Carol Klein reveals her special recipe for planting tulips in pots and answers questions on alternative leaf mould and bad bulbs
My special recipe for TULIPS IN POTS Want a great display? Bulbs love a compost with sharp drainage
All bulbs are miraculous. Hold a handful of tulip bulbs, close your eyes and imagine what they’re going to turn into – voluptuous flowers with searing scarlet satiny petals, or elegant, elongated buds of deepest pink, fantastical frilly flowers painted with a flourish in red, yellow and green and all from this simple thing with its polished mahogany tunic. Tulips can be all things to all men and women!
Each year you can splurge in a new indulgence, trying new types, adventurous colours or following a theme. You can think of them as showy and sumptuous, there to be enjoyed as a splendid splash of colour. You may prefer to use them in combination with other plants, popping up alongside the first tranche of herbaceous perennials in the bright lime-green of spring, or neatly disciplined among forgetme-nots or wallflowers.
At Glebe Cottage we grow most of our tulips in pots. A few years after we first arrived, when we were reaching some semblance of order in the garden, we planted lots of tulips. There were just a few kinds, mainly ‘West Point’, an elegant, yellow, lily-flowered tulip. From a hundred or so bulbs only about a quarter survived. A combination of wet, heavy soil and hungry rodents – voles and squirrels – spoiled the show.
Several societies have been fascinated by the allure of tulips, on one occasion to their downfall. Though most of us associate the tulip with the Netherlands, it was not until the late 16th century that the bulbs that almost led to the collapse of its whole society, arrived in the country. We’ve all heard of how after decades in cultivation, a few ‘broken’ tulips emerged and with their unusual red and white striped flowers, became sought after.
These beautiful patterns in dramatic colours ironically indicated that the bulbs were infected with a virus that would eventually lead to their demise and death. Paying huge amounts of money for a bulb that was almost certainly incapable of producing progeny was a bad investment – and led to disaster.
Nowadays we can buy tulips whose petals are splashed with other colours. Their patterns aren't signs of virus but of careful selection. We’ve grown two such handsome parrot tulips in the past ‘Texas Gold’ and ‘Texas Flame’, both healthy and strong.
If your soil is light and on the alkaline side, tulips may grow happily for you in the open ground. If, like us, your soil is heavy you would be well advised to plant them in pots. We've a special recipe for our tulip compost that contains plenty of loam and extra grit; tulips love sharp drainage. Plastic pots will do but make sure you reuse them; many of our pots here have been used a dozen or more times. The ultimate though in reusable pots have to be those made from clay. The most desirable are the hand-thrown pots, each one slightly different.
When do you plant tulips? November is ideal but even December will do. Tulips need cold to bump-start their growth. If they’re planted too early, growth may be soft and weak and they’ll be more prone to botrytis and other fungal diseases.
How deep should you plant them? In the ground, dig planting holes at least 20cm (8in) deep. If you’re planting in pots plant them as deeply as you can. Keep pots outside in an open position and cover the surface of the compost with a layer of grit.
Planting tulips has to be one of the most gratifying tasks. For such a glorious show, so little effort is involved!
QI never have enough leaves for leaf mould – is there another way I can make it? Daniel Howcu , Facebook