Tulips

 How easy are tulips to grow? and can you only grow them from buds or
whatever (as opposed to seed)? im in Perth and I remember seeing a massive
tulip display at Araluen botanical garden once which was pretty impressive
and got me thinking about growing a few in my front garden

 G'day Dave

I've only ever planted bulbs, there is a huge company that does
mailorders from Victoria....can't think of the name at the moment, but a
google search should find them.

When I lived in Orange all my bulbs were magnificent due to the really
cold ground temps in winter, but since moving to the MidNorthCoast NSW
daffodils are OK but the tulips didn't do any good.  Of course, I had
chosen to leave the bulbs in the ground over winter......if I had dug
them and kept them in the fridge, I suspect the results could have been
greatly improved.  Daffies here don't last nearly as long as in Orange,
again due to temps, but they still look nice if only for a couple of days.

I'd guess you might need to lift them during winter and put the bulbs in
the fridge, but might be worth trialling some left in the ground and
some lifted.  They should be lifted every couple of years and divided
anyway, says she who used to have in excess of 6000 daffies in 13 colour
variations, so it wasn't a job I'd rush to do every year, but still the
results were great due to the cold ground temps.

Good luck.....there is NOTHING nicer than a whole garden bed of tulips.
  They are to die for!!

Bronwyn ;-)

Dave Turner wrote:

 
How easy are tulips to grow? and can you only grow them from buds or
whatever (as opposed to seed)? im in Perth

Hi Dave, unless you too are in the hills of Perth, save your money!  Tulips
don't put on much of a display on the coastal plains - the soils are too
sandy, and too warm.  You might trick the tulips with leaving them in the
crisper for 6 weeks or so, but you'll be very lucky indeed to get much of a
display.  They also will not flower a second year, no matter how lovingly
you treat them unless you're up in the hills.   spend the money on daffs
that will reward you for the time and effort spent on them.

Joanne (who tried and tried and tried, and now just visits Araluen)

 
Google will help you here. You grow tulips from bulbs, each about
the size of a medium onion. I think they planted a potful of them on
ABC tv's gardening program last weekend. Possibly you could harvest your
own seeds as an experiment, but the resulting colours might be
disappointing even if they were viable. I seem to recall that cutting
off a flower makes the bulb it was growing from no good for any future
seasons.

There is something about storing some bulbs in the crisper of the
fridge for a few weeks so they think they've been through winter, but
I'm not sure whether this applies to tulips. Google will tell you.

http://www.google.com.au

--
John Savage                   (my news address is not valid for email)

 I am hoping they are easy, I have got some bulbs in the fridge at the
moment (as per recommendation on packaging)...