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Let’s Talk Tulips

August 24, 2016 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

It’s blisteringly hot here & the sky is a cloudless, deep blue, but it’s time to think about the garden next spring, specifically it’s time to plan & order tulips that’ll flower then.

I love tulips in almost all their varieties & I’m excited about growing them here because all the landscape works will be finished in a few weeks time. I’ve been longing to plant up the garden since we moved here 18 months ago, there isn’t a single tulip growing in the whole garden, which is a very sad state of affairs.

They’re best planted in October-November when the cold has knocked back fungal & viral diseases, order them now for the best chance of getting exactly what you want & they’ll be delivered in a few weeks time.

I took a few photos at the Chelsea Flower Show in May, so I hope this whets your tulip appetite.

Tulip Sorbet

Tulip Angelique

Tulip Angelique a pretty peony-flowered one, 40cm tall, flowers in May

Tulip Virichic

I’ve a soft spot for flowers with a tinge of green, this is Tulip Virichic, or very chic as I’m calling it. It’s 45cm tall, flowering in May.

Tulip Blue Diamond

Tulip Blue Diamond is really violet coloured- thank goodness because a blue tulip would be very odd. 45cm tall & also flowers in May.

Tulip Doormans Record

Tulip Doormans Record is a parrot type, with silky frilly leaves.

You can buy tulips that flower in March, but I like the late-April early-May flowering because they flower just when the daffodils have finished flowering in mid-April.

Remove plastic packaging when they arrive & store them in a cool place where air can circulate around them, & they can’t be eaten by mice.

Plant them 15-20cm deep & about 15cm apart in a sunny or part-shaded area of the garden, place them on a layer of grit if the soil is heavy. Select up to 3 different colours that you like together & make sure they flower at the same time, it doesn’t matter if the heights are a bit different, it adds a a kind of texture to the whole thing.

Planting distances are different for tulips in pots, they’re planted much closer together, just a couple of centimetres apart & need a covering of 5cm of compost. I use a mix of John Innes loam-based compost & multi-purpose compost with a layer of fine grit in the bottom for good drainage.

Tulip Lambada

Tulip Lambada has finely-cut tips to the petals & is a pleasing, warm pinky-orange that grows to 50cm tall.

Tulip Apricot Parrot

Sumptuous Tulip Apricot Parrot, I’d love some of these in a pot by the front door.

Tulip Professor Roentgen

Tulip Professor Roentgen, I feel it deserves a more romantic name, but I’m in love with it anyway.

Resist the temptation to tidy & cut off the foliage after flowering, give it a feed of balanced fertiliser & leave the foliage to turn brown & wither away, letting the bulb fatten up & store energy for flowering again next year.

Do the same with tulips in pots, but dig them up & plant them in the garden.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the week.

Jill

all photos: Jill Anderson.

Related posts:

Rose-Floristry Marquee-Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2014Join me on a tour of the Rose Marquee at R.H.S. Hampton Court. sarcococca, the best plants for a January gardenBest plants for a January garden Acid yellow plants to liven up the garden What to do in your garden in November

Related posts:

Rose-Floristry Marquee-Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2014Join me on a tour of the Rose Marquee at R.H.S. Hampton Court. sarcococca, the best plants for a January gardenBest plants for a January garden Acid yellow plants to liven up the garden What to do in your garden in November
Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Plants Tagged With: time to plant tulips, Tulip Angelique, Tulip Professor Roentgen

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Comments

  1. Caro says

    August 31, 2016 at 2:38 pm

    I’m hopeless when presented with a choice – even when I’ve got the colours sorted in my head. For the community gardens here, I usually buy a bumper bag from the supermarket, 50 bulbs for a fiver, and had really spectacular displays with the pinks up first, crossing over with the reds and, as the pinks fade, yellow striped mingle with the reds. It’s bizarre but has happened like that for the past three years.By planting deep, they’ve become short lived perennials – so even more of a bargain! Love Virichic and Lambada in your selection, so so beautiful.

    Reply
    • Jill Anderson says

      September 6, 2016 at 9:22 am

      Bumper bags from the supermarket are a great idea, because it can all get so expensive, your planting sounds fabulous & good to have a succession of flowers! I was ogling the huge bags of daffs/narcissi in Homebase yesterday, they’re very tempting as I’m going to need quite a few to make an impact, & I’ll plant them deep too!

      Reply

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Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
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The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
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One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium reg I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium regale) which is flowering right outside our bedroom window. 
It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be said for fabulous seasonal flowers that haven’t travelled thousands of miles ...... & are wonderful for biodiversity
A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
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