Small enough to tuck into a rock-garden nook or the hollow of an old stump, wild tulips open in a wide range of colours, in beds and in pots alike. Also called botanical or dwarf tulips, they earn their place by returning year after year: plant the bulbs in autumn in full sun, and flowering follows from mid-spring.
because you can leave them in the ground after flowering and they’ll come back year after year!
Among the many botanical tulips offered in autumn bulb catalogues, a handful turn up again and again in garden centres. Height and flowering time are what usually decide which one suits a bed, a pot or a rock-garden pocket.
| Variety | Height | Flower colour | Flowering time |
|---|---|---|---|
| ‘Heart’s Delight’ | About 20 cm | Carmine outside, pale pink inside | Early to mid-spring |
| ‘Lilac Wonder’ | About 15 cm | Lilac-pink with a yellow centre | Mid to late spring |
| ‘Red Riding Hood’ | About 20 cm | Scarlet red, black-based | Mid to late spring |
| ‘Fusilier’ | 25 to 30 cm | Orange-red, three to five flowers per stem | Early to mid-spring |
| ‘Cynthia’ | About 25 cm | Cream and red, slender pointed buds | Mid-spring |
Botanical tulips also go by the name “wild tulip” or “dwarf tulip”. This is due to their small size. They’re thus perfect to dress a garden bed near the house. Since they only need little soil to grow, you can plant them along nooks in rock gardens or use them to decorate an old stump.
There are thousands of species, each of which blooms with different colors both in gardens and in pots. Throughout the years, such tulips have been awards prestigious titles such as “bulb flower of the year”. That just goes to show how increasingly popular this tulip family is getting!
With a size of 2 to 4 inches (6 to 10 cm) across, these bulbs are somewhat smaller than normal tulips. The advantage is that they adapt very well to different soils and settings. Not only is botanical tulip a particularly beautiful flower, it also pairs magnificently with other Spring flowers.
Wait for Fall to plant these remarkable bloomers in a place well endowed with sun. That’ll guarantee excellent blooming from April to June. You can simply leave them in place and they’ll pop up from the ground again in the following year.
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