Tulips are without doubt among the most popular garden flowers due to their easy care and huge impression in the spring garden when little else is in flower.
Some groups of tulips have a much better chance of coming back year after year without having to replant with new bulbs, but even within each group, specific tulips consistently perform better than average.
I takes time to sit down and research flowering times, performance, and growth habits.
Therefore, I have put together a "shopping list". You can probably put forward very good arguments why several other varieties should be included, but in the end it comes down to personal preference. These choices are my personal favorites, and I hope they appeal to you, too.
| Shopping List |
Selection Criteria
The "shopping list" selection has (rightly or wrongly) been made from following criteria: 1) The tulips should be "best in class"; the kind of choices which stops cars on the road. 2) The tulips should preferably perennialize (come back) to the extend environmental conditions allow. 3) Flowering season for the bulb bed should extend from early to late spring.
The Tulip Shopping List
The list contains only 4 tulips. For a nice result I recommend buying 10 tuips of each and planting them in groups of 5.
Approximate price for 40 tulips (10 of each) should run USD 30-35 depending on shipping costs and discounts available. This selection will fill a 25 sq foot flower bed with plenty of spring color, or a larger bed with other spring flowering bulbs included.
- Red Emperor (Fosteriana)
- Also called "Madame LeFeber", the Red Emperor tulip has a remarkably large radiant red head on compact sturdy stems. Even compared to the taller tulips, the flower head is HUGE. As it blooms in early spring when temperatures are cool it can last a long time.
- Data: Flower Time: Early spring. Color: Bright Red. Height: 12-14"
- The Darwin hybrids are generally listed as the best perennializing tulips, but having to choose a single tulip from this group, it must be "Pink Impression". This is one of the tallest Darwin Hybrid tulips, with long sturdy stems and a long flowering time. Recently, "Impression" tulips in other colors have become available which promises well for the future.
- Data: Flower Time: Mid spring. Color: Pink. Height: 20-26".
