Comments on: Tulip mania

By: Layanee

Layanee — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:19:36 +0000

I just was noticing a few areas which could benefit from some clumps of tulips. I did buy a bag of ‘Shirley’ tulips from a discount store. The bag was clearly labeled with the picture and everything. Shirley is white with a purple/lavender edge and I thought it would match, quite nicely, the stoloniferous phlox. These tulips are blooming now and are magenta and white mixed. They are pretty but definitely not ‘Shirley’. A case against discount stores and the best laid plans. Sounds like a post doesn’t it? I will have to post a picture of the disappointment. Glad you liked the Oh No Deer and we at The Garden Guys always recommend switching out the spray types so the deer don’t get used to the scent. Now I want Big Red gum or a hot ball.

Too bad about your tulips, Layanee – our ‘Shirley’s came out right and you might think about trying ‘Synaeda Blue’ next year too… -kris

By: Lynn

Lynn — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:12:11 +0000

p.s. how do you pick from year to year? Do you change it all or supplement with complementary colors? Do you have a wicked Tulip database going? Forgot to mention that it’s lovely to see the visitors in your pictures–really helps show what a special place it is.

Lynn, We do a rotation because we pull the tulips out when they’re done blooming. The ones in the Rose and North Gardens will go into the cutting bed next fall and we’ll choose new for those gardens – and we are as powerless over catalog descriptions and pictures as anyone. We do try to get a succession of blooms in each garden – a failure this year since everything bloomed at once. But the visitors have been loving it (me too!) and last week it would have been tough to get a picture without someone in it! (Hope they don’t mind being made famous.) -kris

By: Lynn

Lynn — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:10:56 +0000

Hey! You’re making me want to get into tulips. I think I’ve been put off by all the plain ole red & yellow ones, but HEY! that Virichic, Chinatown, and Green Wave are making me pant a little. Besides legacy tulips from a home owner past, this is the 2nd year for little Agway species tulips, which are happily spreading, and a small clump of “blue”-not-so blue parrot tulips, which look to have put up twice as many buds as last year. I can see a future of more tulip planting as years go on.

Watch out, Lynn. It’s a slippery slope! (They keep coming up with more green ones – my favorite!) -kris

By: Susan Sims

Susan Sims — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:36:16 +0000

Can’t go wrong with T. clusianas. I appreciate that they naturalize, like daffodils. Life is to short to dig up bulbs in my garden.

Susan, I’m with you – in my garden I just keep piling more on top of the old ones. It’s getting to be a weird mix though… If only I could stick to the Lady Janes… -kris