Expert: Long Island Gardener - 9/10/2008

Question
I am getting married next August, and Tulips have always been my favourite flower, but unfortunatly i am not an experienced gardner. I do know that this is too late in the year for them, but would like to know how i could try and grow them for early august next year so that i can have the wedding flowers i have always wanted. any tips or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Also i have started to buy the bulbs now so could you please let me know the best way to store them for this time.

Answer
Yes, another American who believes nothing is impossible.  Of all the possible flowers, you have picked the most difficult, even for a seasoned pro.

I'll tell you why.

Forcing your Tulips on schedule first requires that you pot them asap and grow them in cool, damp, aerated Soil at a temperature in the 40s.  Then you store them at around 30 degrees F from October through next July 2009, with moisture levels just right so that they do not rot.  Then you have to SLOWLY warm them to perhaps 45 or 50 degrees while providing light that is equivalent to full sun.  Having spent the better part of the year on this project, you are now going to remove them one dreadfully hot August morning and place them out of the Sun to minimize the damage of the August heat.  Says my contact: 'Tulips will not stand the heat of the August!'

If you screw up any of these steps, you won't know until the day of the bloom whether the Tulip you are holding has 'blasted', i.e., has a long beautiful stem at the tip of which is a thumb-sized brown tear-drop shaped damaged bud that fails to bloom at all.

A French contact who owns a European Spring Bulbs wholesaler points out that you'll have better luck placing an order from a commercial operation than doing this yourself,

Declares the Frenchman:  'It is a terrible idea! Please try to tell her that it will be a disaster.'

This is not cheap, either.  This special treatment requires some very fancy greenhouse temps.  He recommends Nerines, Lilies, anything but Spring Bulbs.

Plan B:

Monsieur Bulb Contact knows a Dutch shipper now somehow affiliated with a research organization in the Netherlands.  He insists you'll have better luck placing an order from a commercial operation than doing this yourself.

The Dutch company is Van den Hoek Broeiproevenbedrijf.  They have catered over the years to private customers and commercial clients who want to order blooming Spring bulbs out-of-season for trade shows and special events.  He'll deliver blooming Bulbs to rich people like Ivana Trump who wants googles of Tulips for her wedding in Palm Beach or Beverly Hills.  In 2000 they shipped 1000 Yellow Tulips in full bloom for a wedding held in late May, which I must point out is a little less problematic because May tends to be cooler than August (it's still Spring and many Spring bulbs don't bloom until May).

Van den Hoek Broeiproevenbedrijf has a website:

www.hoekbroeiproeven.nl/index_e.php

(click the British flag for pages in English)

and an address:

VAN DEN HOEK BROEIBEDRIJF 'T Veldt, Netherlands.
Tolweg 13
1681 ND
Zwaagdijk-Oost

Telefoon: 0228- 56 31 64
Fax: 0228- 56 30 29

email: pieterduin@proeftuinzwaagdijk.nl

Plan C:

Clearly you are not familiar with some of the magnificent bulbs of August.

Casablanca can be forced in August and the fragrance will be overwhelming.

Polyanthes tuberosa takes over the night with a heady, heavy scent so thick you can almost taste it.

Nicotiana.  Moonflower.  Night blooming Jasmine.  The list goes on and on.  Not unexpected the way Tulips would be, but at least as unforgettable.

Thanks for writing.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER