The Tulip

	For Long-Lasting Tulip Arrangements… Cut the stems diagonally. Wrap the entire flower (head and stem) tightly in newspaper. Place stem in water overnight. Remove the paper and recut the stems. Transfer the Tulips to a vase with fresh water and plant food. Add water as needed and keep out of direct sun and drafts. Enjoy blooms for 7-10 days. When growing your tulips in containers, avoid placing the container in direct sunshine. The soil needs to remain cool so the bulb doesn¹t prematurely receive signals that spring has arrived. If the sun warms the soil in the container too early, the bulb will send up shoot and flower before an adequate root system has developed. Keeping the soil cool for as long as possible will encourage the strongest and most expansive root system possible.
Perennial tulips are special because, unlike many hybrids, they come back reliably year after year. Besides choosing a truly perennial variety, there are a few steps you can take to ensure perennial performance… Plant bulbs in well-drained soil. This will help naturalizing or perennializing and cut down on the risk of disease and fungus. Plant bulbs deep. Measuring from the base of the bulb, place the tulip about 6” inches deep. Water after planting. This will ensure that your tulips develop a strong root system before going into winter dormancy. After the blossoms have peaked, remove the flower heads and allow the green foliage to die back. Fertilize in fall and spring.
	The botanical name of this popular spring flower is derived from the Persian word, toliban, turban, when the inverted flower was supposed to resemble. It does belong to the Lily Family and grows wild over a great territory from Asia Minor through Siberia to China. Tulips are very easy to grow. Most gardeners plant their bulbs in November in full sun. Place your tulips about 6” deep in moderately loamy soil with some humus and sand added. After flowering, allow bulb foliage to wither before cutting – that way, sap in the foliage returns to the bulb where it provides added strength for next year.
Care in Lifting… You may choose to lift your tulips after the foliage has ripened. This is not necessary with hardy perennial varieties. If you lift, store the bulbs in a dry place during the summer and replant them next fall in fresh soil – this will reduce the risk of disease. Each year before replanting, inspect your bulbs for bruises or cuts that may allow diseases to enter and then spread to other bulbs. This is essential since an infection of the incurable disease ‘Fire’ (Boyrytis) will require you to burn all your tulips!

Some of our Favorite Tulips:

Apple Blossom Tulip
	Imagine the effect of these lovely colours grouped together in your spring garden. This living bouquet is a professionally selected blend of Triumph Tulips in shades from pastel to deep pink. Zones 3-8. 11-12 cm bulbs.(buy)

Rembrandt Tulip Mix

Re-create "Tulipomania" in your garden. That phenomenon gripped Holland in the 17th century and fortunes were spent for just a single bulb. Most prized were the Rembrandt tulips, noted for their intriguing colour patterns. Dutch hybridizers have bred superior varieties - healthy, hardy bulbs that produce the unique colouration often featured in the paintings of Dutch Masters. This special mix of modern-day Rembrandt tulips from Holland features a colourful array of feathered, variegated 4" blooms that are stunning in the garden and gorgeous in bouquets. (buy)

Monet Tulip Mix

Grow a masterpiece in your garden! This collection of three varieties of Triumph tulips will produce waves of spring pastels that would have inspired Monet to pick up his brush. Rosalie's delicate pink and the pale yellow Cheers mingle with White Dream in a harmony of dawn hues. The large, 4" blooms are beautiful in the front of borders and cutting gardens. Or, arrange them in a vase to create a striking still-life! Zones 3-8. 12+ cm bulbs. (buy)

Quick Fact:

A tulip is, any plant of the large genus Tulipa, hardy, bulbous-rooted members of the family Liliaceae (lily family), indigenous to north temperate regions of the Old World from the Mediterranean to Japan and growing most abundantly on the steppes of Central Asia. Cultivated tulips, popular as garden and cut flowers and as potted plants, are chiefly varieties of T. gesneriana. They have deep, cup-shaped blossoms of various rich colors. Tulips having a peculiar color flecking or striping known as “breaking” were formerly very popular and were believed to be different varieties but now are thought to be the result of a virus disease carried by aphids. Many species tulips, typically with smaller, more open flowers, are also available horticulturally.

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Lilliopsida
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Genus: Tulipa

Tulips can be grown in either of two ways: through offsets or seed. Being genetic clones of the parent plant, offsets are the only way to enlarge the stock of a given tulip cultivar. By contrast, tulips do not come true from seed; the mixing of genes between parent tulips is very unpredictable. A tulip grown from seed will usually bear only a passing resemblance to the flower from which the seeds were taken. This makes for great potential in breeding new tulip flowers, and great variation in the wild. However, tulip growers must be patient: offsets often take at least a year to grow to sufficient size to flower, and a tulip grown from seed will not flower for anywhere between five and seven years after planting. "Broken" tulips (tulips affected by the mosaic virus) will occasionally revert to plain "breeder" coloring, but usually maintain their colorful, infected state when grown from offsets. Brecks carry's a great selection of tulips with many types of tulips on sale sall the time. Also, if you have any questions on tulips please do not hesitate to ask!

Also visit our A-Z Tulip Index

Complete Tulip Guide

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