I can’t believe it’s already time to decide which bulbs to grow next spring. It’s taken a while, but I’ve finally managed to whittle the current list down to ten – based on the most reliable, perennial and beautiful varieties we’ve grown in the past 15 years…
1. ‘Ballerina’
It thrives in my gravel garden despite clay soil, although I do plant all of my tulips with a handful of gravel beneath each bulb. I combine ‘Ballerina’ with ‘Queen of Night’ in the front gravel garden. In the back flowerbed it blooms alongside ‘Purple Prince’, ‘Queen of Night’ and blue forget-me-nots and never fails to lift my spirits when I see it emerging in the spring.
The versatile ‘Ballerina’ thrives in the back garden, front garden and in pots
2. ‘Swan Wings’
Generally I favour simple shapes and colours with my tulips, but I photographed ‘Swan Wings’ years ago at RHS Wisley and have always wanted to grow it. Maybe this year’s the year…
3. ‘Queen of Night’
I love deep purple/black flowers and foliage; I use them in my garden and my work as often as I can. I’ve been growing ‘Queen of Night’ for years and find it reliably perennial. It combines well with lighter purple and orange tulips, but also looks stunning with white or off-white bedding plants. It works well combined with wallflower ‘Ivory White’.
4. ‘Mistress Mystic’
Combining style and subtlety, ‘Mistress Mystic’ has a vintage allure and charm all of her own. We grew this in the allotment last year; it lasted well in arrangements and worked beautifully with other soft white, green and pink tulips.
‘Mistress Mystic’ is one of the most elegant tulips
5. ‘Prinses Irene’
Possibly one of the most beautiful tulips we’ve ever grown, ‘Prinses Irene’ is a subtle, understated winner. They thrived in pots and we’ve also been impressed by ‘National Velvet’ which we grow alongside and which has a superb colour and sheen.
‘Prinses Irene’ and ‘National Velvet’
6. ‘Purissima’
Another favourite is ‘Purissima’ with its white/cream flowers which open up to dinner-plate size in the sun. It is a reliably perennial tulip and has lasted several years in big pots in the garden.
In pots with wild strawberries at the back and with mixed muscari at the front
7. ‘Shirley’
‘Shirley’ was the only tulip in the first garden I owned, although I didn’t know its name at the time. I loved its soft markings and photographed it in wonder. I think it’s about time I grew it again…
‘Shirley’ in my first ever garden
It looks great in a pot (with ‘Jackpot’) or in borders (with ‘Paul Scherer’ at the back)
8. ‘Purple Prince’
We grew ‘Purple Prince’ a few years ago to create a purple accent against the orange of ‘Ballerina’ and dark purple of ‘Queen of Night’, then decided we preferred the orange and dark purple on their own and marked the ‘Purple Prince’ tulips so we could remove the bulbs after flowering. Two years on they are still appearing en masse in the flowerbed so we’ve decided they can stay, especially when this serendipitous combination appeared as ‘Purple Prince’ emerged in front of the foliage of the Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’.
9. ‘Zurel’
When we moved into my current house 6 years ago there was a purple and white rembrandt tulip in a border we had to remove to make room for the apple espaliers. We replaced it the next year with ‘Zurel’ – a striking, upbeat tulip. Unfortunately the bulbs didn’t reappear – probably because we overwintered the pineapple sage (which was sharing the same pot) in the greenhouse and they dried out. The area at the end of the vegetable beds hasn’t looked the same and we definitely need to get our stripes back.
10. ‘Slawa’
For maximum impact in the garden and in a vase, ‘Slawa’ doesn’t disappoint. It grew well in the allotment cutting patch and its rich two-toned flowers added a bit of spice to all my spring arrangements.
More tulip images from my albums which have me reaching for the catalogues…
Which tulips can’t you be without and which new ones have bewitched you? Leave me a comment so I can make my wish list even longer 😉
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Alas, they are only for the gardens of others. We can not justify the expense for bulbs that work like annuals. We could not keep them going if we wanted to because of the mild winters here.
That’s a shame. Most of mine are, thankfully, perennial. But I sometimes use a few as annuals in a pot…
These are all so pretty. I was never too keen on ‘Shirley’, but yours looks so much prettier than those in the catalogues. My favorites are still the very simple ones, and the cheap and common white ‘Maureen’ is probably my favorite. I like ‘Purissima’ too because it looks less refined than other tulips. Well, I can crave them all I want. I will not grow them here. Tulips just do not do as well as they should. I may get a few ‘Maureen’ someday, but they are only annuals.
I agree that simple is often best – quite a few people have mentioned Maureen, but it’s not one I know, so I’m going to give it a try. Thanks!
I rely on a bag of mixed surprises from the supermarket for loads of spring colour in the community gardens here – cheap and cheerful!. I’ve had some really beautiful tulips but I’ve dug up the first lot I planted six years ago as the yellows were getting dominant. They’re being replaced – I already have a big box of bulbs to plant in November.
Just what you need for spring – big bags of colourful surprises!! 😊
I am new to tulips and not sure which ones I like but this has given me a few ideas. I do love the black ones I had black petunia which I adored this summer
I love black ones too – try Queen of Night or Paul Scherer and you can’t go wrong. Good luck and enjoy your beautiful tulips display in the spring 🙂
I have scarlet Kaufmannia & Greigii Tulips in the planters at the shop. So bright and cheerful in the spring for several years with no attention from me! The red riding hood Greigii don’t flower as well, as the Kaufmannia ones (I forget the variety) but the striped leaves are almost worth it alone.
Sounds lovely, I’ll look them up, thanks. I think we often forget foliage as a source of impact in the garden…