Fall means time for all far-sighted gardeners to plant hardy bulbs for spring beauty. The cheery tulip is a year-in and year-out favorite.
There is a place in every garden for some of these colorful flowers, so plant your Tulip Time picture now.
Of course, you’ll want strong, healthy bulbs for sturdy flowers.
Before they are exported from the Netherlands, tulip bulbs must be at least 4” inches in circumference (except for the species tulips); the rest is up to nature since the flower bud: is already in the bulb.
Select good quality bulbs from reputable growers…
If you choose varieties that will flower at different periods, you can enjoy from six 10 eight weeks of the vivid color that only tulips can offer. And they are so easy to grow!
Excellent Tulip Species
The dainty species of tulips, which flower very early in the spring, are particularly well adapted to the rock garden.
Try a few bulbs of each species to brighten small pockets among your other rock garden plants and large boulders.
Kaufmanniana Hybrids
The kaufmanniana hybrids are improved deep golden yellows, pinks, and Turkish reds.
CESAR FRANCK, ELLIOTT, SCARLET ELEGANCE, and VIVALDI can be highly recommended.
Except for SCARLET ELEGANCE and BRILLIANT, all have a broad carmine hand on the outer petals.
Planted boldly along the front line of a border close to the house, they are the real harbingers of Tulip Time.
The most outstanding of the specific family are the showy fosterianas, taller growers.
RED EMPEROR has gained tremendous attention because of its huge flower, bearing a strong 22-inch stem.
However, TULIPA FOSTERIANA PRINCEPS is sometimes preferred for its dwarfed habit and later blooming period.
Other species of tulips that are charming for special qualities include:
- TULIPA CLUSIANA, known as the Lady tulip, is tall and slim
- TULIPA TARDA, bunch-flowered in white and canary yellow
- The multi-flowered orange-scarlet TULIPA PRAESTANS FUSILIER
Early Tulips
Single and double early varieties are especially good for border plantings.
Placing the bulbs back from the border edges and planting perennials and annuals at the front will help conceal the ripening foliage after the tulip flowering season is over.
Early tulips should be planted more extensively if only to enjoy their bright colors.
Among the singles, SUNBURST and PRINCE CARNIVAL, in red and yellow, and the fragrant DE WET, in deep orange, are excellent examples – all vivid-flowered, sturdy of stein, and amazingly uniform.
The double earlies are spectacular in small beds or clumps in the mixed border.
These include:
- ORANGE NASSAU, blood red
- MARECHAL NIEL, yellow, flushed orange
- PEACH BLOSSOM, deep rose
The double earlies are followed immediately by the peony like double late, also excellent display tulips.
Varieties that are becoming more popular are:
- EROS, old rose
- Pure white MOUNT TACOMA
- UNCLE TOM, a deep maroon
Triumph Tulips
Triumphs are usually in flower at the same time as the double late.
A cross between the early tulips and Darwin tulips helps to bridge the gap between the earliest and the long-stemmed May-flowering tulips.
The Triumphs are intermediate (14” to 22” inches), and their colors are generally hard and bright.
Varieties edged with lighter colors such as AVIATOR and EDITH EDDY, deep carmine red, and edged white, are extremely beautiful.
The new BRUNO WALTER, bronzy orange with a purple shade on the outside, is one of the few fragrant tulips.
Mendel Tulips
The Mendel tulips also help to bridge the gap between early- and late-flowering types.
Most varieties are more suitable for indoor culture, but two of the newer introductions deserve mention:
- SAIL, cream, passing to pure white
- ORANGE WONDER, glowing red, edged orange
The May-flowering tulips seem to be the most popular with American gardeners.
This group is subdivided into the Breeder tulips, sturdy mother bulbs in bronze and purple shades.
The Cottage class, with long, egg-shaped flowers, includes the lily-flowered tulips; and the Darwin tulips, distinguished by their square bases and blue and white centers.
Breeder Tulips
Because of their height range (22” to 36” inches), breeder tulips are most effective in background plantings.
They have rich, dark colors and huge flowers. TANTALUS, light bronze, flushed violet, and DILLENBURG, orange, and edged apricot are interesting combinations.
The more recent ORANGE DELIGHT, clear bronze, flushed orange, has good lasting qualities.
GEORGES GRAPPE offers an unusual lavender mauve. For reddish mahogany in your color scheme, try INDIAN CHIEF. For tomato red, J. J. Bowman.
Cottage Tulips
Cottage tulips have an intermediate range (18” to 32” inches) and include many of the same vivid colors as the earliest.
Ossi OSWALD, a fascinating example of the Chameleon tulip, begins flowering as a creamy white with deep rose pink. The shade of rose deepens as the flower ages.
There are also good starlets in this class, such as MARSHAL HAIG.
A beautiful combination can be made by combining groups of this brilliant scarlet tulip with the near-black of QUEEN OF NIGHT and the yellow of GOLDEN HARVEST.
One of the newer Cottage tulips is NORTHERN QUEEN, sometimes listed in catalogs as Queen of the North.
The flower is white, edged pink. MRS. JOHN T. SCHEEPERS remains outstanding as the largest hybrid tulip in cultivation and the best pale yellow.
Lily-Flowered Tulips
These May-flowering tulips, part of the Cottage class, are most graceful, with their curved, pointed petals.
The color range is wide, varying from pale to intense shades, including THE BRIDE, a pure white.
You may choose your yellow, front the light yellow of ALASKA to the deep yellow of GOLDEN DUCHESS, or your red, from the pure rose of GISELA to the wine of CAPTAIN FRYATT.
The new scarlet FLORESTAN resembles a poinsettia, while another recent introduction, STANISLAUS, adds bright orange to this beautiful class.
Every garden should have a few specimens of lily-flowered tulips in groups of a dozen or more placed in prominent positions.
Darwin Tulips
These tall-stemmed beauties (ranging from 22” to 32” inches high) climax the tulip season. Their flowers are generally cup-shaped and have a wide range of colors.
A great acquisition to this group is GLACIER, white with yellow anthers and an improvement over ZWANENBURG.
It took a long time for a yellow Darwin to develop, but now the long-cupped light yellow NEPHITES and the deeper GOLDEN AGE are in great demand.
It is difficult to surpass the lovely salmon pink shade of CLARA BUTT, but PRIDE OF ZWANENBURG can be highly recommended for a deeper hue.
PRUNUS shows good pink color, or you may prefer the light pink of THE PEACH. The novelty SMILING QUEEN is probably the last word in pink Darwins.
In Scarlet Darwins, gardeners have liked CITY OF HAARLEM and other favorites for 9 years.
But according to some experts, CHARLES NEEDHAM surpasses a11 of its predecessors in this shade because of its luminous quality.
The Darwin class also includes other deep shades such as the violet-purple of THE BISHOP, the near-black of LA TULIFE NOIRE, and its improvement, QUEEN OF NIGHT.
Parrot Tulips
Parrot tulips flower in many parts of the country at the same time as the May-flowering tulips.
They are unusual because their fringed petals are cut into deep irregular lobes, with a green sheen on the outside surface.
The large, wide-flung flowers are of a peculiar shape. These tulips look well displayed in groups near a doorway or border.
The first Parrot tulip, salmon pink FANTASY, is still popular. However, newer introductions show stronger stems and more brilliant colors. DISCOVERY, a beautiful rosy pink, is noteworthy for its lasting qualities.
The yellow SUNSHINE and the reds such as RED CHAMPION and THERESE are already known to many.
BLUE PARROT, a bluish heliotrope, has recently won awards at many tulips shows for its huge flowers, substance, and stem. ORANGE FAVORITE is interesting for its color and fragrance.
Growing Requirements
Tulips prefer a sunny location in loamy, well-drained soil. Their beauty lies in their great versatility: they can be planted in many different ways with little effort.
They can be used in groups of half a dozen or more at a garden gate, along steps, or around a garden bench.
They are perfect in drifts or groups in a mixed flower border. But they should never be planted in thin lines or rows.
It is most important to consider varieties that will be congenial in height. Short-stemmed tulips are best for the front of a border, with the taller-stemmed tulips as a background.
Also, remember that the lighter shades are best against dark backgrounds and deeper shades of tulips are best against light backgrounds.
All tulip bulbs can be planted until frost hardens the ground this fall, so don’t miss the opportunity to ensure springtime beauty!
44659 by Margaret Herbst