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Rob Proctor breaks down the trouble with tulips

The two "best of the best" are red 'Apeldoorn' and 'Golden Apeldoorn.' These are the most popular tulips in the world--for very good reason.
Credit: Thinkstock

KUSA — Tulips are native to central Asia (not Holland). The climate and soil of central Asia is not unlike our own. So you'd expect tulips to thrive here. Some do, some don't.

The trouble is that the Dutch have been breeding tulips for over three centuries. These are tulips that do great in the Dutch climate but not necessarily here. Many hybrids simply do not persist here. (Many are also eaten by deer or rodents but that's a separate problem.)

I've grown tulips most of my life. The best of the big hybrids for "naturalizing" in our climate are the Darwin hybrids. They come in a wide variety of colors; they are big and bold. If you leave them alone and don't interfere by cutting off their leaves after they bloom, they will thrive and even multiply. Bulbs I planted 25 years ago are going strong.

The two "best of the best" are red 'Apeldoorn' and 'Golden Apeldoorn.' These are the most popular tulips in the world--for very good reason.

Plant the bulbs five to six inches deep. I prefer them "bouquet style," with half a dozen bulbs in each hole. Plant them with the point up and little can go wrong.

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