The idea of creating a unique flower with black petals originated in the 16th century, when bulbous plants brought to Europe gained unprecedented popularity. Experienced flower growers share how black tulips were bred and what is needed for their cultivation at home today. Of course, growing your own mystical variety is quite difficult, but even a beginner can use ready-made onions.
The history of mystical varieties
The first relatively successful attempt to create pure black tulips belongs to an unknown Dutch breeder who presented his offspring in 1637 during a magnificent festival in the city of Harlem. However, the plants he bred were still imperfect. The color of the petals was black-violet, and in bright light - dark purple. This was followed by almost three centuries of fruitless attempts to improve the color. The black tulip remained an unattainable dream for collectors. Already in 1891, the famous breeder Krelag presented to the public a new type of bulbous flower, which was called La Tulipe Noire. The introduced novelty was also notcompletely black. The petals had a purple color, but were clearly darker than their predecessor. Thanks to Krelag, the currently most common varieties were created: Black Parrot, Black Pearl and Black Beauty. The most popular tulips are black (even in bright light) brought grower Grullemans. The name of the amazing variety was appropriate - Queen of Night. It should be noted that nature will probably never allow a purely black plant to be created without the use of chemical treatment. Therefore, those wishing to get unique flowers should use one of the already existing varieties.
Growing black tulips is easy
For planting bulbs, you need to choose a suitable place in the garden or at their summer cottage. Tulips look very good against the background of a lush green lawn, however, for the integrity of the composition, from 30 to 50 plants will have to be planted. You need to ask what exactly the black tulips will be: the photo will help to find out not only the appearance, but also the size of the flower. For medium and large garden varieties, the bulbs are planted to a depth of 10-13 cm, keeping a distance between plants of 7-10 cm. Sand must be poured into the bottom of the hole. This is done for better drainage and to prevent souring of the roots. Black tulips are sprinkled on top with a mixture of sand and fertile soil. So that the heads of the handsome men do not shrink, after flowering, the entire stem is immediately removed, leaving only two leaves for the normal nutrition of the daughter bulbs.
After flowering and yellowingtulip leaves are dug up for winter storage. Before hiding all future planting material until next year, it must be dried in warm partial shade. If watering was sufficient, then you can get two or three daughter bulbs. To combat fungal diseases, tulips are treated with a fungicide. For storage, gauze or unpainted calico bags are used, which are hung in a well-ventilated area. The ideal temperature is 16-20 degrees.
Attention: if black tulips suddenly bloom with flowers covered with attractive white veins, this may be a manifestation of a dangerous disease - "variegation". Affected plants and bulbs must be removed, otherwise the virus will destroy all existing plantings.
