Another, luckily the last, case of mislabeled tulips I acquired last September, this time at a large chain home and garden supply store. These were labeled as fosteriana Orange Breeze, which means they were supposed to be as orange as young carrots, with some green on the outside of petals. I trustingly planted them next to their equally orange sister variety fosteriana Orange Emperor and the yellow-turning-to-orange Daydream, in my yellow and orange bed.
Well, you can see for yourself what has come up. Judging from the shape of the flowers, they are not even fosteriana tulips, and they are thoroughly pink, with a mere hint of orange. Actually, they are very beautiful, and I'm glad I now have them. I just have to remove them from the yellow area of the garden. Since they are tall and fat with very large flowers, I suspect they are one of the Darwin or cottage varieties.
The striped one is the queer one of the bunch, and also the prettiest. I am afraid that the stripes originate from a virus, though, and that I should get rid of this beauty rather than allow it to grow. I read that the virus spreads readily and would ultimately destroy other tulips.
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