Tulips

This diverse, versatile genus is horticulturally classified in 15 divisions based on flower form but may conveniently be grouped by flowering season and garden use.

Tulips include an impressive range of flower forms, from the simple, upright goblets of single-flowered tulips to the frilled and twisted petals of Parrot tulips and the open, double blooms of peony-flowered forms.

Tulips are available in most colors, except blue, from the purest white to the deepest purple, with many glorious shades of yellow, red and crimson in between. Many of the dwarf tulips also have attractively marked leaves.

Most tulips love fertile, well-drained, humus-rich soils and a place in sun and with shelter. Many tulips are best regarded as annual bedding plants, being lifted after flowering and replanted until they have died down. The bulbs seldom flower well in the second year but if replanted in mid autumn may reach flowering size again within two years.

Plant now tulip bulbs, in mid autumn, setting them up to 15-20 cm deep where you want them to naturalized.