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THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday September 27, 2000 Homes & Gardens An O akville Beaver Feature Yes it's true. I used to be 290 pound Now look at * me just To reach this section call 845-3824 Fax:337-5567 Arrival of new tulip varieties worth the wait Perhaps the most frequently asked question from flower bulb lovers is: "What's new?" Unfortunately, for two reasons, this is a virtually impossible question to answer. Even in this age of scientific advances, it still takes from 15 to 25 years, and sometimes more, from the moment a hybridizer touches the pollen from one variety to the stamen of another, to the time when there are enough bulbs of the new flower to bring to the marketplace. For the first few years after the new flower appears, it is tested for appeal, disease resistance, longevity, its ability to multiply successfully, and all kinds of other criteria. If it passes these tests, and very few do, it is then put back into the ground in order to grow, multiply and eventually sell to the consumer. The second reason why "what's new?" is difficult to answer is that what may be new to Canada may have been sold for years in France, or Germany or Japan. And even within Canada, what's new at one retail outlet may have been available for eons at another. Therefore, consider this a red-letter day. In response to the "What's new?" question, which we at the Netherlands Flowerbulb Information Centre hear so often at this time of year, we've scoured the Dutch flower bulb industry and are most pleased to present Tulipa `Ice Cream'. Initially crossed in 1980 from par ents `Casa Blanca' and `West Frisia', both double-flowering varieties, `Ice Cream' looks just like that its name implies -- a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream atop a strawberry and kiwi coloured ice cream cone. Dutch tulip hybridizers have long been trying to achieve a double-, or And it was so easy! " I can honestly say that I ' v e conquered my weight problem and I ' v e been able to keep it I Thanks Herbal M agic fo r your support! ebbie r. LOSE THE WEIGHT! LOSE THE INCHES! JiURRY! ± CAN LOSEALL THE WEIGHT YOU NEED! CALL US NOW! · Controls appetite naturally «· Increases energy, vitality ! · Helps burn more tat sm LIMITED** L WM 4000 ·E x p ire s Oct. N o t valid w ith o th e r c o u p o n s | ·Based on fu ll prooram. Excludes product. Expires O c t 4/00 W e ig h ! M a n a g e m c n i n n d h im r it io n w l C e n ir c w 637-6019 175 Plains Rd. E . BURLINGTON (next to La Feminique) 469-4532 1395 Abbey wood Rd. OAKVILLE (In the Bruno' s Fine Foods plaza) Intriguing Ttilipa `Ice Cream' is just one of many new tulips being developed by the Dutch Flower Bulb industry. It should be available in Canada in 5 to 7 years. peonie-flowering tulip that is good for the forcing and cut flower industry. After years of trials, they have devel oped a number of tulip varieties which fit this bill. In the process, `Ice Cream' came along with the added attribute that it is also a wonderful garden flower because of its lengthy flowering period. Now before anyone gets too excited and rushes out to their local flower bulb retailer, please be aware that T. `Ice Cream', with its own brand new classi fication or group called the Cabbage Tulip, will not be available for another five to seven years. Not in Canada, not in Holland, not anywhere. We're just giving you the insider's scoop, on what's in development in the Dutch tulip world. Although, we do predict that when this new variety does come to stores near you, in the words of Bill Cosby, "I'll scream, you'll scream, we'll all scream for `Ice Cream'. S earch for elu sive bla ck tu lip con tin u es Since the early 1600's, Dutch tulip hybridizers have attempted to breed a pure black tulip. Many have tried. A few have come close -- but none have suc ceeded. Call it the `Holy Grail' of the tulip world. It was in 1850 that Alexander Dumas, famed French author of such bestsellers as `The Count of Monte Cristo' and `The Three Musketeers' first created a fervour for the most elusive (indeed unobtain able) exotic flower with his novel `The Black Tulip', a romantic tale in which a fictional black tulip figures in a love story laced with murder, torture, greed, dastardly intrigue and sudden surprises. A popular sensation, the book's 1850 publication in France was immediately followed by an English issue, and a pirat ed version released in Belgium. The cen tral theme of the book, the quest to hybridize the elusive and valuable "black" tulip, has persisted in the imagi nation of flower lovers world wide. But it's just not possible Part of what fuels the popular interest in the black tulip is the fact that no truly black tulip actually exists to this day -- nor is one ever likely to be. There is a simple reason fro this: it's impossible. Frans Roozen, technical director of the International Flower Bulb Centre in Hillegom, the Netherlands, explains, `To be truly black, the colour would have to be absolutely devoid of any hues or over tones of other colours. In nature., this only happens with death. No living flower is truly black." Though Roozen admits that very seri ous efforts to hybridize a black tulip have been made over the years and that some outstanding results have been achieved, actual black remains impossible to attain. "What is possible," he says, "and what has already been done well, is to create tulips that are a deep, dark purplybrown. Close to black, very, very close, but not true black. Hybridizing. More o f an art than a science The first tulips in Holland were plant ed at the University of Leiden in autumn of 1593. From the beginning, enterpris ing Dutchmen used their passion for tulips and hybridizing skills to improve on nature's efforts. From the beginning, the elusive black tulip was high on their list of "What iFs". Hybridizing is the method by which the qualities of two separate `parent' plants are married together (by mixing their pollen) to create a new plant which incorporates desired qualities from both. For example, by crossing a parent with desired colour and fragrance with another parent whose attributes are ideal height or flower type, the hybridizer seeks to create a `dream flower'. Sometimes the skill lies in spotting the happy accidents that can occur in cross breeding. It's a painstaking and timeconsuming process that even in this modem age remains more art than sci ence. 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