Did You Know? Tulips Are Like Onions

In honor of one of the few flowers soon to bloom here in Minnesota despite our repeated snow covered mornings, I thought I would share a bit of trivia about tulips. 

Contrary to popular belief, tulips are not native to Holland. The flowers originated in South Central Asia in what is now Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan. The name tulip is thought to come from the Turkish word "dulband" which means turban which the tulip flower is thought to resemble. Dulband is translated to "tulipa" in Latin. 

In 1636-37, Holland had "Tulipmania" where the price of a single bulb was more than the cost of a house at the time. Rare bulbs were sold for exorbitant sums (up to $100,000 by today's standards) and to have tulip bulbs at your home was as impressive as having say, a Ferrari today. Eventually, thousands of tulips varieties were brought to market and there was a "Tulip Crash". Yet, tulip cultivation still remains a large part of the Dutch culture. 

Tulips are unique in that the flower stems will keep growing after they are cut. Snip a couple of stems from your garden and put them in a vase of water. The stems will grow up to an inch or more. Cut tulips don't need any special care in a vase except lots and lots of water. They are thirsty plants and need water added every day. 

Lastly, if you're in a pinch, tulip bulbs can be used in place of onions. Which is interesting but mostly irrelevant. Who has more tulip bulbs than onions? I guess if your tulips have gone awry, which they tend to do after several years of multiplying, it might be a good way to cull down the tulip bed. 

Gardening Around the Web: Better Paperwhites

Paperwhites are a bulb that is commonly grown indoors around Christmas time along with amaryllis and sometimes tulips and crocuses. You can often find kits to grow these flowers throughout the winter months, which given our snow cover can be a really nice treat. 

In the past, I've had some paperwhites from a kit. They grew easily and very well. So well, in fact, that the plant outgrew its container and constantly toppled over from the sheer height of the plant. 

I ran across this article the other day: Drunken Paperwhites. My first thought was that it had to do with the top-heaviness of the plant and its tendency to tip over after a certain point. And it was to a point, but it was so much more than that. The author sited a study that found watering paperwhites with an alcohol solution stunted the growth of the foliage without stunting flower production making them more suitable to indoor containers. Brilliant! The study used any hard spirit (vodka, gin, whiskey) but will also work with a solution of rubbing alcohol. Whew! 'Cause who wants to waste the good stuff on a plant!

Apparently, it works! The only difference was that bulbs in a shallower container weren't as stunted. Curious. Still, an easy solution to have manageable indoor bulbs that don't topple over every time you walk by and lots of blooms, too!