Egg Cup Tulips! Ever seen any like this??

These are Greigii tulips that I planted last fall. The tag just says "greigii" http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2281/index.html without any special cultivar name. The greigii aren't tall (6-12" is listed for most of them in PlantFiles).
But nobody says they sit on the ground like eggs in egg cups!!

Has anyone ever seen any growing like this??

(I know I didn't plant them extra deep. If anything, I might plant a tulip bulb too shallowly, but never too deeply. lazy me, plus hands that don't want to dig anymore. All the other tulips planted at the same time are growing up normally, stems and all!)

here's a shot of a single tulip

whoa!

that's what I said too!
so these are not growing in everybody's yard and I had just missed out on the trend??

Cute and different. They are funny little mites.

I have never seen such a thing. They are kind of cute. Guess we better make sure we all plant them way at the front of the garden though. :)

These greigii tulips are quite short by nature, although yours are the shortest I've seen yet, lol. I used to have some, but I guess a rodent ate them one winter.
I planted some tulips called 'Easter Basket Mix' last fall. Some of those have been exceptionally short stemmed this spring also. I thought it was our growing conditions, but most of my other tulips seem to be normal in height.
I think your little greigii tulips look darling!

They stay short.....that's their nature, however give it a few days and you will see that they will stand up on stems about 4-5 inches tall.

badseed -- they're not "back of the border" plants, that's for sure. It's just good chance that I planted them in a spot where I can see them well now.

bleek, you mean they're going to grow out of it?? :-( Darn. They're so much more interesting this way!

Toxi, hi. Yes, I knew the greigii were short, but there's short, and then there's squat!! They really are quite lovely in person though - all that tulip vibrancy nestled in a bed of leaves. Somehow with them sitting right on the ground it seems all the more extraordinary that they emerged out of the earth.
"Easter Basket Mix" does sound like it might be bred to be short. Here too everything else is normal height, so it's not the soil (and I really don't think it was the planter).
Since last fall I've discovered Old House Gardens. I think I'll plant some old heirlooms next fall. It will be just a very few and hope they multiply (because of the prices), but such beauties. Have you ever tried any of their tulips?

Now I remember that they also have the original short stemmed tulips - Duc van Thol, 5 to 7 inches high. here they are: http://www.oldhousegardens.com/bulb.asp?Cat=TU&page=3

LOL @ the 'squat' comment. Now that is funny!

Paani, I have looked at daffodils at OldHouse Gardens, but have not purchased anything from them. I have several old heirloom daffs that I got from an old farmstead...unfortunately, I did not mark them as to variety, and they are crowded and need divided. Some have stopped blooming altogether. After looking at the prices at Old House, I realized that I should have taken more care. A few are still making blooms so I need to mark them and divide them this year for sure.
I have Pheasant's Eye, Bath's Flame, Thalia, Butter and Eggs, and Van Sion to name a few. All getting lost in the English Ivy. Shame on me. Except Thalia...I have hundreds of those. Want some?

I like these. I have never seen them before.

well, it's just as bleek predicted.
we had a nice spring rain, and the eggs got their legs!

some of them are still squat, badseed; others are merely short (tallest might have a 5" stem). A few remain eggs. They're all pretty, but I like the eggs best.
So I guess the only really unusual thing about them was that they opened up before getting a stem of any length.

Toxi, those prices at old house gardens are pretty astounding aren't they? Some of the other kinds of bulbs vary quite a bit, but it seems that pretty much all the daffs. are really pricey -- so I guess what you've got are pretty rare. I sure would love to have a few. I'll send you a mail.

I've been digging out from under ivy too. I found some nice hyacinths this year just in time for them to come out and bloom.

I kind of thought they would achieve thier height as well; I work as a floral designer and get annoyed with tulips because the stems continue to grow in an arrangement. The next day they're usually an inch taller.

Can we see the tulips' with stems now? Any pictures? I loved them 'squat' too, but I guess that's not to be for long! I wonder if the hybridizers throw out the squatty growers thinking no one would want them!

Any pictures of the heirloom old farmstead daffs? Just wondering... Love the thalia. Very pretty.

Thanks. t.

g_s, Interesting. I didn't know that! Are there any other flowers that tend to grow noticeably after they're cut?

tabasco, I was being lazy and thought of getting a shot tomorrow. But your request sent me out to the garden. They were already closing up for the night, but you can see how they've gotten their legs.

The flowers are quite enormous in relation to the rest of the plant (very large for any tulip I'd say). That's not so obvious once they're closing up. I think they represent hybridizers run amok, really, when you compare to the grace of a tall old tulip. But if I think of them just as an interesting flower, and not as a tulip, I quite like them!

that's still pretty darn cute

Indeed .. paani !! ... Quite an interesting and most beautiful lil tulip! ... Some mitey wonderful pics too!

And, 'squatty' is an ideal descriptive for them too! Then, the lil 'squatty-bodies' do a wee lil 'jump'! .. (*hee*)

- Magpye

Well, thanks, Paani, you didn't have to interrupt your reverie to get a pic right then!

Yes, they are a tulip with a good deal of 'substance'...very pretty as a landscape plant, too, I bet.

Beautiful!

magpye, tabasco and nut4spuds,

I looked at them through your eyes and enjoyed them all over again! And just in time too. We had a heavy spring rain and we went from eggs in their cups to scrambled in a flash. No chance to get a picture of them fully open for you. They were quite a sight while they lasted though.

I noticed somebody (Tazzy?) call another short-stemmed tulip a "pixie tulip". Good description (or maybe it's a cultivar name - what do I know?). These ones were too rolly-polly for that name, but I like it.

and triple posting deleted!
whoops.

This message was edited Apr 15, 2005 8:36 PM

Sorry to hear they turned into 'scrambled eggs'--isn't that often the case with tulips?

I have so much trouble growing them and then keeping them, except in pots, and even then, I have to nurse them like a newborn, practically... oh, but they are lovely when they make their spring show... these are 'creme upstar' (but I have them in pots)--they started 'squatty' too....

paani, I loved your squat tulips... better when squat but still pretty with legs. : )

t,
those are lovely. As subtle in their colors as my "eggs" were not. Both ways are beautiful in tulips, somehow. Are the edges of the petals a bit scalloped too? Some of them look that way in the photo.

here's another unusual tulip, an old one called t. acuminata: http://www.oldhousegardens.com/bigFlwr.asp?Cat=acuminata

the description of it is on this page about 2/3rds of the way down:
http://www.oldhousegardens.com/bulb.asp?Cat=TU&page=1

I'll probably never get any - too expensive -- but they are a treat to look at, even on-line.

What makes it so hard to grow tulips where you are t.? Have you got too many bulb loving critters?
Planting in pots sounds like a good idea in many ways. The foliage can then migrate to the back of the garden after they bloom. Plus the problem of the bulbs getting too much water later in the season is eliminated.
Do you just plant them in the fall as normal and let them over-winter outside in the pots? I planted a few bulbs (not tulips though) in 2 big pots/urns we have by the front porch and most of them rotted by spring. No such trouble for the ones in the ground. How do you avoid that kind of problem?

Paani,
I know the above question was not directed at me, but wanted to respond anyway. Whenever I pot bulbs in containers I water them thoroughly and then store them in a cold shed, under the roof overhang of the north side of the house, under the house, etc. I never leave them out where they can be rained on. After about 3 months I take them out of storage and start gradually increasing light, water, and temps to get them to bloom. Usually they bloom about the same time as the outside regular bulbs because I buy them really late on clearance! Hope this helps. Here is a pot that had hyacinths on one side (finished) and tulips on the other. Taken a couple of weeks ago. http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/70575/

Hi Toxicodendron,
Did you ever remove all that ivy? I'm still getting rid of that stuff going into my second spring here. The previous homeowner planted some on trellising right next to the neighbors house and it crawled up and into their siding and windows. Yuck! The daffodils may be some of the few remnants of whatever the original family planted at this century+ house. This year we have clumps flowering that didn't bloom last year. Some very pretty varieties. I should really take some pictures and see if I can't get them id'ed here.

I really prefer many of the heirloom daffodils and tulips over the newer varieties. With the tulips, I like the species more. I have my eye on the T. acuminata and a few others.

Sheila

darius,
hello! glad you enjoyed the odd squatter-tulips too. I often bump (?) into your postings and have learned a lot from them.

toxi,
speaking of learning!! It's pretty obvious (now that you tell me!), that you can't just "pot-em-up" and leave-em-out. I'd never thought about how to go about it. I just stuck a few in the planters on a whim when I was planting in the ground.

Thanks for telling me how to do it properly. Looking at your beautiful photo makes me think I'd like to try it this fall. Does that path lead down into the woods? It looks like a fine place to walk.

skatayama,
does ivy ever agree to be completely removed?? I'd settle for minor intrusions, occasional invasions!!
If you've got old heirloom daffodils hiding under it, you're fortunate indeed. enjoy!

Hi skatayama,
No, I will never be rid of all my ivy, I like it! I have tons of it. I am trying to contain it though, since it is never satisfied with it's allotted half-acre or so, LOL.
But it does make dividing bulbs practically impossible, so as I dig them out, I am moving them elsewhere.
And definitely, yes, keep it away from your house. My Mom just bought a place that is overrun with it, up into the eaves, etc.
Here is a small section of the ivy where it has overrun the bulbs (the Rhododendron is holding it's own, though).

this is no "squatty", but I can't resist posting it in this thread -- these tulips have got a little tyke tagging along!

What a little darling! I had some, too, but not so cute.

Ahhh, paani ... Sure nuff!! .. And s/he wants to grow up to be 'jes like the rest of 'em!' ... LOL ...

Little does he know .. that he's already the perfect clone of the big'uns: only a wee bit shorter! I can relate to him, easily !! .. hee ..

Paani .. THIS, is YOUR thread .. you can take, make and post what ever other tulips your lil heart desires!

C'mon .. fascinate us some more!!

Thanks sooo much, for giving in .. to posting the pic of the tulip toddler!! ... Jes plum adorable!!

- Magpye