gemini_sage said:
To be sure I'm clear, after you dig and divide the bulbs after their first bloom, do you continue to dig and divide them annually?
I continue to dig annually mainly the varieties, which are in limited quantities for propagation purposes. It is very desirable to harvest tulips annually for perfect display. But my collection counts over 600 varieties, I am physically not able to deal with such a scope of work. Because of work, I am free only over the week-ends. Though I often work in the garden during working days after work. So I divided my collection into 3 harvesting parts, and each year I harvest only one part, plus the varieties in limited quantities.
If tulips are planted in sunny location, Darwin Hybrids, Greigiis, Fosterianas and Kaufmannianas can be harvested ones in three years. The tulips from the other divisions - every other year (the cv-s with high rate of propagation) and ones in three years (the ones with lower rate of propagation). They are some very old varieties, which can grow without lifting for over 15-20 years. We call them grandma's tulips, you just plant them and forget about them. They do well every year.
About the location, why sunny. Most of the tulip species originate from Central Asia, where summers are very hot. So during summer period many varieties, especially the ones from 12, 13, 14 and 15 division need summer baking to do well. That is why in Northern regions with cool summers, it is very desirable to harvest the bulbs annually and store them in warm place (under the temperature 25 - 30 C) until planting for good display in the following year.
For those gardeners who are very busy there is a good way to grow tulips for 10 or more years without harvesting (even new commercial ones). You just plant the bulbs 35 -40 cm deep, which seriously decreases the rate of propagation). This works very well. There is also another plus - the bulbs planted deeply rarely get infected with fungal diseases, the fungus is mainly in upper soil layers, as in deep layers there is less air.
I also grow species. besides, I grow some local rare in the culture species as well. I will show their pix in future posts.
