In Praise of Tulips

The tulips I grow are nothing to do with my wildflower ambitions for the garden. But they are the most splendid, eye-catching, pickable beauties. They will last for ages in water and are as sculptural and colourful in death as they are in life. 

                                  

Fine bunch of overblown white and red tulips    These yellow tulips have already lasted for over a week

Tulips fall into 15 separate groups and by choosing different varieties you can make them last from late March to late May in the garden and that's what I try to do.

A couple of modest early flowering tulips I bought as  'everlasting mixed'

The highly colourful stripey designs are caused by a virus originally spread by aphids but nowadays the DNA is changed without aphids. If you want to attract insects  go for the  blueish ones - those nearest to violet in colour such as Violet Beauty, as bees are attracted to blue.

This year's red tulips with one of last year's black ones in the bed. 

                     

Dwarf yellow tulips with planted out black tulip

                                     

I grow mine in pots on the patio and then plant them out and hope they might come up next near. Among the most spectacular have been black ones (Black Knight) grown with bright red but this year there has been a very popular subtler red flower grown with yellow and white. I don't know its name.                                                

Large tulips can't be relied on to grow back next year (though some do) but the dwarf ones will. I am encouraging those now and have a pretty yellow one called  (I think) Bright Jewel and a startling purplish red one called Little Beauty. 

                                     

                                                    Two dwarf tulips that come up year after year

Tulips need full sun and  shouldn't be grown in the same place in the garden for longer than three years. They need new soil (which is why pots are so good for them), otherwise they may be prone to blight.

                                                            

                                                      Sparrow overshadowed by tulips