, and so on as well as artistic depictions of the whole plant; there are also photos, some in nature. Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…