COMING NEXT WEEK: DOWNTON ABBEY STYLES

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othing announces the arrival ofspring better than a flower gardenfull of colorful and fragrantblooms. The plants that gracethese gardens come from eitherseeds or bulbs. So if seeds andbulbs both produce plants, whatexactly is the difference betweenthe two?

All plants—even bulb plants—originate from seeds. The major difference betweenbulbs and seeds lies in the role each plays in the lifecycle of the plant and their function. Seeds developafter sexual reproduction combines genetic materialfrom parent plants. Bulbs, on the other hand, developfrom asexual or vegetative reproduction when plantcells divide and form a copy of the parent plant. Thesenew bulbs are called offsets or bulbets.

“When you plant a bulb, you’re sure you’re goingto get the kind of plant you like,” said Rose Ogutu,Ph.D., horticulture specialist for Delaware State Uni-versity’s Cooperative Extension.

A bulb is a plant that grows from an undergroundmass of food storage tissues. The primary function ofthese underground storage structures is to provide theplant with enough nutrients to ensure the plants sur-vival when it’s resting or waiting to be planted, saidMartha Stevens, public landscapes manager at theDelaware Center for Horticulture.

Botanically speaking, a bulb is a modifiedstem containing a miniature plant sur-rounded by fleshy scales, which providefood and a basal plate, which pro-duces roots.

Tunicate bulbs, like tulips,daffodils, hyacinths and orna-mental alliums, have a paper-like covering called a tunicthat protects the

fleshy scales from drying out. Imbricate bulbs like thelily do not have this protective covering and must bekept moist prior to planting.

Like the bulb, a seed is a miniature plant with aprotective cover and a food supply called endosperm.But unlike the bulb, the seed shows none of the struc-tures found on the adult plant. Indeed, the primarypurpose of the seed is to germinate a plant formedfrom the genetic material of two parent plants.

Seed plants can be annuals, biennials or perenni-als. Bulb plants, on the other hand, are equipped to sur-vive over the long term. Bulb plants are naturallyperennial and, with proper care, will grow annually formany years.

Bulbs are divided into two categories based on whenthey bloom. Summer-flowering bulbs such as the lilyare too tender to survive harsh winter conditions andare planted in the spring. Spring-flowering bulbs likethe tulip are often called hardy bulbs because they cansurvive in cold temperatures. In fact, they need thecold in order to flower properly.

“If you plant them in October or November andthey get that cold treatment, you should have a show inthe spring,” said Carrie Murphy, ornamental horticul-turist with the New Castle County Cooperative Exten-sion at the University of Delaware.

Some other plants that we call bulbs are not truebulbs because they lack one or more characteristics ofthe true bulb. Corms like the crocus and gladiolus

store food in a large basal plate but have nofleshy scales. Tubers such as dahlias

lack a basal plate and do not pro-duce offsets. Rhizomes such as

iris, calla lilies and cannas,differ from other storagestructures in that they growhorizontally along the sur-face of the soil or justunder it.

Fun facts • Currently, there are about 75 wildspecies of tulips and 150 species intotal, with more than 3,000 varieties.• The word tulip is derived from aPersian word called delband, whichmeans turban. • Tulips are native to the mountainousareas of Central Asia and have beencultivated for more than 500 years. Thetulip is the national flower of Turkeyand Afghanistan.

• TheNetherlandsremains theworld’s mainproducer ofcommerciallysold tulips, pro-ducing as manyas 3 billionbulbs annually,mostly forexport.• Tulips came

to Europe in the 16th century via a giftfrom the Ottoman Empire. They wereintroduced to the United States inthe 1800s.• Tulips require a period ofcold dormancy called ver-nalization to flower.• Tulips normally haveone flower per stem buta few species have upto four flowers on a sin-gle stem.

T H E S C I E N C E O F S P R I N G - F L O W E R I N G B U L B S

TULIPTIMENot every spring flower is created the same way.Learn about the root causes of our gorgeous gardens

By Christine FaccioloSpecial to The News Journal

N

ONLINE QUIZ AND INTERACTIVE GRAPHICTest how much you’ve learned about THE SCIENCE OFTULIP BULBS at delawareonline.com/didyouknow

TulipmaniaThe Dutch obsession with the tulip led to

a period from 1634-1637 known as Tulipma-nia. Tulipmania was the world’s first majorfinancial bubble. Investors began speculat-

ing in tulips, driving prices to unprecedentedhighs. The average price of a single flowerexceeded the annual income of a skilledworker. Tulips sold for 4,000 florins, the

currency of the Netherlands at the time.When prices fell dramatically over the

course of a week, many investors went bankrupt and the

economy crashed.SOURCE: Investopedia.com

Where to see tulips

• Lewes Tulip FestivalLewes, Thursday, April 10 -

April 12, (302) 645-8073

• The Inn at Montchanin514 Montchanin Road, Montchanin,

(302) 888-2133 (garden of tulips near the “Pink House”)

• Loockerman StreetDover (tulips blossom in the grassy median near Post Office)

• Longwood Gardens1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, Pa. (610) 388-1000

• Mt. Cuba Center3120 Barley Mill Road, Hockessin, (302) 234-4244,

www.mtcubacenter.org

• Valley Garden ParkCampbell Road,

Greenville, (302) 576-3810

The stages of growth1. Planting timeSept. - Oct. The tulip bulbs areplanted. Mostimportant: plantthem twice as deepas the bulb is high.They have no rootsat this stage.

2. Making rootsNovember The roots startgrowing out of thebase. They establishthemselves in thedirt and take nour-ishment out of thedirt. The motherbulbs get ready forwinter.

3. Cooling periodDec. - Jan.Now starts the restperiod. In order forthe bulbs to bloomin the spring, theyneed weeks of atleast 40-degreetemperatures. Frostat this time doesnot harm the bulbs.

4. GrowingperiodFeb. - MarchThe bulbs begin tochange as thestarch, or carbohy-drates, in themturns to sugar. Asthis occurs, theleaves and flowergradually push up-wards out of thebulb.

6. Time toregenerateMay - JuneAfter the bloom-ing period, theflowers are cutand the leaves areleft on the plant.The new daughterbulbs will be usingthe food values ofthe leaves togrow.

5. BloomingtimeApril - May As the tulips bloom

they receivetheir nourish-

ment fromthe rootsonly. Theskin of the

bulb barelyremains as all of

the energy goesto the bloom.

7. MultiplyingbulbsJuly - Sept.Up to five small bulbscan be expected togrow out of themother bulb. Theyform their roots slow-ly and develop theirblooms and leaveswithin the bulb, fornext years plant.

Basal stemThe compressed stem con-nects the flower, scalesand roots of the plant

ScalesThick, fleshyleaves arearrangedaround thestem

TunicPaper outercovering

Flower budIn the center ofthe bulb is a babyflower bud.

RootsGrow out of thebasal stem

Inside the tulip bulb

40°

Bulb

Design and graphics byDan Garrow/The News Journal