Small, but durable wild tulips making a comeback

By Hugh G. EARNHART

OSU Ext. master gardener volunteer

“Tulip mania” has captured gardeners of America.

No, we are not using tulip bulbs as currency like the Dutch once did in the 17th century, but gardeners are crazed today by the blooming of the tulip in the spring.

If you are brave enough to break away from the humdrum of today’s over hybridized tulip, which has a short shelf life, willing to deal with those “rats with antlers,” and do some searching through catalogs, try growing some wild or heirloom tulips.

Most gardeners link tulips to Holland and the other “Low Countries” of Europe – Belgium and Luxembourg. A genus of bulbous herbs belonging to the Liliaceae family, these species are found wild along the northern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Caucasus, North Africa, Turkey and Central Asia.

Early commercial trade with the Far East brought this cup-shaped flower with six regular segments in two rows to the attention of the Europeans in the 16th century.

Hybridization of these wild tulips has developed the big tulip with various colors, sizes and shapes that we grow today.

But in the process, we have lost the real beauty and tenacity of the wild ones.

Holland has been the leader in cultivating millions of domestic tulips over the years for export to the United States. Growers in Holland are now flirting with the first wild tulip for domestic export.

Few people have had the opportunity to view wild tulips growing in their natural habitat on mountain ridges and the barren steppes of Central Asia.

Recently, collectors have been growing these beauties, and some have reached retail markets.

They look small next to today’s big hybrids, but their colors are electrifying.

The wild species are numerous and distinguished one from another by the scales of the bulbs being wooly or smooth on the inner surface, the character of the flowers stalks, or the filaments being hairy.

Since these beauties are best suited for the rock crevices, mountain ranges and colder climates of the world, many are killed with kindness by modern gardening.

Several wild tulips obtainable in the retail market today are Votive Motif (cranberry striped, closed; and yellow and white, open), Turkestanica (white with golden eyes), Praestans (pumpkin with red speckles), Lini folia (scarlet and black), and Bakers Lilac Wonder (lilac pink with yellow center).

Wild tulips give a garden carpet a natural look when combined with daffodils, muscari (grape hyacinth), and dwarf grasses.

See the book “Tulips in the Wild” by Eric Breed, a real winter treat beside a roaring fireplace.

To learn more about wild tulips, visit http://go.osu.edu/wildtulips.