Re: Poor showing of tulips

[Jeff Frelinger]

Nosmo King wrote:
> Last fall I planted ~100 tulip bulbs of various types in different locations
> around the yard. About half have emerged. About a third of those have
> produced a flower. Needless to say, I'm disappointed. Do tulips take a year
> to get established ? I've also heard that the poor results may have been due
> to mild winter. I'm wondering if I just got a bunch of duds.
Here in NC tulips:
1 get eaten as bulbs by animals
2. get eaten as plants by larger animals (deer)
3. do not come back reliably so they get worse (to zero!) every year
4. some species tulips will come back but even those are not so hot in
Orange county
5. So the first year is the best you will get

[Donna Maroni]

According to Jeff Frelinger, tulips

> 1 get eaten as bulbs by animals
> 2. get eaten as plants by larger animals (deer)
> 3. do not come back reliably so they get worse (to zero!) every year
> 4. some species tulips will come back but even those are not so hot in Orange
> county
> 5. So the first year is the best you will get

Strangely enough, I have a little batch of tulips that never did
much--until this mild-winter year when they have more flower buds than
ever. And one species tulips is better than ever. Otherwise, most of
those I've planted, even those planted in wire cages to guard again #1,
are gone.