Journey North International Plant Study

A Bulb's Life
Exploring the Life Cycle of a Bulb

Have you ever explored last year's tulip bulbs?
If you visit your tulip garden at the end of the summer you will have to dig around to find the tulip bulbs you planted last fall. Why? The old bulbs have changed. They no longer have any leaves that you can see. Once you find them you'll see they don't look the same; the bulbs have changed! You may find that the old bulbs now have smaller bulbs (called "offsets") attached to them. These little bulbs are Red Emperor tulip bulbs, too. When they grow bigger they will look exactly like the mother bulb.
	Look what we found in the summer! The bulb developed an offset.
Long ago there was just one Red Emperor tulip bulb. Each year since the begining more bulbs are produced from little offset bulbs. These are cared for until they grow into full-sized tulip bulbs.

Arrange Your Own Tulip Life Cycle
Every living organism has its own unique life cycle. The tulip you hold in your hand will continue to come alive year after year, completing the cycle of growth and dormancy many times over.

Show the Cycle: Drag and drop the pictures (below) into the boxes to show the tulip life cycle.

Did You Know?

Tulips first came from the mountains of Asia.
Plant lovers have been growing tulips for over 400 years.
New tulip varieties are started from seeds and take over 5 years to bloom.
Today there are more than 1,700 varieties of tulips.