A Different Stripe : ‘Broken’ Tulips, Outlawed in the ‘80s, Are Available Again at Nurseries
HOLLAND WENT mad for tulips between 1634 and 1637. Bulbs were traded like futures, and at the peak of “tulipomania,” one bulb of the famous ‘Semper Augustus,’ a red-and-white striped flower with a blue-tinted base, sold for about $1,800. Famous painters copied the flowers in exacting detail.
No one knew it at the time, but it was a virus that created striped tulips, the handsome flowers that most captured the fancy of the Dutch. Unfortunately, the virus also weakened the tulips.
Since the desirable virus could not be transmitted through the seed, striped tulips had to be grown from offsets. Generation by generation, the “broken” tulips grew less hardy, and ‘Semper Augustus,’ along with most of the other striped tulips of the day, finally disappeared. But breeders found other virus-infected tulips, and as a group these became known as Rembrandt or Bizarre tulips. In the early 1980s, however, the Dutch government outlawed the growing of virus-infected tulips, and for a time the fanciful flowers vanished from nurseries.
The good news for Southern California gardeners is that similar bulbs are becoming available, thanks to hybridizers who have managed to produce a wide variety of striped tulips without viruses.
Some of these are being offered as Rembrandt or Bizarre tulips, but they are actually a mix of those new striped varieties that look the most like the old 17th-Century kinds. If you want a true Rembrandt or Bizarre tulip, you can grow your own, according to Dan Davids of Davids & Royston Bulb Co. in Gardena: Simply leave any tulip in the ground for several years, and it will become infected with the virus, which is commonly found in our soils.
This fall, some Southern California nurseries, including Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar, Palos Verdes Begonia Farm in Walteria, San Gabriel Nursery in San Gabriel and Burkard Nurseries in Pasadena, as well as the Nurseryland stores, will carry special mixes labeled as Rembrandt or Bizarre tulips.
Striped and multicolored tulips also are available individually. Some are “feathered”--the color is confined to the petal edges. Others are “flamed,” with color running the entire length of the petal. The variety ‘Estella Rynveld,’ flamed and feathered with slender streaks of red on a white background and fringed petals, is popular in Southern California. ‘Sorbet,’ another red on white, is a classic tulip shape.
Striped tulips such as ‘Estella Rynveld’ are striking when planted in masses. They also are perfect candidates for containers, where their intricate markings can be studied in detail. To grow tulips in containers, Dan Davids suggests planting them side by side just under the soil surface so that they fill an entire pot. Keep them moist and in shade until growth reaches 4 inches; then gradually move the pot into the sun. Those planted in the cutting garden can transform an ordinary bouquet into a 17th-Century still life.
