The beautiful color-swirling appearance of these tulips is referred to as a 'break'. It's caused by a __________.
Spoiler The beautiful color-swirling appearance of these tulips is referred to as a 'break'. It's caused by a potyvirus. Tulip break viruses are spread by aphids, but insecticides are not very effective in disease control. If you have purchased tulips advertised as variegated types, you have most likely bought a cultivar that was bred for these qualities. The streaks, stripes, and blotches should be similar in all plants, not hit and miss as with virus-infected tissue.
Spoiler When was the last time you saw a sick tulip in the doctors office? Unfortunately for tulips they can not go to the doctor when they catch a virus. They swirl with the consequences. Jerry
The beautiful color-swirling appearance of these tulips is referred to as a 'break'. It's caused by a virus. Wish the viruses I got made me do neat, colorful stuff like that. But alas, guess I'll have to leave the fun up to the tulips.