Show off your true colours
Now is the time to get tulip bulbs in the ground if you want to enjoy a spectacular spring display
IT’S mid-November so let’s cheer ourselves up by planning for next spring. Now is the perfect time to plant tulips. They can sometimes be prone to a fungal disease called tulip fire but if you plant when the ground is colder you reduce the risk of this.
Tulips originate in the sunny fields of Southern Europe and Central Asia and this tells us the conditions they prefer – free draining soil and to be baked dry in summer. This is why you are advised to add grit to your pots or soil if they are heavy clay as this will help prevent tulips from rotting.
So for the best blooms plant bulbs in an open sunny situation with the pointed side facing upwards to a depth about two to three times the size of the bulb. You need to give them some space – around three inches apart in the ground but you can plant a bit tighter, though not touching, in pots.
Throwing them randomly on the ground gives a more natural appearance than planting in neat rows or circles.
It’s also worth inspecting your tulip bulbs before planting – any signs of black fungus around the neck means you should throw them in the bin as this can spread quite easily once in the soil. The bulb should be firm and blemish free – inspect as you would an onion bulb before you purchase.
Tulips were first cultivated in Turkey where their opulent flowers were popular in the gardens of Ottoman palaces.
As they found their way to Europe they became increasingly popular leading to what became known as Tulipmania. At the peak of this craze in the 1630s, prized tulips were traded for the same price as houses and diamonds, but like all economic bubbles, this one burst and prices crashed.
Today we can all enjoy these beauties at a reasonable price and if you haven’t bought any yet, you can snap up some bargains online or in store as garden centres start clearing the shelves for their Christmas plants.
When choosing and planning schemes, there are a few variables to consider – the flowering time which can range from early ones in March through to late May; the flower shape which can be simple or quite frilly and blousy; and, of course, the vast range of colours.
For example, Tulip ‘Apricot Parrot’ has wavy fringed pink and apricot petals with occasional delicate streaks of green and yellow – a delectable concoction for the late spring garden and as it is also slightly fragrant makes a lovely cut flower.
But if you prefer simplicity and elegance, how about ‘Couleur Cardinal’, a rich sumptuous redcrimson with a silvery sheen which flowers early April.
When including them as part of a mixed border, you need to consider their short flowering period. Before and after flowering, you will be left with a lot of not so interesting foliage.
It’s good to combine with early perennials such as brunnera, aquilegia, forget-me-not and dicentra. It’s also great to have a few portable pots of tulips that can be tucked into a border for the flowering period and then removed.
By planting now, you’ll be able to inject your borders with these delightful and flamboyant flowers in spring.