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Article: Summer-flowering bulbs get to the root of matter
- Article from:
- Oakland Tribune
- Article date:
- June 14, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2003 Oakland Tribune. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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SCRIPPS HOWARD
THINK outside the box when considering the palette of summer-
flowering bulbs. The bulbs certainly do. Should we expect less of the
gardeners who grow them?
Unlike their spring-flowering counterparts, which are mostly true
bulbs, summer-flowering bulbs come in all shapes and sizes. Our
spades may turn up a tuber, a tuberous root, a tuberous stem, a corm,
a true bulb or a rhizome. Botanists frown at our cavalier disregard
for the science of it all, but gardeners don't really care. To us
they're called "bulbs," and it's the end result that matters, not
their anatomical correctness.
Consider dahlias, for instance. Their roots are about as different
from a true bulb -- think of ...