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Where
the garden meets the wild
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TULIPA TULIP Liliaceae (Lily family). |
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| Return to Plants Index Bulbs Index | |||
Species tulips glow above drought-tolerant Buffalo grass in a garden field in E Washington State, USA, where rainfall is low, summers are dry and winters are cold. Photograph © James W. Swayne |
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Modern Tulipomania keeps churning through fads ~ for the shredded, the frilled, the streaky, the freaky. We are drawn to uncommon species tulips. Those we offer are primal and voluptuous. Grow them in swathes. Cue The Rite of Spring. Please click on our pictures to enlarge them. Tulips are adapted to mountain slopes that are watered by melting snow but dry in high summer and dry under deep snow in winter. They thrive in the glasshouse, but also in the open garden. Give them rich but porous, fast-draining soil, preferably on the alkaline side. When flowering ends, keep watering for at least 6 more weeks while new bulbs form. Order for Autumn delivery. Quantities are limited. |
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Photograph © A.M.D. Hoog. |
Tulipa batalinii Regel.
This is the original type plant, rarely offered. Flowers of palest
lemon-yellow, with yellow anthers, bloom in March-April. The outer petals
are longer than the inner ones. There is a basal blotch of
olive-bronze. Native to Central Asia. Our plants descend from original Van
Tubergen Nursery stock. They are propagated from seed and show no sign of
aberration toward 'Bright Gem,' 'Red Jewel' and the like.
Height 10-15 cm (4-6"). Zone 5. Not available this season. |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward. |
Tulipa bifloriformis Vvedensky. This
is a dwarf mid-spring bloomer suited to rock gardens. Its flowers are
white with black anthers; often there are several per stem. Our pictures
were taken after a sleet storm in March; the plants soon bobbed upright
again. Native to
Central Asia. Our bulbs descend from material collected by the Latvian
plantsman Jánis
Rukšáns.
Zone 5? Bulb (Fall shipping only). $4.50 |
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Photograph from Uzbekistan's Status of Environment website. |
Tulipa carinata Vvedensky.
Huge scarlet flowers, with tepals up to 9 cm (3.5") long, open in
May-June above broad, undulant leaves edged in yellow or pink.
Native to rocky and talus slopes in the Pamir-Alai Range in Uzbekistan,
where it is red-listed. Our bulbs are from cultivated stock. Height 15-50
cm (6-20"). Zone 6.
Not available this season. |
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Photograph © Arnold Trachtenberg. |
Tulipa ferganica Vvedensky. The large, golden, flaring flowers, 1-3 per
stem, bloom in May. The exterior of their outer tepals glows with a peachy
blush and the glaucous
leaves and stems are clad in fine fuzz. Native to Central Asia. Our plants
multiply well. They descend from bulbs collected for the Tashkent Botanical Garden in the
Ferghana Range of Uzbekistan before 1970. Height 25-35 cm (10-14").
Zone 5.
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $8.00 |
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Photograph © Hans Roemer. |
Tulipa humilis
Herbert. 'Alba Caerulea
Oculata'. Sometimes
called Tulipa pulchella. This is one of our favorites. White
flowers open in March-April to reveal a blue heart and black stamens. As
if this weren't enough, they are fragrant.
Our bulbs descend from stock collected by Georg Egger in 1927 in Persia,
now northwestern Iran. Height to 15 cm (6").
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $8.00 |
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Photograph © A.M.D. Hoog. |
Tulipa ingens J.M.C. Hoog. This is a rare endemic of the
Pamir Alai and Central Serawschan ranges in Tajikistan. Its huge, shiny,
scarlet flowers have a black heart and violet pollen. They bloom in April
and can be 20 cm (8") across! The leaves are grey-green. Our plants
descend from bulbs collected by Paul Graeber around 1910. Height 30-40 cm
(12-16"). Zone 6. Not available this season. |
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Photograph © Hans Roemer. |
Tulipa montana
Lindley. Sometimes called Tulipa wilsoniana. Vermilion
flowers with blue-black centres rise in April on 10-15-cm (4-6")
stems above wavy leaves made glaucous by a coating of grey-blue wax. Native to
Iran and Turkmenistan. Our stock descends from bulbs collected by Paul Sintenis in
the Kopet Dagh Range in 1900. This is a great plant for the rock garden.
Zone 5.
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $3.25 |
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Tulipa montana Lindley yellow form.
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $3.00 |
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Photograph © A.M.D. Hoog. |
Tulipa ostrowskiana Regel. Large, shiny, hot red-orange
flowers bloom in April-May. Each has unique markings ~ their hearts may be golden
or black ~ but they are all
slightly deflexed and 5-8 cm (2-3") deep. The stems are 5 cm (2") tall when the flower opens, but grow to 30 cm
(12"). Native to Kazakhstan. Our plants descend from bulbs collected
by Paul Graeber for the Dutch firm of Van Tubergen almost a century
ago. Zone 6. Not available this season. |
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Photograph © Iza Goroff |
Tulipa schrenkii
Regel. Sometimes
called Tulipa armena. Large,
compact flowers, scarlet with a cadmium-yellow margin, bloom on 10-20 cm
(4-8") stems in March-April. Native to the cultural region known
as Armenia: south of the Caucasus Mountains in today's Turkey, Azerbaijan
and northern Iran. Our bulbs are
garden stock. Zone 6. Bulb (Fall shipping only). $3.25 |
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Photograph © Hans Roemer |
Tulipa vvedenskyi Z. Botschantzeva. This is the fiery tulip with grey-green, wavy leaves that witless hybridizers keep trying to
improve. Bloom is in April-May. Native to Central Asia. Our
bulbs descend from material collected in the Chaktal Range of Uzbekistan by Jánis
Rukšáns. Height
25-35 cm (10-14"). Zone 4?
Not available this season. |
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| This page was updated March 20, 2008 | |||