Terrific Tulips...
If I could grow only one type of flower then it would have to be the tulip. Harbingers of warmer days, the choice available is mind-blowing. There are frilly parrot tulips bearing fringed petals,
sturdy fat-flowered
types and graceful plants with lily- like blooms.
They are also tremendously accommodating.
You can plant
them much later than daffodils and narcissi because they don’t need to start producing roots so early. In fact you can plant them from now until Christmas!
My mother uses them as annuals and rips them up after flowering but I can’t bear to do that so I plant them deeply and leave them in the garden where they return happily year on year.
If you want to use them as disposable bedding you only need to plant them about 10cm / 4 inches deep. If, like me, you treat them as old friends then plant them 23cm / 9 inches deep and they won’t disappoint you.
Pot Luck
Tulips are wonderful in containers too. As a guide, a 25-30cm / 10-12 inch diameter pot will accommodate a dozen bulbs. For a larger 47.5cm / 19inch pot use 16 –18 bulbs.
Cover the base with at least 5cm / 2inches of drainage material and 12cm / 5 inches of soil- less multi-purpose compost. Lay the bulbs in an inner and outer circle making sure that no bulb touches either another, or the outside of the pot.
Fill the pot with compost to within 2.5cm / 1 inch of the rim. I finish pots off with strips of daisies or anemones planted around the edge in colours which complement the tulips. Water everything in but shelter the pot from heavy rain so it doesn’t become waterlogged and never water in frosty weather. I use water-retaining granules mixed in with the compost. These help to maintain soil moisture throughout the dormant season.
Feed the daisies or anemones throughout their flowering season in the Autumn and the Spring and you should be rewarded with a beautiful display sometime in April or May.
I love to plant containers of tulips by my front door. I have a red door so choose something like Tulipa ‘Apeldoorn’ in yellow and red varieties underplanted with red daisies. If you have a blue or green door you might like to try Tulipa ‘Angelique’ (pale pink) underplanted with pink anemones. Or how about Tulipa ‘Bleu Aimable’ a brilliant purple/blue variety?
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