Tulips – plan your planting now…
Posted:7 November 2010
Tulips are fantastic spring bulbs. There is nothing to beat them for scent, colour and drama. If, like me, you want them to last for at least two months starting in the middle of March and continuing until the Alliums flower in May then you will need to do some planning. It is such a lovely task on a gloomy evening to sit and look through the bulb catalogues and choose and plan your show!
Combining your tulips with spring flowering biennials, such as the deep red wallflower Erysimum ‘Blood Red’, or the orange, E. Fire King, or honesty, Lunnaria annua, will give a fantastic carpet of colour.
Plant some tulips for an early display, the Fosterianas are good, they have big flowers, and don’t forget the tall stemmed tulips like ‘Purissima’ or ‘Flaming Purissima’. The Fosterianas are great in pots and they flower in March and early April.
The species tulips such as Tulipa bakeri and T. clusiana also flower early in the year. ‘Prinses Irene’ is an early tulip with gorgeous orange flowers, that have crimson and red streaks and is perfect for pots.
Make sure that your pots are clean as tulips are susceptible to blight which is transferred by spores and if your pots are not clean then they can become infected.
Next come the Triumph tulips and these will give you the earliest of the deep reds. A mix of ‘Jan Reus’, the almost black ‘Queen of Night’ and the lovely deep purple ‘Recreado’ look sensational together and will flower around the middle of April.
The beautiful Parrot tulips come into bloom in the middle of spring and the form ‘Rococo’ looks brilliant with lettuces or the blood red Erysimum. This is a great tulip for forcing and if you plant them in pots under cover you can manipulate them to flower by the middle of March.
The next ones are my favourites the lily flowered tulips and one of the most scented is ‘Ballerina’. It is such an elegant tulip and looks wonderful with ‘Black Hero’, which is a double late form of ‘Queen of Night’ – it’s double flowers look peony like – there is a huge range of lily flowered tulips, ‘West Point’, ‘Burgundy’ and White Triumphator’ and Christopher Lloyds favourite,’ Queen of Sheba’, to name but a few.
Then finally to end the show some of the green-splashed ‘Viridifloras’ are long lasting and often flower year after year, which is a bonus. The Parrot tulips, ‘Flaming Parrot’ and ‘Orange Favourite’ should see you through to the middle of May when the Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ is poised to take over.
The best time to plant tulips is after the first frost, or preferably frosts as these will kill off any fungal spores which are left in the ground, and is a good organic gardening method for getting rid of the disease tulip fire, (Botrytis tulipae), something that you really don’t want in your garden as it will kill all your tulips.
Try to plant your tulips at least 20cm/8” deep as this will ensure that any spores near the surface will not infect your bulbs. Planted under shrubs will also allow your tulips to ‘die well’ as the shrub will provide a good foil for the dying leaves.
Order your bulbs on line at www.dutchbulbs.co.uk or call them on 0161 848 1124 if you prefer to study your bulbs in a catalogue. This company also supplies A5 pictures of your chosen bulbs, (you can order them with your bulbs). This is really helpful if showing bulbs to customers or if you are trying to decide on plant combinations.
At the Garden House we still have some bulbs for sale so why not drop by on Friday afternoon between 2.00 and 4.00pm for a slice of cake, a cup of tea and buy some bulbs to brighten up your spring!