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Make Mine a Double
by Tracy Ilene Miller
Bicolored bulb introductions are fulfilling the consumers need for something wild in the garden, but demand for the traditional is not waning
Coffee-table books summarize nicely what's current with bulbs. The oversized volumes with larger-than-life stills of flowers serve up the bold and the beautiful. The covers of tulip books show varieties such as "Garden Party" with yellow petals streaked with pink and edged with bright pink. Flip through the pages and there isn't a pastel to be found; instead, deep nearly black purples and exotic parrot and fringed tulips abound. In the lily books, bold and vivid colors and patterns rule-spots or stripes, and deep reds. In lilies, though, continue to expect plenty of white.
"White is always going to be popular," says Yolanda Vanveen of Vanveen Bulbs International in Estacada, Ore. "People always want white flowers."
White is for weddings and funerals and it is the flower of moonlight gardens. The traditional Oriental Lily 'Casa Blanca' is still a best seller, but not necessarily other whites. For a new white lily to sell, it has to be different.
So defines the dichotomy of bulbs: Consumers demand the
proven traditional flowers but can't get enough of the new and different. Having one up on the neighbors is a strong motivator for home gardeners.
Introductions, therefore, are mirroring the wants and needs of customers for new, different and everything bicolor. Across the board, from tulips to daffodils, bicolored flowers are popular.
The quest for dark blooms is also a notable trend. This year, 'Queen of the Night,' a nearly black tulip, sold out for most companies. Other deep purple tulips such as 'Negrita' were hot sellers, as was 'Kronos', a near black hyacinth. When Martha Stewart and others like her extol purple tulips, consumers clamor for them.
But mentioning hyacinths points again to twists in the market. Yolanda Vanveen echoes others when she says pastels in tulips aren't selling as well (although yellow and red always do) but any color of hyacinth seems to go. Gardeners love hyacinths because they bloom for nearly a month, not a week like many daffodils and tulips, and they can be forced. So in direct contrast to all those black tulips, the yellow 'City of Haarlem' (named after the city in The Netherlands) and the dark pink 'Pink Pearl' were some of her most popular hyacinths.
Outside of the unusual, other criteria for currently trendy bulbs are anything that grows in containers, blooms in the fall, or is fragrant, naturalizing or drought tolerant. That include alliums, but also more demand for Calla Zantedeschia, the miniature calla lilies that come in vibrant dark colors, which customers are always surprised to find need hot, full sun and dry conditions, says Vanveen. "People think since they are colored, they need shade," she said.
"Red and purple callas, right now I can't get enough in," she said. Particularly popular are 'Red Flame'-because of the varied shades in orange, bronze and red, no two are alike-and 'Gem Lavender.'
Yolanda Wilson is a 2004 graduate of the WSU Master Gardener Program and is also proprietor of Vanveenbulbs.com, a flower bulb company selling on the internet and at garden shows and farmers markets. She's always happy to speak to gardening groups about flower bulbs. You can find her each Saturday at the Beaverton Farmers Market (where she's been selling bulbs for 14 years) or e-mail her at info@vanveenbulbs.com.
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