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Tulips all flowering red

Margaret461Margaret461 Posts: 14
in Problem solving
We have some red and yellow single tulips which are quite old and well-established.  A couple of years' ago, we planted some pink and purple tulip bulbs, but either they did not come up or they changed colour as only red ones flowered.  We are on chalky soil - does this make them change colour, or is there another reason why they are all the same colour?  We also have the same trouble with helebores.

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    In what way do the hellebores change colour?  The original plants can't change colour, but their offspring are likely to be different to the parents ... hellebores are notoriously promiscuous.  

    With the tulips my guess is that only the red ones came up this year.  I've never known chalky soil make any difference to the colour of tulips, but they are not long-lived bulbs and some only repeat for a couple of seasons.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Most of the bright red and yellow varieties tend to be the Apeldoorn ones, which come back quite reliably. The soil won't cause them to change colour.
    As @Dovefromabove says - many varieties don't come back reliably, especially if they don't have enough nutrition and optimum growing conditions, which may happen if the soil's chalky. Even in good conditions, most  of them only return for a couple of years, diminishing over time. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Margaret461Margaret461 Posts: 14
    Many thanks Fairygirl and Dovefromabove.  I think you are right about the tulips, so will have another go this year with different colours.  Regarding the hellebores, there are 3 'original' pink ones, but when we had 2 new ones given to us (dark pink and apricot), these also flowered the same colour as the original ones.  They are not offspring from the originals.  Possibly they have been cross-pollinated!
  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    Possibly they had the wrong labels when they were sold.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Cross pollination would only affect the resulting seed, which would take years to produce a flowering bulb ... so it's not that.  

    If you want tulips that go on year after year the best sort to get are some of the smaller, lower growing 'botanical' varieties ... they naturalise if they're happy with the situation, and come back year after year.  :D

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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