Tulips...

[j_cheney]

The local weather guy is reporting a frost tonight...so I went out and gathered up the last up my good tulips and brought them inside....Queen of the Night, Black Parrot, Skagit Valley and Shirley, Angelique and China Town...some gorgeous peony flowering varieties....(plus some white-flowering bleeding hearts)

They won't make it back next year, so now they're in vases around the house, 5 vases to be exact.

Of all of them, the Black Parrot and the Queen of the Night were the most impressive blooms...not quite black, but a stunning deep burgundy. Must plant more of those for next year!

Comments

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I expect your grandmother didn't have Oklahoma soil.

We have heavy clay soil, the absolute death of tulips. The soil holds the water around the bulbs and they rot out, usually in 1 year if they aren't in a raised bed. In well-drained soil (like a planter) they can often last as long as 5 years.

Last year I planted 60 white tulips along the front border--1 returned, but didn't bloom. I can count on one year out of these guys, no more.

Hyacinths are tougher and will come back for several years, but their bloom display gets sparser evey year.

Sometimes what's perceived as 'living forever' is the original bulb starting new bulds right next to them. When one dies out, its babies carry on. Kind of like us ;o)

[displacedtexan.livejournal.com]

Wussie, inbred, tulips. What did bloom were spectacular, though!