In 1593, a Flemish botanist named Carolus Clusius was sent some tulip bulbs by a friend of his who was the Austrian ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. When Clusius accepted the position of curator at the botanical gardens in Leiden, Holland, he took his bulbs with him.\u00a0 The first tulip to bloom in Holland bloomed in his private garden in 1594.<\/p>\n
In the early part of the 1600s, Europe was coming out of the Dark Ages and people were fascinated by these strange new flowers and the demand began.\u00a0\u00a0This led to what is now referred to as Tulipomania, a period between 1634 and 1637 when tulips were selling for exorbitant prices.<\/p>\n
They were so valued that, for a short time, they became a form of currency, like silver and gold.\u00a0 At the height of the craze, three bulbs of a tulip variety called Semper Augustus sold for the modern-day equivalent of around $30,000!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s said that at one point, more \u201crights\u201d to harvested bulbs were being sold than, in reality, existed bulbs in all of Europe.\u00a0 As so often happens when a market is based on \u201cFutures\u201d the market crashed.\u00a0 People who had been millionaires were suddenly paupers.\u00a0 Some people even committed suicide.\u00a0 And all because of—The Tulip.<\/p>\n
Tulips are native to the mountains of Turkey and Russia, therefore, they need a period of \u201cvernalization\u201d or cold, before blooming.\u00a0 The mountainous regions to which they are native have very cold winters and dry summers, so tulips do best in these conditions (so don\u2019t put them where they will get hit with in-ground sprinklers all summer long.)<\/p>\n
Because tulips are edible, they sometimes have challenges here in Central Virginia, but I have some in my yard that has been there for years\u2014and are not bothered by pests (either above ground or below).\u00a0 Planting tulip bulbs deep (about 10 to 12\u201d) means the digging critters tend to miss them.\u00a0 Squirrels don\u2019t dig that far down and voles tend to use mole tunnels\u2014which are usually 6 to 8\u201d down.\u00a0 If you plant deeper, the voles and squirrels miss them.<\/p>\n
For above ground pests, like rabbits and deer, I simply either mix my tulips with or surround them by daffodils.\u00a0 Daffodils are poisonous, period.\u00a0 Deer don\u2019t eat them, squirrels don\u2019t, rabbits don\u2019t.\u00a0 I\u2019ve sat on my deck and watched as a deer moseyed around the corner, sniffed at the daffodils surrounding a nice patch of delicious red tulips\u2014and kept on walking.<\/p>\n
By the way, an advantage to planting tulips so deep is that you can cover them with dirt up to the six-inch depth and set daffodil bulbs right on top.\u00a0 The tulips will come up in between the daffodil bulbs.\u00a0 If you want to get even fancier, cover the daffodils, then put pansies right dab smack on top.\u00a0 Instant garden.\u00a0 The pansies go all winter and provide a beautiful under-planting when the bulbs bloom in the spring.\u00a0 I talked about this last week in my blog on Lasagna Gardening.<\/p>\n
If you like fragrance, you can substitute hyacinths for the daffodils (deer and voles don\u2019t like them either).\u00a0 Just remember, tulips always go in the bottom layer, daffodils or hyacinths always in the middle.\u00a0 Small bulbs like crocus or grape hyacinths can even go on top of the daffodil layer if you want.<\/p>\n
If you garden smart, you can have a bouquet of tulips in your yard.\u00a0 Come in and let me help you pick out the best for your garden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"