Bulb flowers are known to be the easiest way to grow a plant. Famous flowers such as tulips, daffodils, crocuses, daylilies, daisies, dahlias and snowdrops are all grown out of bulbs. Bulb flowers were extremely popular in Holland in the 17th century. There was a whole financial affair about the tulip flower bulbs, because tulips contained the greatest part of Dutch economy. Most flower bulbs are so plain to grow that many gardeners adore them. Flower bulbs have another advantage over others: they are extremely easy to find. There are several types of popular bulb flowers, take a look at the following list:

The True Bulb.

It is the most popular bulb flower. Tulips, daffodils and lilies are grown from true bulbs. Basically, it is an underground stem containing embryonic plant. This plant contains in modified look everything that the future plant will need: the stem, the roots, the leaves, the flower buds. When the growing conditions are at their top, this embryonic plant sets forth and starts to grow.

The embryonic plant is surrounded by scales, which encompass it. These scales are modified leaves, and look like the husks or scales of fish or mammals. At the bottom of the bulb is placed the basal plate: it is the starting point of the roots and it holds the scales together. True bulbs are extremely endurable: they can live through long periods of dryness. If they are carefully looked after, true bulbs can live long without having to be replaced once they were planted.

The Corm.

This bulb flower type is popular with gladiolas and crocuses. Unlike the true bulbs, each individual corm can last only one season. But you neednt plant another corm the next season: the old ones give birth to their new generation, so that corms can last several seasons, if they are properly taken care of. Small bulbs, called cormels, are also produced from the maternal corm. They can also turn into flowers. The other difference with true flower bulbs is that corms lack scales. They also contain a stem base, but the tissue of the base is solid. The roots of the flower bulb plant grow from the bottom of the corm, and the growth point is located at the top.

The Tuber

Tubers are also underground stem bases. But unlike the two above mentioned flower bulb types, tubers lack the basal plate. The roots of a tuber grow from both the base as well as from the sides. Thats why a tuber has multiple growing points and springs out from different places on the surface.

The Rhizome.

It is actually a thickened stem and it grows partly underneath the ground, until it springs out. The largest growing point of a rhizome is located at one end of the stem, and the additional growing points are located alongside the two sides of the stem. The bearded iris is the most popular flower bulb grown from a rhizome.

Tuberous Roots.

The tuberous roots are not exactly roots. They are fibrous roots that grow from one basic root. They are designed to absorb nutrients and water and sustain the main root. Tuberous roots usually grow together in clumps. The growth points of tuberous roots can be intertwined and found on various places of the main root, as well as on additional root offshoots. Dahlias and daylilies are the bulb flowers grown in that way.