This terrrace, which has been a short broadcasting subject on the French television, has allowed to enlarge our tulips collection.

However, constraints were numerous :

- more than 230 pots (20 to 30 cm diameter) became necessary as well of thousands kilograms or ground collected from the countryside,
- culture in pots being different of gardening culture, speaking about drainage in particular, tulips had to be protected from rain, sometimes from snow by large tarpaulin,
- each year, many days of a full time work is necessary for planting, for the “crop”, selecting and cleaning the bulbs,
- furthermore, monoculture facilitating miscellaneous viruses development, a keep watch over became rapidly necessary.

Finally, tulips are now growing inside one of these typical gardens of the cevenole area, the well known “bancels”. The Lozère region is offering quite ideally conditions of growing, very close of their wild growing origin.

Our tulip collection gathered for now more than two hundred different tulips (species, sub-species, variants, populations, forms and cultivars). And even becoming more and more difficult we are still enlarging it every year.

Besides this, we are growing about 50 horticultural variants (lily flowered, fringed tulips, Darwin, double and parrots) some of them are qualified as historical.

If, at the very beginning, we start buying in garden centers, we rapidly understand how more interesting it was to get them in Nederland’s, from specialized producers.
Then, many national and international exchanges took place (Conservatory and Botanical gardens but also botanists and some tulips lovers).
Today this collection is the most important in France, and probably one of the most exhaustive in the world.
This collection includes common wild tulips as well as very rare species, and many tulips threatened to disappear and sometimes extinct in the wild. The conservatory side of the collection has become obvious.

Most of 150 species of wild tulips we are described come from Central Asia but we found also wild tulips in Turquey, North Africa and Europe. In France we have about fifteen different wild species. Most of them are present in our collection.

In 2005, our collection has been officially recognized as ‘National Collection’ (NC), this status being given by the Conservatory of Specialized Collection (CCVS).

Tulips like many others plants are suffering from standardization rules spread in most of occidental gardens. For an example, even if about six thousands of horticultural varieties do exist, you will only find about fifty of them in garden centers. And even if a famous brand is proud to sell around a hundred of them, of all groups, what does this number represents facing the dozen of varietes the culture of which is given up each year ?

As far as wild tulips are concerned, a single glimpse at the resalers of the market will inform you that only three or four species are in fact available (T. tarda, T. turkestanica, T. humilis, T. saxatilis...). The first explorers in botany should be rather disappointed if they should know how their extraordinary discoveries are treated today !

Genetically, botanical plants are more stable. And furthermore resistant. Added to the fact that, according to us, they are more beautiful than the horticultural varieties, that seems a sufficient reason to prefer them to the multiples tulips which are completely created by the human. They appear to be a pure result of Mother Nature.
I find it personally inspiring and motivating to know that growing wild tulips on my window sill is possible, the same small tulip growing in the mountains of the Pamir-Alay or the more backed-off steppes in Central Asia.

Many species are threatened to disappear and we already observe this trend in France. Some other ones are extinct in the wild. Fortunately, many species entered a culture program since a long time ago. Besides its legacy aspect, their culture directly contribute to save them considering that in a next future we might suppose that professional will give up these stocks for more profitable ones. Most of these professionals already choose this kind of more profitable trade.

Finally, as the trend is a great concern about definite losses of the biodiversity all over the planet, I will end saying that whatever is the genus, when a botanical species turn to be missing for ever it is much more important than the same for an horticultural variety (even if this point of view is not shared by all).

Botanical plants are adapting themselves to a particular and natural environment over a long period of time, contributing directly to a natural balance. Being honest, we cannot say the same about horticultural varieties. Do you think that a parrot tulip would resist longer to hard conditions of life in Central Asia ? I am not sure. And even if it did…

I should say that I am rather maintaining this collection than owning it. Most of them were described far before my birth and hope they will survive to me. And, considering my point of view, the concept of property is not important.

How should allocation be justified ? We must not forget that this collection is the result of a personal approach.

Expecting to widen the cause for botanical tulips, we were hoping and finally obtained the french National Collection status. However, things have not changed. We did not notice any particular move in the public and we did not change our way of thinking.

I cannot keep secret the fact graduated of a simple floricultor diploma, a publisher was very interested by my work and did publish my first book dedicated to tulips. How could I hope better support? Unfortunately, this cooperation was a bitter experience, humanly and professionally speaking and I am trying to forget all about it: the unexpected bad result and the inherent regrets !
From now on I am looking forward and think about a new book.

Nevertheless, a lot of people are supporting and encouraging us! I speak about botanists sharing their enthusiasm or their concern about such or such station, in France or abroad, or to some people in charge in Conservatories or botanical gardens who are regularly imparting us information about cultivated or wild plants and who are sending us ones of the most vulnerable tulips.
We do not forget some producers from abroad who are used to send us rare plants, for identification purpose or by friendship.

At the end, these relations upon trust with these people and miscellaneous organisms represent our best support, much worthy than any diploma.

As you know, we are always obliged to cope with the living on a day by day basis and it’s fair enough for me when tulips are showing off in spring…. It is even true that each year, number of tulips is multiplied by two, even three, and we are going to lack room. Besides bulbs culture, we are also growing tulips out of seeds.

Each person of the above list has directly contributed to the french National Botanical Tulips Collection development.

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