Where do flower blubs come from?

Question

When the bulbs I plant come up and flower they do not produce more bulbs, so where do the bulbs at the store come from? Are my flowers growing new bulbs underground like potatoes or what? LOL - just a thought that went through my mind today as I was doing my spring planting...thank you for any and all feedback!

Answer 1

Question 1 ) Where do flower bulbs come from?

Answer 1 ) They come from the seeds MOSTLY !!

Explanation : When one wants  to grow onions ( A common easy to understand bulb plant ) ; it is the SEEDS  that are planted in the soil .

Eventually that grows in to a mature plant with an underground bulb .

Being commercially important ; it is harvested and sold in the market .

But for future planting some plants are not uprooted but allowed to flower and set seeds . Thus the cycle continues !!............ ( 1 )

If on the other hand, if one plants an onion bulb in the soil, then off-course a new onion plant will be developed but for that the stored food in the old bulb will be exhausted .

The new plant will form another bulb in due course and the cycle continues !!......... ( 2 )

This is the pattern for most of the plants that come in 'Bulb' category in strictly Botanical sense .

This is because what we call Dahlia bulb are in fact Dahlia roots ( For vegetative propagation ) Akin to Sweet potato roots .

Question 2 ) So where do the bulbs at the store come from?

Answer 2 ) The bulbs that you see / purchase from the market come from big / commercial plant nurseries .

These nursuries grow the plant concerned either from seeds or from bulbs . The mature bulbs are harvested and sent to the stores for sale .

http://www.infovisual.info/01/016_en.htm...

Question 3 ) Are my flowers growing new bulbs underground like potatoes or what?

Answer 3 ) You have not specified what flowers are you talking about ! So a bit difficult for me to answer.

If you are growing a Bulb plant in the strict botanical sense ( I cannot forget it !!!) then yes . You will get a bulb in due course if all goes well .

But not like Potato ( It is a stem tuber and these tubers are in abundance underneath each potato plant and meant for vegetative propagation )

Bulbs are not produced in that abundance as they are Basically meant to tide over unfafourable climatic conditions ( Like Hibernation in animals like Bear ).

But you will get a bulb underneath your bulb plant no doubt !!

From = A Botanist