Tulipa time

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

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