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What flower has never been found in the wild?

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By Chelsie Vandaveer

March 21, 2002

killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~

Breck's Bulbs -$25 off—>Click here.

Suggested Reading—>Click here.

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Unique Professionally Designed Gardens—>Click here.

Killer Picks: Snow Queen Lily, Peruvian Lily, Macbeth Daylily, Bee Balm—>Click here.

Glorie van Heemstede Dahlia—>Click here.

Fields of fragrant tuberoses (Polianthes tuberosa Linnaeus) can be found growing in such places as France, Morocco, Egypt, India, and China. Now cultivated for the perfume industry, it was one of the first plants taken back to Europe by the Spanish.

Double Tuberose – Fills the air with its wonderfully sweet fragrance! – Double white flowers, 3 ft. tall, bloom from mid-summer to frost. Double Tuberose is a must-have variety for your scented garden.

Thrives in shade. 8-10 cm bulbs. Zone 9 to 10 This Item Ships In The Spring Click here - $20 off at Henry Fields Seed and Nursery! [Spring Bulbs]

There are records of tuberoses growing in Seville in the late 1500s. Thomas Jefferson grew tuberoses at Monticello, and William Faris, a clock-maker in Annapolis, spent the final 12 years of his life growing tulips, narcissus, and tuberoses. John Custis in Williamsburg complained tuberoses were common in Virginia.

Although intoxicatingly fragrant, the tuberose contains very small amounts of its essential oil. The essence of tuberose must be extracted by enfleurage. Vegetable or animal fats are layered with the flowers until permeated with the scent. Alcohol extracts the essence from the fats and is then evaporated leaving the volatile oil.

The tuberose was a fully domesticated plant in the agave family when 'discovered' by the Conquistadors. Anthropologically, a cultivated plant is any plant intentionally grown, a domesticated plant is one changed by humans. It can no longer exist on its own or will revert to a wild form.

The early history of the tuberose is lost. Called omixochitl [oh me' zu che' tl], the bone flower, it graced the gardens of the Aztecs. The Maya grew tuberoses in their gardens, too. It may even have grown with the Toltec and Olmec before them. A few new varieties have come over the past five centuries, but the 'Mexican single' of the ancients still grows the best.

Botanically, the tuberose is a cultigen, a plant that came into being under cultivation. Some gardener of the past recognized its rarity. Perhaps a spontaneous mutation, perhaps manipulated through selection, but no wild tuberose has ever been found. The tuberose exists solely in the company of gardeners.

The Kemper Center for Home Gardening, Missouri Botanical Garden has a photograph and growing information on tuberose. To view the photograph and learn to grow these fabulous plants, click on the link:

http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=A468

killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~

Unique Professionally Designed Gardens

Springhill Nursery®

Spring Hill Nursery has unique gardens professionally designed by experts to take the guesswork out of gardening. Whether you are looking for a three season garden, foundation garden, or a garden to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, Spring Hill Nursery has created a step-by-step design just for you. Click here - $20 off your first order at Spring Hill Nursery!

Snow Queen Lily

Breck's Bulbs®

At 5-7" long, these megaphone-shaped lilies attract a lot of attention and admiration. Cluster of the pristine white trumpets appear on sturdy stems for weeks and are extra fragrant.

You may be accustomed to seeing them as "Easter Lilies" used for formal occasions, but in Europe they are commonly enjoyed as cut flowers.

Lily longiflorum Zones 3-8. 14-16 cm bulbs

Bloom Time: Early to Mid-Summer

Height 2-3’

This Item Ships In The Spring Click here - Free $25 off any order of $50 or more at Brecks Bulbs

Peruvian Lily Mixture

Breck's Bulbs®

Like the colourful costume of native Peruvians, these flowers show off a rich tapestry of pink, orange, yellow and scarlet, with contrasting purple stripes.

Rambling border plants, they bloom freely for a long period in full sun and require little or no care. They are also among the most popular cut flowers; very fragrant and long lasting in the vase.

Alstroemeria Ligtu Hybrids

Zones 6-9

#1 plants Bloom Time: Summer

Height 24"

This Item Ships In The Spring Click here - Free $25 off any order of $50 or more at Brecks Bulbs

Macbeth Daylily

Breck's Bulbs®

One of the very best purple daylilies! A theatrical display of lavender-purple blooms with a dark purple eye zone and ruffled edges amidst semievergreen, grasslike foliage. Striking, fragrant plant develops a multitude of new, compact 15 cm blooms every day, all summer long. Magical in borders. Will rebloom later in the season. Plant in sun to part shade.

Grows to 60 cm. Zones 3-9. Hemerocallis #1 plants.

Height: 22 - 24"

Bloom Time: Mid Summer

This Item Ships In The Spring Click here - Free $25 off any order of $50 or more at Brecks Bulbs

Bee Balm Croftway Pink

Breck's Bulbs®

A native to North America, monarda is famous as the source of "Oswego tea" during the Revolutionary War. The delightfully fragrant blooms of this old-fashioned flower are a favourite of butterflies and hummingbirds! Rosy-pink whorls top the bushy plants for weeks. Perfect for borders or pots in sun to partial shade.

Monarda Zones 4-9. #1 plants

Bloom Time: Summer

Height 18-20"

This Item Ships In The Spring Click here - Free $25 off any order of $50 or more at Brecks Bulbs

Glorie van Heemstede Dahlia

Breck's Bulbs®

The first Europeans to see dahlias may have been members of Cortez’s expedition among the Aztecs—they had been cultivating them for years.

You may experience the same joy of discovery when you grow this stunning specimen. It makes an outstanding addition to the flower border, as well as cut-flower arrangements.

Long lasting, showy flowers of buttery yellow spread 4-6" in diameter and resemble water lilies. Blooms summer to frost on strong stems. Decorative Dahlia

Bloom Time: Summer to Frost #1 plants

Zones 3-10; lift in fall in zones 3-7. Height: 3-4’

This Item Ships In The Spring Click here - Free $25 off any order of $50 or more at Brecks Bulbs

Free $25 off any order of $50 or more at Brecks Bulbs