» It’s Almost Time for Tulip Flowers!

It’s Almost Time for Tulip Flowers!

March 2nd, 2007

I love this time of year when the Tulips start to appear. Ours are starting to come out, so I think it’s time for an article on Tulip flowers!

If you are trying to grow tulips in your garden, here’s how to make them last for as long as two months!

You may not know it, maybe because you concentrate on how beautiful tulip flowers are, but “species” tulips bloom the earliest, then there are mid-bloomers, and late-season tulips.

The way to find a species plant is by looking at the labels. They’ll have fancy Latin names such as kaufmanniana, tarda, and many others.

However, even though they bloom earlier compared to the hybrid tulips, they also are the shortest. Therefore, it is best that you place them in the front row of your garden, so as not be overshadowed by other taller plants. This will give you a nice tiered look if you plant the taller ones in the back.

Also, to keep your garden natural looking, leave the work to species tulips. They are the most natural looking and effortlessly spread through self-sown seeds, stolons.

It has been speculated that the later tulip flowers bloom, the taller the flower. The next earliest bloomers are only slightly taller than the earliest species tulips. Those that bloom between 12 to 18 inches are the mid-season bloomers.

Mid-bloomers will have labels such as double early, single early, fosteriana, etc. Most of these have strong stems that hold the flowers and endure any type of weather, which make them suitable in many areas of your garden.

Then there’s late-season tulip, which flowers towards the end of May. The names associated with late-season tulips are lily flowering, single late, double late, viridiflora, and parrot tulips.

Aside from the names given, you’ll know they’re late-season because of its towering height. Most of the late-season tulip flowers are very tall, measuring about 18 to 24 inches. They also have the most interesting variety of colors.

The late-season tulips require full sun and almost gravely soils that drain quickly between rains.

Planting tulips on a gentle slope or in a raised bed of your garden guarantees that they will receive the drainage they need. And, you will soon have beautiful Tulip Flowers to enjoy inside and out.