In article , "gregpresley"
wrote:

Tulips naturalize very well in some parts of the country, poorly in others.

Darwin hybrids, & many species tulips, can certainly naturalize well. But
a great many hybrid tulips simply won't naturalize no matter what one does
for them, producing neither seed nor offsets & just wearing out over time.

The back yard of my current home was planted to tulips before I lived here,
but I saw them blooming when the purchase was closing. They were relatively
sparse. After 3 years of intense cultivation of the garden, and the addition
of many perennials (during which I suppose I probably dug up and divided
some bulbs accidentally), the back yard is a forest of tulips every spring.
Our climate is similar to Turkey's - a sort of cold, modified Mediterranean
type of climate. (Cold snowy winters, hot dry summers). So I suppose tulips
feel right at home here.

Eastern Washington sure, but in Western Washington there's a slight worry
of excess dampness while they are dormant, which sharp drainage usually
takes care of, but sometimes when there are heavy winter rains, or dormant
bulbs are mixed into gardens that are well watered for summer, the bulbs
can rot.

Granny Artemis just made another humongous species tulip order though the
bulbs won't be delivered until autumn. All that we planted last year were
a success with very few & minor problems (nothing more annoying than the
kaufmaniannas falling over on their sides). Most were just perfect, so the
most spectacular ones we're extending the plantings, plus adding small
sections of species tulips we hadn't planted yet. Really when we first
started popping them into the sun-herb garden margins, I had expected
species tulips to be slightly "humble" compared to gaudy hybrids, but some
of them, such as Lady Tulips (T. clusiana), Vvedensky's tulip, & greiggi
tulips, have flowers as big & intense as the fanciest hybrids.
Kaufmanianna "water lily tulips" are also as extreme as hybrids, but I
won't plant more of those unless I figure out a good companion groundcover
that will hold them upright.

The kaufmaniannas were blooming in March, the Tulipa orphanidea lasted
most of May, so three months of tulips. One slight drawback in wantng them
all to naturalize, the leaves have to be left until they begin to turn
brown or yellow, so the bulbs can recharge or produce offsets. So there's
a lot of scruffy foliage left along the garden margin when the species
tulips are mostly done.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/