Tulips Were Oriental

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 60, 12 March 1938, Page 16 (Supplement)

Tulips Were Oriental

TULIPS are hardy bulbs, not British, although there are a few varieties now growing almost wild in Britain. The tulip first reached Europe as a garden flower from Turkey, and is probably of Persian origin. The modern garden tulips are almo3t all of them hybrids, whose exact origin is somewhat doubtful. Chief classifications are as follows :— Single Early Tulips.—These are the first to flower and are the ones most used for formal bedding schemes. These tulips are also the best for forcing into early flowers for decoration. One of the bcKt known is Kaiserkroom, the common scarlet and yellow tulip. Double Early Tulips.—There is also a double tulip which flowers early and which, because of its double habit, is even more lasting as a bedding flower than the single variety. But, though the flowers last longer, they are actually not so beautiful, and the majority of them are not so brilliant in colour as the singles. The best known variety of this type is Murillo, a pinkish-white double tulip. Darwins Are Most Popular Cottage Tulips. —These are sometimes called May-flowering tulips, and are more showy than the early singles on account of their tall stems. These, again, can be obtained in double or single varieties. The Darwin tulips are the most popular of all. The stems are from 24 to 30 inches high and the flowers are globe shaped, with rounded petals, and rather substantial in appearance. Amongst them are found tulips of almost everj colour, except a clear yellow.

The Rembrandt tulips are exactly similar to Darwins except that the colours have "broken," that is to say, instead of being of one colour the flowers are sometimes feathered or flamed.

Breeder tulips are similar to Darwins, being also tall and substantial and mostly self-coloured. They are generally sweetly scented, and for the most part are of bronze, purple or buff colouring. The Bizarres and Bybloemens are the broken forms of Breeder tulips with "'feathered" or "flamed" petals. Parrot Tulips' Bright Future Parrot tulips have the rather curious and fantastic flowers with large untidy petals broken or fringed at the edge. Until recently they have been inclined to be dwarf,- and to have rather weak stems, but this fault is being overcome by modern hybridists. As the flowers are particularly showy and brilliant there is probably a big future of popularity in front of this race. Lily flowered tulips are the result of a cross between the tulip retroflexa and flowei; is particularly charming, as its

name suggests, somewnat like the shape of a trumpet lily.

Bunch-flowered tulips are also appearing in catalogues. Some of the wild species of tulips habitually have two or three flowers on a stem instead of the single flower head which is most common, and the new bunch-flowered varieties have been obtained by crossing with these species. The cultivation of most of the garden tulips ie similar. The novice first receives a tulip in the form of the bulb to the onion. These bulbs, like those of the hyacinth and other spring flowering bulbs, contain within them sufficient plant food to produce flowers for one season, but if they are to flower again year after year, the plants need extra food and for this reason they should be grown in ground that is moderately rich, light and well drained. Fresh manure is inadvisable, but any ground which has been previously manured and cropped is suitable for the cultivation of ordinary tulips. Plant Them After April

No tulip should be planted before April, with the exception of one or two of the rarer species. If bulbs are planted early in the season, top growth begins and the leaves appear above the surface of the soil in midwinter. The appearance of the foliage is easily ruined by frosts, and it may be that the flowers are also damaged. Bulbs that are planted late in the year are usually safe, as the foliage does not appear until early spring. To be sure of success, plant the bulbs four inches deep and six inches apart.

If the soil is inclined to be heavy, a little sand at tlie base of tlie bulb at planting time will be of assistance, and the easiest way to provide this is to cover the surface of the flower bed with an inch depth of Sand before planting is bejjun. As the holes are made, either with the dibber or trowel, a little of the sand will trickle into each hole and the bulb will rest on this, and thus pcrfect drainage immediately under the bulbs will be ensured. Tulips do not need any support, as the stems should hold the flowers erect without artificial aid. Tulips should always be lifted annually except in the case of certain species, as if they are left in the ground they tend to begin a new season's growth too early and may be damaged by frost. At the same time certain of the bulbs, for instance, the Darwin and late flowering tulips do not harm if left for three years. The best method, however, is to wait until the leaves have turned

completely brown, then to lift the tulips, dry them in the sun, clean them, and store them in a cool, airy shed until planting time comes again. But do not allow the ordinary tulips to be roasted in sunshine that is overstrong. If it is not convenient to leave the bulbs where they are until the foliage dies off, they can be lifted with as much soil as possible, and replanted into some odd corner of the garden where they can complete tlieir growth. Old Bulb Will Be Exhausted The old tulip bulb will be exhausted after each year of flowering, tod the new season's bulb is a development of the tiny bud which can be seen near the base if a bulb is dissected, this bud being the flower shoot for the following season. If it is found, on lifting, that a bujb has split into three or four smaller bulbs, these can be divided and replanted as separate bulbs. It is possible, if they are much smaller that they will not flower the following year, but they will probably all bloom the second year afterwards. There are so many varieties of tulips, and their characteristics are so different that catalogues are at times bewildering to the novice. Their flowering period extends over two or three months, according to variety and if several kinds are grown in one bed great care must be taken to select varieties that will flower at the eame time.

Top: — Double early Murillo, one of the best double iulips in the cheaper class. Centre: Two heads of breeder tulip, Don Pedro, a deservedly popular variety.