Several weeks ago, I bought a 4-inch pot of ‘Tete-a-Tete’ to use on a buffet table. There were about a dozen stems open. These faded, and the dead flowers–about a dozen–were snipped off. But more stems continued to open. Today I snipped off the remaining faded flowers–15 stems. Now, how do you get over two dozen bloom stems from three, or at most four, bulbs in a small pot? I know ‘Tete-a-Tete’ is a prolific bloomer, but I never get that amount of floriferousness in my garden.
Mary Lou
Hi Mary Lou,
How They Do That:
Ideal growing conditions. Optimal fertility. Perfect health. Growing as many leaves as is possible in a season. Perfect storage handling and temperatures. All the preceeding equals a huge bulb for the cultivar which can clearly give three, four or maybe even more flowering stems per bulb.
The dark side:
This year I’ve seen “White Tete a Tete” offered here in mass merchants and labeled as such with printed color labels. It is Bill Pannill’s ‘Toto’ treated with growth/height retardant. Seems everyone is really looking for a replacement for ‘Tete a Tete’ in the 4″ pot plant market!
Steve