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Before we start into this newsletter, I must issue the following disclaimer:
I am about to describe for you 4 species tulips that I will tell you deer don’t eat, BUT all of you need to know that when deer are stressed enough, they will eat anything and everything. This includes thorny holly leaves, cactus and the lovely tulips I am about to describe. In my garden, where there are plenty of deer every day, these tulips are not touched, but even I know that at some future date they may be consumed.
For those of us in 21st century America, the species tulips are a wonder. These are the original wild tulips collected from Persia, the Caucasus, Africa, Southern Europe, etc. Even today, wild species are still being discovered and cultivated for commercial sale. Understand, that after these wild species are collected and nurtured through professional cultivation, they often change dramatically. They can become taller, their blossoms can become larger, and their colors may be more vivid. That is OK, because even if you found them in the wild and brought them to your own gardens, these changes would take place. Loving care does that to most wild things.
The greatest feature about the species tulips is that for some reason, unknown to mankind, the deer are not interested in eating them and the moles and voles seem to leave them alone as well.
Years ago when species tulips became available to the public, they were not very popular because they were very short (4-6 inches) with very delicate colors (pink, white, yellow). Because of their critter resistant qualities, interest has grown dramatically in species tulips and larger, more vividly colored species tulips have been collected from the wild and cultivated. Today, there are some taller, very dramatic species tulips available to the public. Beginning with this newsletter we will describe some of the best species tulips available today. |
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Some plants you grow for their stunning beauty, some for their unforgettable fragrance, some because they are just weird, but once in a while you grow a plant because it is so darn entertaining. Because it is so darn entertaining, and pretty as well, you must grow Tulipa Sylvestris.
Sylvestris was collected from the wild at least 500 years ago. It was first described in 1576. It is NOT your typical tulip. In fact, for a long time it was believed to be some weird kind of daffodil.
As it emerges from the soil and until it reaches full height, the blossom stem with its bud arches in a graceful, but fragile curve. When planted in a drift of at least 10 bulbs, the plants appear dramatically windblown, bracing for yet another gust. The outer yellow petals are netted with green and a touch of maroon at the pointed tips. The fragrant flowers are sunshine yellow. The inner petals have a pronounced green midrib and all the petals are strongly pointed. Each blossom is held on a seemingly, delicate (but not really), thin green stem which may fade to maroon where it joins the blossom.
The drama reaches its height when the blossom opens up fully. Like a beautiful woman with long, stunning, thick hair who tosses her head back in a moment of sheer glamour, Sylvestris abandons its drooping, supplicant-inspired stance, tosses its opulent bud back and explodes into sunshine yellow. The performance is Oscar-winning quality.
The plant reaches a height of 12 inches and is hardy from Hardiness Zones 4-8. It is best planted in drifts of 10 bulbs or more. The bulbs should be planted 5-6 inches deep and 4-6 inches apart. It will return year after year and doubles in number about every 2 years. |
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The Clusiana species tulips were also collected from the wild more than 500 years ago. They were named to honor the famous 17th century botanist Carolus Clusius who reported that the tulip made its way to Florence from Constantinople in 1606. Clusius received bulbs from a Florentine, Matthaeus Caccini, and the plant flowered for Clusius in April 1607. The early bulbs produced pinkish white blossoms with deep purple centers. In 1959, the famous Dutch nursery, Van Tubergen Ltd. made available several cultivars of the original Clusiana tulip.
Clusiana var. Chrysantha appears to be indigenous to the high altitudes of Afghanistan, Kashmir, the Himalayas and Tibet. It is interesting to note here that the plant is believed to produce a yellow blossom at the highest altitudes. At lower altitudes, the outside of each petal turns red or brownish.
Like Sylvestris, Clusiana var. Chrysantha is pure garden entertainment. When you plant this bulb, you must plant it in drifts of at least 25 because the plant and bud are so tiny that you will easily miss them if you plant only a few. The tightly closed buds are no more than an inch tall and half an inch in diameter. They are supported, very erect, on fragile green stems that fade to maroon where the stem reaches the bud. The petals are orange to red and finely edged with yellow. I cannot emphasize enough how tiny they are.
Then, as with Sylvestris, when the buds open the drama takes place. Each tiny bud produces a platter of yellow, and when included in a drift of 25 bulbs creates an ocean of color. You will marvel each day as the drama repeats itself. Each night the blossoms fold back into the tight, tiny bud and each morning the bud unfurls. It is absolutely delightful to experience.
The plant reaches a height of 6-8 inches and is hardy from Hardiness Zones 4-8. It is best planted in drifts of 25 bulbs or more. The bulbs should be planted 5-6 inches deep and 3-4 inches apart. If planted in a protected area, it will return year after year and doubles in number about every 2 years. |
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Turkestanica is native to Central Asia, specifically the Tien Shan and the Pamir-Alai and the Dzungaria region of Northwest China. It grows on rocky slopes, by streams and the harsh stony ledges at altitudes of 5000-7500 feet. It is a very vigorous and very hardy little tulip. It was introduced into Europe around 1875.
You grow Turkestanica as a spring ground cover or border plant because each stem produces multiple flowers – as many as 7 per stem. The flowers are small with pointed cream petals that fade into a subtle yellow at the base of the blossom. In full bloom the flowers resemble small stars strewn across a blanket of green leaves. This is one of those wonderful plants that you can plant and then forget about it.
The plant reaches a height of 8-10 inches and is hardy from Hardiness Zones 4-8. It is best planted in drifts of 5-10 bulbs or more. The bulbs should be planted 5-6 inches deep and 4-6 inches apart. It multiplies rapidly, doubling in number of bulbs yearly. |
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Humilis Violacea is a must have! They don’t create tulips any smaller than this one (3-5 inches at most), but few flowers have the intensity of color that this little sprite has. Anna Pavord in her marvelous book, BULB, describes the blossom so exquisitely when she writes,
“From a narrow, funnel-like base, the flower opens into a goblet of rich rosy-mauve”
Yes, that is exactly what happens, but it is hard to appreciate unless you are staring at a carpet of these flowers. They should be planted in drifts of no less than 25 bulbs. They also make lovely container plants because of their short height and intense color.
Violacea is as rugged as they come. The plant is native to Northern Iran and Iraq and south and eastern Turkey where it grows on the rocky slopes at elevations of 10,000-12,000 feet. There, in the harshest of climates, it produces breathtaking beauty. The plant was introduced in Europe around 1860 and became known as the Red Crocus Tulip because it bloomed at the same time as the crocus and was similar in size.
The plant reaches a height of 3-5 inches and is hardy from Hardiness Zones 3-8. It is best planted in drifts of 25 bulbs or more. The bulbs should be planted 5-6 inches deep and 2-3 inches apart. It multiplies rapidly, doubling in number of bulbs yearly.
Species tulips can be a part of every garden. They are truly nature’s gift straight from the wild. In the coming weeks, we will produce several more newsletters discussing other species tulips. I am sure we will find at least one of these tulips that you just can’t live without. |
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A Reminder from a Recent Newsletter
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Of all the horticultural subjects that I write about throughout the year, it is the stories surrounding the bulbs that are planted in autumn producing blossoms in the spring that I find most heartwarming. Most of you may not realize this, but very few of the bulbs that we know and love are native to North America. The Camassias and Allium Amplectens are the only native bulbs that I know of.
This means that most of the beauty that comes with the spring blooming bulbs was brought to us from abroad and brought to us early – the 1600s and the 1700s. Daffodils, for example, were brought to North America by some of the early settlers in Jamestown and Williamsburg in the early 1600s. By the late 1600s drifts of volunteer daffodils were described growing in Northern Virginia.
Imagine being one of those early settlers, boarding a crowded ship, hoping that you and the ship would survive the journey to the New World and knowing that you would never see your homeland again. All that you could bring, maybe, was a small suitcase of clothes and items that would help you survive and build a life, and yet somewhere in that suitcase or in a pocket you placed a single daffodil bulb. Maybe you brought that daffodil bulb because you loved its bright yellow greeting in the spring. Maybe you brought that daffodil bulb because you and your grandmother or grandfather, whom you would never see again, would plant daffodils in the old country. Maybe you brought that daffodil bulb because it was the one item from your homeland, small enough and light enough to carry with you and when planted it was the singular piece of your homeland that would be a forever reminder of the family, friends and life you left behind.
Each fall as I nestle my newly acquired bulbs into the earth, I think about how their ancestors came to this country, and each spring as I positively delight in the opulence of their spring blooms, I think I know why those simple, destitute individuals chose to stuff a pocket with a little flower bulb.
For the next few weeks, we will be sharing with you the histories, growing instructions and varieties of some of our favorite spring blooming bulbs. As you learn about new varieties or little known histories of some of your favorites, I ask you to remember how these bulbs originally made it to this country and the love, memories and hope they represented for the courageous, but weary travelers that escorted them here. |
The Mother Earth News Fair, Seven Springs, Pa.
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