Pacific Northwest Gardening: Tulips that even your cat could grow, 1 by linniew

linniew wrote:
In years past (not that I'm old...) I have planted hybridized tulips. They look great the first year, then I maybe get leaves and about half the number of flowers the next year, then there are just leaves, and then a leaf... Clearly I don't know how to grow that sort of tulip, and I like independent plants so I probably won't be finding out.

But one day I found species tulips, which I mail-ordered just to see, and they were terrific. So while the PNW doesn't have its own native tulips, the imported wild ones do well here and seem to live forever with the most minimum of care.

Here is a photo of my bunches of Tulip batalini growing today under the bamboo and among the native Oregon ginger (Asarum caudatum, a fabulous groundcover). The tulips have been beautiful for a couple of weeks and have born the recent rain (and hail) too. They do politely increase, so you can dig bulbs in the late fall to share or plant in the woods.