All of these plant adaptations make many of the plants that possess them, suitable for cold climates, because they able to pull a blanket over their heads when necessary and be ready to go come spring.  Many but not all!

Many of our Corms, Rhizomes, Tubers and Bulbs are imported from the Netherlands. If you read their packages you will be able to see that information on the bottom of the package. Holland has been known for its ‘bulbs’ and their production since the seventeenth century. The history of the black tulip and Tulip Mania is a subject on its own. Keukenhof is a show garden of bulbs in Amsterdam and the production and sale of bulbs is a huge tourist draw to that city.

Below: A few of the many stalls selling bulbs in Amsterdam.

Corms, Rhizomes, Tubers and Bulbs are food storage adaptation systems and are frequently given the wrong terminology. For example, I included Crocus in my piece about bulbs but Crocus are actually not bulbs. They are technically corms. All these food storage systems are slightly different in appearance and how they function. Crocus for example have contractile roots which adjust the depth at which the corm sits. They will gradually pull the plant further down into the soil when necessary. Crocus corms are not the only plant with contractile roots but it is an example of how a crocus roots system differs.

Gladioli are another example of a corm. A corm is actually a swollen underground stem protected by old leaf bases from the previous year. After the plant flowers and has used the food stores new corms develop on top of the old corm. This is one of the important reasons not to remove foliage as the leaves replenish the food stores in the new corms which will then look after themselves underground for the winter.

Rhizomes are also an underground or almost underground food storage stem. Some rhizomes also produce contractile roots. When you think about where Iris rhizomes like to sit almost on the soil’s surface this probably why they develop contractile roots as anchors.

Potatoes are another type of food storage stem adaptation but are referred to as tubers as the bulk food storage happens at the tip of an underground spreading rhizome. Tuberous roots or root tubers are what Dahlias, Begonias and Sweet Potatoes produce.

Examples of true bulbs include, onions, tulips, daffodils and garlic. Even bulbs have their differences. For example while all bulbs produce axillary buds between their scale leaves, garlic axillary buds (cloves) are very different in appearance to the axillary buds you find within an onion’s scale leaves. The fleshy scale like leaf bases on an onion, store the food necessary for growth before the photosynthesis of new leaf development begins. There are other botanical differences between some of them too but this group is known as bulbs and I have used the term loosely to cover all.

Below: a display of corms, tubers rhizomes and bulbs for sale in the Netherlands.

From a gardening perspective the more you fatten up these plant pantries of starches and nutrients, the healthier next year’s plants will be. The better they will also be for propagating.

New Corms will eventually break away and start a new plant system. They can be dug up and replanted elsewhere or allowed to naturalize. Root tubers and rhizomes can be carefully dug up, split and replanted. Those who grow potatoes know how to cut a tuber so that each piece has ‘an eye’, an axillary bud before planting. This process is known as chitting potatoes. In a bulb the axillary buds will eventually form new plants and when big enough, will break away. They can be hurried along by digging them up and gently breaking off the babies, then replanting. I am too lazy to do this however and my bulbs tend to naturalize or get dug up by dogs and then replanted!

Plants have amazing adaptations for coping in many situations.

Above image from: https://seedsandplants.co.za/

Below: A series of photos taken at a bulb production facility in the Netherlands. The polders(fields, areas between dykes) often need to be drained, landing docks, fields of tulips, boxing for export and on to the shelves.