Might work. Better still, put a wire cage around it and the netting over that. Affix it to the wire so they can't pull the netting down. (And you know they will!)

I talked to Ramona about why my lilies didn't get as big(flower size)as the year before. She said probably because I don't have enough cold during the winter. So I'ma thinkin' that even though the allium are "rated" as zone 8 it's not true for me. Perhaps I should place the bulbs in my mini fridge until Feb perhaps?

Yes, Kabby, they do have a fragrance, particularly in the evening . There is something sweet floral to the smell, but there is also a distinct tone of wet dog or sweaty animal. Usually in catalogues this is called a musky scent

Kabby, between having a really busy year at work and so much rain and heat this summer, I haven't had the time in the garden I'd like. I acquired way too many new irises this year and it took me over 8 weeks to get them all planted. After stressing over them for so long I've been reluctant to order bulbs. I've got events the next 3 weekends but will get a little break after that and I may break down and order a few bulbs.

I know of other gardeners in your zone that have good luck with OT lilies. You may want to try giving them a generous dose of compost- I've had lilies respond to compost by growing considerably larger the next year and developing larger blooms.

I've been reading around Rembrandt tulips and have reluctantly come to the conclusion that I should cancel that part of my bulb order. The RHS seem very negative about the breaking tulip virus and it seems irresponsible to be deliberately importing something that could cause damage to my other plants - apparently it can spread to lilies as well as other tulips. Sad, because the Rembrandts are really beautiful. I've read that some varieties have a 'benign' version of the virus (including Absalon, one that I really like) but I think I should investigate what 'benign' means before buying them.

As i understand things the benign aspect in Absalon is that the virus doesn't cause serious harm to that particular cultivar. If it spreads to other tulips it can however unfortunately still cause much trouble to them. Modern Rembrandt tulips are however as safe as any tulip as their pattern is created through breeding. They can however still become infected in cultivation and then the question is how does the color break manifest in an already broken tulip?

I did think that your precautions seemed sensible and should be enough to stop serious virus outbreaks, but that doesn't stop the gardener - in this case you, Mika - from worrying. I know that I would worry, so that is why I'm reluctant to grow them myself. On a couple of occasions I have however received broken tulips among "normal" cultivars, so one can never be really safe. However the good thing is that a color break at least most often is easy to see.

Thanks, William. Perhaps then I could try a few Absalon and isolate them, but cancel the others? What did you do with your broken tulips? Does it mean they had contracted the virus? I don't want to put my existing plants at risk, but I keep thinking that reputable companies wouldn't (or perhaps shouldn't) be selling bulbs that could decimate people's existing tulips/lilies.
I've looked at some modern rembrandts and the colours simply aren't as rich or as subtle. Unless you know of a stockist... ?

As they have survived infected for such a long time, I think all of the old Rembrandt cultivars probably can survive a good while longer with proper care, so in that sense the virus is probably benign to all of them. If you want to be extra sure you could just cover them with a piece of horticultural fleece or similar until bloom time and cover them again after bloom has finished. On the other hand I have never seen aphids on tulips here, but don't know if aphids are a problem in your area?

Be sure to disinfect tools after handling or preferably, don't use tools on these tulips. Break of the seedpods with your hands (not your nails ) and be careful not to splatter the sap around. Actually this is a good advice when handling any plant as virus are almost always present, but not all viruses causes problems at first. Sometimes problems may not show until several viruses infect the same plant, seriously weakening it.

Yes, my tulips had contracted some strain of the tulip breaking virus. If the color breaks in a normal tulip it's always virus as far as I know. In the case with Jan Reus I discarded all bulbs of that cultivar as well as other growing close to it as I had carelessly been cutting tulips for bouquets without disinfecting my pair of scissors. No big deal, these were cheap bulbs and I slept better. In the case of Slawa I just pulled the infected one, with bulb and everything (yes, I have a loose sandy soil )and put in the trash. I also had a few others of another cultivar with weird foliage that I pulled, but unsure if they were infected with a virus or not. If so they were perhaps infected in my own garden.

I think every grower probably does his or hers best to keep virus out, but no one can guarantee 100% virus free. If I buy 200 bulbs of 20 cultivars and one single bulb is infected I'm sort of okay with that, but I agree that zero would be better and for sure there are also many crooks out there! Truth be told I'm personally even more more concerned with pests, fungal and bacterial infections as these often spread a lot easier than virus and they are harder to fight. With buying a lot of bulbs/plants there are also many serious risks!!!

In the case of historic Rembrandt tulips the virus is actually part of what you are paying for. I never seen a vendor selling these tulips without telling the buyer. If you look, you will see that Nijssen Tuin also informs buyers of the virus (at the top introductory text): https://nijssentuin.nl/141-rem...

And no the modern Rembrandts aren't as nice .

@William

William, do you think that I could grow the rembrandts in Menton, France (zone 10a)? We have no tulips and no lilies there... so it might provide the ultimate solution if it's not going to be too hot for them.

Sorry, Mika, wish I could provide a good answer, but winter chill isn't really a problem here. It does sounds like an elegant solution, but I think you would need to pre-chill the bulbs every year.

Started first forcers last night -


16 plus pots to go...

Mika, I've been very tempted by the broken heirloom tulips but like you, have stopped myself from trying them. I dealt with mosaic virus in some Dutch sourced lilies several years ago and still find an infected plant from time to time. As William mentioned, I've never seen aphids on tulips here either, which makes me think its probably not a big risk. Still a risk though, and one I decided not to take.

I have just planted these.



They should probably flower early 2017. With luck, December 2016.

I have some green glads - they're brilliant as cut flowers, look great with anything.

I'll be planting a few tulips and daffodils in the next 2 or 3 weeks. I also have some tulip bulbs for trades at http://garden.org/thread/go/57... if anyone is interested.

My first set of tulip bulbs arrived yesterday, 300 Dordogne tulips from Colorblends. They won't be getting planted anytime soon, our daytime temps will still be in the 80's for the next week, then 70's the week after. This hot fall weather is just killing me.

Hi all, I just ordered 100 species tulips from Van Engelen. It was a mix of 8 varieties. I erroneously thought the varieties would be labelled & packaged separately.

Does anyone have an idea of how I could identify these bulbs? I prefer to plant in groupings of solo varieties rather than a mixture. Is there a horticultural bulb identifier website or a guide I could consult?

Some folks have posted photos of the bulbs in the data base, so you may find some help there. Perhaps you could post a photo of your bulbs along with a list of the varieties included?

I doubt that you can identify the varieties from the bulbs.
I agree that clumps of the same variety are nice, but so is a display of mixed varieties. Are all of the varieties expected to bloom at the same time?

You're probably right Caroline, while some specie tulips bulbs look unique, others look quite similar.

A photo of a mixture of specie tulips in the Colorblends catalog was really appealing to me. I'm often suspicious of those photos of mixtures blooming together in other catalogs, but Colorblends specializes in formulating well timed blends, so it has had me considering trying a mix. They look very like a wildflower meadow.