Description
This is a distinct offering and it is NOT the old, long-cultivated Dutch stock grown as pulchella caerulea or oculata. It is thought that the Dutch stock stems from a single bulb or, at best, from a very small number of bulbs. It is vegetatively increased and shows no variation. We have never ever set seed on it in many years of growing it and sadly it tends to not be long-lived.
In complete contrast we now have a very few bulbs that have come to us from the personal collection of a specialist grower, who in turn has raised it from a collection that he made personally in N.W. Iran. He is of the opinion that they are much better growers and these are they very first, few, divisions from this stock. They were first selected as having pure white flowers, though subsequently they have shown blue centres to the otherwise ivory-white flowers.
Originally found in Iran, Zanjan province between Dizajabad and Sorkeh Dizaj, (2,395m, under dwarf shrubs where it grew with Geranium charlesii and G. macrostylum, Fritillaria kurdica, Iris meda, Puschkinia, Allium and Crocus) but subsequently propagated in cultivation. A well-drained, loam-based compost and standard Tulipa treatment is working well, you might prefer to keep these in a good sized pot initially, in view of the rarity of this strain.
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