Canada 150 tulips disappoint with orangey-yellow blossoms

When Kathleen Randle planted her Canada 150 tulip bulbs, she was looking forward to seeing the specially bred flowers bloom to show off their Canadian colours. But instead, they bloomed orangey-yellow with red, and barely resembled the shape of a tulip.

The tulips were developed in the Netherlands for Canada 150, and are meant to be “white with red flames, and bears a striking resemblance to the Canadian flag.”

“They don’t really look like tulips,” she said. “They kind of look like the beak of a bird. There’s five narrow petals, they’re orangey-yellow in the middle with spiky petals.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They don't really look like tulips," she said. "They kind of look like the beak of a bird. There's five narrow petals, they're orangey-yellow in the middle with spiky petals."

The retired teacher from Ancaster, Ont., said she searched several Home Hardware stores for the special bulbs for herself and an expat friend south of the border, but they were all sold out.

When she finally found them at a garden store, she jumped at the opportunity.

She planted the bulbs in the fall and was looking forward to celebrating the spring as well as Canada’s sesquicentennial with the tulips.

“I’m a Canadian! And I thought, ‘I will plant these red and white bulbs for Canada’s 150th!’ But it kind of came out, ‘Canada with a tint,’” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I'm a Canadian! And I thought, 'I will plant these red and white bulbs for Canada's 150th!' But it kind of came out, 'Canada with a tint,'" she said.

Randle isn’t the only gardener who has been disappointed by the patriotic blooms.

Home Hardware spokesperson Jessica Kuepfer said that they have received at least 31 customer complaints regarding the tulips, and said the company is sorry for the disappointment.

“We have received many happy reports of beautifully blooming Canada 150 bulbs, so when we have a customer report a tulip that has not bloomed red and white, our team at Home Hardware has carefully looked after each case to ensure customer satisfaction, and reported each one to our grower for investigation,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We have received many happy reports of beautifully blooming Canada 150 bulbs, so when we have a customer report a tulip that has not bloomed red and white, our team at Home Hardware has carefully looked after each case to ensure customer satisfaction, and reported each one to our grower for investigation," she said.

Randle said she isn’t planning on submitting an official complaint, but says she feels vindicated knowing that she didn’t ruin her patriotic garden due to her lack of gardening experience.

According to the National Capital Commission, the official gardener of Canada’s capital, 300,000 of the Canada 150 blooms will be showcased in Ottawa, just in time for the tulip festival being held later in May.

There is no official word, yet, on what course of action they will take if the flowers bloom to reveal orangey petals.