About a year ago we took a family vacation to the Netherlands with a prime goal to see tulips - and tulips we did see! Even a rainy day (what are the odds of that in Holland?) couldn't steal the magic from the famed Keukenhof Gardens, and outside the renowned Rijksmuseum was a spectacular tulip bed. I'm now dealing with one side effect of that trip - I went a bit overboard ordering bulbs on our return and because our garage is a bit warmer than outside I now have many pots of bulbs which are far ahead of the schedule set by those in the new garden beds I was ordering for. Nice problem to have. But as much as I can go crazy with existing varieties of tulips, I'd love to see even more varieties. Indeed, I have some very specific ideas for engineering tulips that I would find irresistible.
One of several hundred shots I have of bulb beds at Keukenhof
Keukenhof ornamental windmill with a field of tulips in foreground, seen from the electric "whisper boat"
One of dozens of shots I have of the beds by the Rijksmuseum
Ornamental plant engineering seems to be gaining momentum. Light Bio will sell you petunias engineered with a fungal luciferase pathway so they glow in the dark. The original academic demonstration required dark adapting your eyes for about maximum time - when Ginkgo had a demo (Light was partnered with us at one point) I was about to walk out of what seemed like a very elaborate practical joke, but then the "wow!" kicked in. The ones you can buy now are fully visible in a typical darkened room, though I they seem to be less robust than your average petunia (but take into account I'm terrible with petunias).
There's other glimpses that tease of future excitement. Nick Desnoyers posts gorgeous photos online of his experiments with crafting new flower color patterns; ditto Sebastian Cocioba. Niko McCarty had a great Asimov Press piece on Desnoyer, and has also pointed out in another piece that demonstrating mastery over flower patterns would require a level of knowledge that would imply mastery over many agronomically important traits in crop plants.
But I'm going to up the ante - more like push a huge pile of chips into the center of the table. Desnoyer's designs are gorgeous, but I want several quantum states above that. True design of complex patterns on individual petals. What I wish for is tulips that mock a case of my childhood imagination running amok and terrifying me.
On a visit to Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences, the natural world complement to the beloved technology displays at the Franklin Institute, there was a simple, spare diorama-type display. The sort that such museums used to only have, lacking any flash or glitz of any sort. In the display was a single snail shell. But it was the description that provoked the strong reaction - the person who had first picked up the shell had been killed by it.
At some point later my father realized I had completely abandoned my previous habit of picking up every seashell a Delaware beach had to offer - or perhaps I reacted violently when he went to pick one up. So a patient lecture ensued of how the potentially lethal shells were from oceans far, far away and I would not encounter one on any of the beaches we frequented.
It wasn't the only time this happened - somehow I got the idea in my head from a Philadelphia Zoo guide that I should be wary of Gila Monsters, which eventually led to another discussion of biogeography. Oddly, I never had some issues with venomous snakes. Maybe a little with black widow spiders, but not so intensely. How did my young mind choose which venomous creatures to take over my senses?
But that's what I want: a Conus Tulip. The cone snail shell in that diorama was probably beautiful, as many cone snails produce intricate geometric - perhaps better described as fractal - patterns. Wouldn't that look amazing as a tulip petal? And imagine all the contrasting color options - purple on white or white on purple, or yellow on red or that reversed. I'd like these far more than the legendary quest for a truly black tulip.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
I know peptides are a hot topic now - but no Conus peptides in the tulips! They're intended to knock you out with their beauty, not slay you if you touch them!
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