Tulips?

[pendell]

This is a silly question for gardeners in the playground.

So I was reading about tulips, and although they are designed to survive cold temperatures, evidently the ground itself has to be above freezing, or the bulb will be damaged and the plant will not re-grow.

"For this factor tulips generally do not grow above the 40 parallel. "This parallel runs from Korea, Japan and China through Uzbekistan, Tajikista, and Turkmenistan, on to America and Turkey." (Van Der Horst, p.8) "

See link (http://bss.sfsu.edu/geog/bholzman/courses/Spring99Projects/tulips.htm).

But wait! Don't tulips grow in Holland? Holland's famous for it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania), in fact.

What's going on here? Is the first link wrong? If not, how do you keep all those tulips alive that far north?

Why is this important? Well, ya never know when you'll be at the gorge of Peril and the questions will be

"What... is your name?"
"Sir Robin!"
"What ... is your quest?"
"To find the holy grail!"
"What ... is the method for keeping tulips alive in subfreezing climates?"
"I don't know tha- AIIEEEEE"

So you see, it's important to know the answers to trivia like this lest it someday be a matter of life and death importance :).

Plus -- I had a dream last night where I was arguing with a gardener about a tulip bed that had been "killed" by a cold wind. He was all for pulling up the bulbs, I was for leaving 'em in. But I don't know the first thing about tulips, because they don't have a USB port.


Respectfully,

Brian P.

[KuReshtin]

My parents have a bunch of tulips that break through the asphalt in their driveway every year, even if there's been cold winters with sub-freezing temperatures.

They live at about 56 degrees North.

They don't do anything to keep them alive.

[Eldan]

Similar to the above poster, Switzerland is above 40 degrees, and our tulips survive just fine.

[YPU]

remember the parallels are not a perfect indication of temperature. There are parts of norway that get less cold in the winter then the netherlands do, for instance.

[pendell]

My parents have a bunch of tulips that break through the asphalt in their driveway every year, even if there's been cold winters with sub-freezing temperatures.

They live at about 56 degrees North.

They don't do anything to keep them alive.

I can't speak to Switzerland below, but the first link said that the *underground* that the bulbs were in could not be below freezing -- it's okay if the surface or the air currents above are below freezing, as long as the underground *itself* is not.

It occurs to me that a layer of asphalt might provide insulation, thereby keeping the ground underneath from freezing. Do tulips spring up in regular soil as well? Or just from under the asphalt?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Dallas-Dakota]

In fact, only occasionaly do our(dutch) winters get below 0 degrees Celcius. And not for that long or that terribly cold then either, I doubt the actual ground is frozen much.

And we Dutch people do grow a lot of plants on commercial scale that do not naturally grow/thrive in our climate, we just use tons of greenhouses.

[YPU]

And we Dutch people do grow a lot of plants on commercial scale that do not naturally grow/thrive in our climate, we just use tons of greenhouses.
SSSSSH! Thats a secret you know!

[thubby]

some areas have weird temperatures because of ocean or air currents.

[Dallas-Dakota]

SSSSSH! Thats a secret you know!
No, the secret was that we're mu-err, nothing. Nothing at all.

Mvoe along, citizen. Go back to your fun.

[Erloas]

I'm not sure on tulips specifically, but with most plants they have a low range of temperatures they can be expected to live through. Its rarely right at freezing either, because plants have a lot of minerals in the water in them that lowers their freezing point.

Then there is the frost depth, how far down into the ground the cold penetrates, since the ground will hold a lot more heat then the air. The air temperature usually has to get a decent amount below 0C before the ground will get to 0C as well. If its only -3C out and its only that cold for 6 hours a day, chances are only the very surface of the ground will get to freezing. If (like it is here) your highs for the day are -5 and your lows are -15 and you go months with the temperature barely reaching 3 for a few hours a week, then the ground might easily get -5 for a foot or more under the surface.

As for temperature and latitude, there are a lot more variables then that. Elevation has a much greater impact on temperature. Even things like how much cloud cover a place normally has, if a place that gets very little rain/snow and don't get a huge amount of cloud cover, the area will generally have much larger swings in temperature between day and night. And of course things like proximity to large bodies of water, surrounding mountains, and all sorts of other things.

Oh, and seemingly count-intuitively, snow can help insulate the ground from the extreme temperatures of the air. A thick layer of snow might keep the surface of the ground a little below freezing and the frost level might not get very deep because of it. Obviously if you have snow on the ground, at least the surface of the ground is at or below freezing, but it might be the difference between the ground staying at maybe -2 even though the air itself happens to drop to -15.

[Marnath]

Holland is famous for tulips, yes. I live right near there, and i have to say that Lake Effect from living right near lake michigan protects us from the worst extremes in temperature. Also, Greenhouses.

[742]

wait, your tulips dont have USB ports? when did they go wireless!? why dont people tell me these things?

[Dr. Bath]

Holland is famous for tulips, yes. I live right near there, and i have to say that Lake Effect from living right near lake michigan protects us from the worst extremes in temperature. Also, Greenhouses.

There's a lake Michigan in northern Europe? Learn something new every day.

[Yora]

I think theres a Holland near Lake Michigan.

However, the North Sea works pretty similar. On the german coast we also often have winters without any snow and temperatures above freezing in January.

[Fifty-Eyed Fred]

Europe is warmed considerably by a certain delightfully warm current of water; the Gulf Stream. After all, the UK is at the same latitude as Siberia and Canada, yet is nowhere near as cold.

[Dr. Bath]

I think theres a Holland near Lake Michigan.

Which is also famous for Tulips?

I've certainly never heard that. Can't be famous then!

[Force]

Which is also famous for Tulips?

I've certainly never heard that. Can't be famous then!

Locally famous. I live about an hour away from Holland, and they have at least one festival that I know of involving tulips. I'm not sure if they actually grow tulip bulbs commercially, though; the flower-bulb business is mostly centered in the Netherlands. I work at a flower farm down here and it's packaging season; hundreds of thousands of bulbs come in every day from the Netherlands and get sent out to retailers across the US. Tulips make up a very large percentage of what we package.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I only know about the whole holland/tulip things 'cause Holland gives Canada a whole metric tonne of tulips every anniversary of our liberating them.

[Marnath]

Locally famous. I live about an hour away from Holland, and they have at least one festival that I know of involving tulips. I'm not sure if they actually grow tulip bulbs commercially, though; the flower-bulb business is mostly centered in the Netherlands. I work at a flower farm down here and it's packaging season; hundreds of thousands of bulbs come in every day from the Netherlands and get sent out to retailers across the US. Tulips make up a very large percentage of what we package.

Veldheer's(spelling?) grow some locally don't they? And lol, no there is no lake michigan in europe. The holland i speak of is in Michigan, and yes it is quite famous for its tulips. Every year we have Tulip Time, which is a festival and parade and stuff. Tourists come from all over, even from the Netherlands :smalleek:. I've never gone because it sounds boring and i don't care to celebrate Dutch culture, seeing as i descend from english/norman stock, not dutch >.>

[Dr. Bath]

You guys should definitely specify!

Holland is always gonna be a country in my books, not some michigan place. Like when someone thought when I said I was from London I meant somewhere on the East US coast! How crazy.

[Marnath]

It didn't occur to me to specify, because my Holland is the only one i need to think about on a daily basis. :smallredface:

Also, your avatar is freaking weird Dr. Bath. :smalleek:

[pendell]

Just to be absolutely clear, when I say "Holland", I mean the Netherlands in Europe. If I mean any other Holland, I will include some additional information (e.g. Holland, Minnesota).

The same with others: If I say "Paris, Virginia", I mean a small town in Virginia of about 300 people. If I say "Paris", I mean the capital of La Belle France, the City of Lights. And if I say Vienna .... I mean the city of Beethoven, not the train stop next to my house which is ALSO called "Vienna, Virginia".

Sorry for any confusion :).

Respectfully,

Brian P.