Tempted by tulips Print E-mail
Vibrant and elegant, tulips can bring the warm shades of summer into the spring garden or create a cool, sophisticated effect. From March to May, tulips will create welcome splashes of colour in your borders but can also be planted in pots and window boxes. They can even be naturalised in meadows and areas of long grass, left uncut to attract wildlife.
Varieties range from simple goblet-shaped blooms (single or double) to flamboyant, frilled parrot tulips and elegant lily-flowered blooms with long pointed petals. There are more than 5,000 species and cultivars of tulip and new varieties are introduced each year, so it's worth experimenting with different varieties and colour combinations. The choice of form and rainbow of colours offer something for all tastes and planting situations.

Colours range from the pure white of Snowstorm to the vivid orange of Ballerina and purple-black Queen of the Night. Then there are dramatic combinations such as deep yellow splashed with dark red in the appropriately named Flaming Parrot. Only a true blue and a true black are missing from this rich palette. Tulipa 'Spring Green' from the Viridiflora family was voted Spring-flowering Bulb of the Year 2005. Cool, elegant and contemporary, with white petals blushed with green, it is sure to be a success.

Image
Keukenhof Gardens, just 15 minutes from Amsterdam, has 28 hectares of planted beds, lakes, trees and bulb fields that are a riot of spring colour. Photo: Penny Kitchen

Designing with tulips

Tulips bring a whole spectrum of colour into the garden in the early months of the year. But simply planting them in rows (as you might see in a municipal park) doesn't do them justice. Although it's too early for herbaceous plants to fill in the gaps between early-flowering tulips, there are other possibilities. Delicate drifts of forget-me-nots, frothy cow parsley and wallflowers make good companions, softening what can otherwise be a regimental effect. You can pair late-flowering varieties with the spring foliage of Sisyrinchium, hostas, honesty and euphorbias - but tulips can't really cope with too much competition.

In the wild, they grow on bare, shale-strewn slopes with little other vegetation around them, which is why it is difficult to get them to settle for very long in crowded herbaceous borders.

Renowned garden designer and author Anna Pavord is passionate about tulips and constantly experiments with new plant combinations. Blue Parrot tulips, she found, look stunning alongside spherical allium flowerheads and delicate frothy forget-me-nots, or against the woody blue-grey foliage of Rosa glauca, while a vibrant mix of purple Tulipa Greuze with red-brown Erisimum cheiri 'Fire King' makes for maximum impact.

ImagePlanting out in flower beds

Although you don't need to plant bulbs until October or November, it's best to buy them in September, when the choice is greatest, and store them in a dry garden shed or garage until you are ready to plant them. Choose firm, plump bulbs that haven't started to sprout. Before planting, mulch the soil with good compost and, as bulbs need good drainage, on heavy soils line the planting hole with 2.5cm (1in) of grit or gravel.

The standard rule for planting depth is twice as deep as the bulb is tall. Position the bulb upright, 'nose' upwards, then cover carefully with soil. Plant small bulbs 10cm (4in) apart and larger bulbs 12.5cm (5in) apart. However, you can plant them closer in containers (see below).

When the blooms are finished, you can leave them in the soil to come up the following year but they tend to deteriorate. It's better to dig them up and store them in a dry, frost-free place until it's time to plant them again. If you choose to leave them in the ground, cut off dying foliage at ground level and gather up dying petals to prevent any disease spreading.

Planting tulips in containers

Bulbs look stunning in containers. Selecting them by their flowering period allows you to have continuous colour from March to early May. And combining tulips with other plants will give you colourful displays right through the year. If you plant bulbs in containers, never put them in a glasshouse or conservatory over the winter. The bulbs need a period of cold weather and should be left outdoors. In fact a warm period during early February or early March can upset growth as the bulbs dry out. If this occurs, always water them.

Drainage is all-important as bulbs hate being waterlogged. So make sure there are a number of drainage holes at least 1cm (3⁄8in) in diameter and cover them with 'crocks' to prevent the holes becoming blocked with soil after watering.

You can use either soil or garden compost for planting. Firm it down a little and ensure that it is moist but not wet. Plant bulbs close together but make sure they don't touch each other or the pot. When planting one layer, plant at a depth of twice the bulb height or 12-15cm (5-6 in) for large bulbs, 5-8cm (2-3in) for small ones. If planting in layers, make sure you don't position one bulb directly above the other. Water after planting.

If necessary, protect the pots from frost with natural materials such as pine branches or bracken. You may also need to protect the bulbs from squirrels.
 
[ Back ]