species tulips

[griffon]

Anyone have a recommendation on where to buy some online? Local stores and nurseries all have the big fancy tulips, which I don't want.

[Pam - gardengal]

Any of the big bulb suppliers will have them - Scheepers, Van Burgondien, McClure and Zimmerman, Brent and Becky's. Little late to order them now, though. Most mail order companies will have shipped by mid September/early October.

[paghat]

I've gotten little species tulips from bulbmeister.com, from tulipworld.com, & from odysseybulbs.com, besides in a few local shops that bother to stock in more than the usual three. I've always gotten good bulbs that performed well, & was usually selecting stuff that naturalizes. Odyssey sends the most perfect-looking bulbs, but no matter the source they perform well, as likely they come from the same couple producers. bulbmeister is right now having a 50% sale on left over stocks, & for many zones it's not yet too late to get them in the ground.

When making choices, don't neglect to check out Tulipa vvendensky, one of my favorites. The flowers last SO long, are so intensely colored, & even the wavy octopus leaves are interesting.

Also bare in mind the kaufmanianna group easily fall over shortly after bloom & need some kind of groundcover to help hold them upright. I've not had any other species tulips show this problem. Since kaufmanias are frequently crossed with greigiis (which do not tip over) it's a wonder to me the kaufmanias don't have improved features of stronger stems, but the first stormy day can knock them right down. I've tried to "thicken up" the kaufmania patches with other sorts of bulbs added among them this season, hoping they will brace each other next spring, but may someday end up planting something like a dwarf lemon thyme over them if they continue to be floppy.

Many of the things sold as botanicals are actually hybrids, but so long as they can naturalize I don't mind that that's slightly misleading. I just love species tulips. My partner Granny Artemis likes hybrids too but I discourage getting too many of those, the exceptions being delicate little lily-tulips & some of the "green stripe" varieties she insists upon, & they are quite nice too, but for the most part I prefer natural species tulips, some for being subtler & longer lasting & for spreading. A few like in the greigii group are just as 'loud' as any of the hybrids, but shorter so they can still be tucked here & there without seeming too awfully gaudy.

-paghat the ratgirl

[NAearthMOM]

"Come into my garden, my flowers want to meet you!"