Crocuses: Little Heralds of Spring — and Autumn

 

Few flowers accomplish so much with so little. Crocuses rise only a few inches above the earth, yet when their cups of purple, gold, lavender, striped violet, and white begin opening, they can transform the appearance of an entire garden.

For many gardeners, the crocus is the first unmistakable announcement that winter is losing its grip. A patch of crocuses pushing through cold ground — sometimes even through snow — is one of those small events by which gardeners have marked the turning of the year for centuries.

Yet there is more to the genus Crocus than the familiar spring flowers. Some crocuses bloom in autumn, and one of them has been cultivated since antiquity to produce one of the world's most precious spices: saffron.

Where Are Crocuses Native?

Crocuses belong to the iris family, Iridaceae, and grow from corms, rather than true bulbs. A corm is a swollen underground stem that stores the plant's food from one season to the next.

The natural home of Crocus lies largely in the Old World, particularly around the Mediterranean and southeastern Europe and eastward into western and central Asia. Different species are native to different regions.

The familiar spring or Dutch crocus, Crocus vernus, has its origins in the Alps and western Balkans. Crocus chrysanthus, from which many of our small early-flowering yellow and bicolored varieties are derived, is native from southeastern Europe into Türkiye. Other species occur in Greece, the Balkans, Spain, North Africa, Türkiye, Lebanon and neighboring regions.

This helps explain what crocuses generally want in the garden: sunshine, cool winters, moisture while actively growing, and soil that drains freely rather than remaining waterlogged.

Crocuses Have Been Cultivated for a Very Long Time

There isn't really a single person who can be credited with "introducing" the crocus into cultivation.

Humankind's relationship with crocuses reaches back into antiquity, long before modern botanical collecting and commercial bulb growing. The most famous example is the saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, which was already being cultivated thousands of years ago.

The larger spring crocuses familiar in modern gardens were developed through centuries of European cultivation and selection. The species we now call Crocus vernus was formally described botanically in the eighteenth century, but European gardeners knew crocuses long before botanists settled their modern scientific names.

By the nineteenth century, European nurserymen and plant collectors were bringing numerous crocus species into cultivation and selecting forms for larger flowers, stronger colors and better garden performance.

Thus the crocus is both an ancient cultivated plant and a thoroughly modern garden flower.

Spring-Flowering Crocuses

These are the crocuses most gardeners know.

Depending upon climate and variety, they bloom from late winter into early spring. Some of the smaller species and hybrids appear remarkably early.

Among the best-known groups are:

• Crocus vernus and its large-flowered Dutch forms
• Crocus chrysanthus and its hybrids
• Crocus tommasinianus, often affectionately called "Tommies"
• Crocus sieberi
• Crocus angustifolius

The large Dutch crocuses make bold patches of purple, white and striped flowers. The smaller species crocuses are often more delicate but can be particularly charming when allowed to naturalize.

Don't Forget the Autumn Crocuses

Not every crocus waits for spring.

Several true Crocus species flower in autumn, including Crocus speciosus, Crocus pulchellus and the celebrated Crocus sativus. Their flowers appear when much of the garden is beginning to wind down for the year.

There is an important botanical warning here.

Plants in the genus Colchicum are also commonly called "autumn crocuses," but they are not true crocuses. This distinction is especially important because colchicums are poisonous and should never be mistaken for saffron crocus.

The Saffron Crocus

Crocus sativus deserves special mention because few garden plants have had such a remarkable history.

Saffron is produced from the three brilliant red stigmas inside each flower. They are picked by hand and carefully dried.

And that explains the price.

It takes roughly 150 flowers to produce only about one gram of dried saffron.

The saffron crocus is an ancient cultivated plant whose exact wild origin has long been debated. Modern botanical authorities regard it as a cultigen originating in Greece, and it was probably selected thousands of years ago from a related wild crocus, generally identified as Crocus cartwrightianus. Crocus sativus is sterile, so it does not reproduce by seed. Human beings have perpetuated it by dividing and replanting its corms generation after generation.

That means every saffron crocus growing today belongs to a cultivated tradition stretching far back into antiquity.

For the adventurous gardener, saffron can be grown at home. Give the corms full sun and exceptionally good drainage, plant them about 4 to 6 inches deep and roughly 4 inches apart, and expect their lavender-purple flowers in autumn.

When Should Crocuses Be Planted?

The answer depends upon when they flower.

Spring-flowering crocuses should be planted in autumn, while the corms are dormant. September through November is suitable in many climates, and planting can continue as long as the soil remains workable.

In warmer Southern gardens, there is generally no reason to rush them into warm September soil. Waiting until the weather and soil have cooled in autumn is often preferable.

Autumn-flowering crocuses should be planted earlier, usually in late summer or early September. They need time to establish before their flowering season arrives. Saffron crocus is likewise normally planted in late summer or early autumn.

Where Should You Plant Crocuses?

Crocuses look best when they appear to belong where they are growing.

A single crocus here and another ten feet away can look rather forlorn. Plant them in groups, drifts and irregular clusters instead.

Good locations include sunny flower borders, rock gardens, raised beds, beneath deciduous trees and shrubs, along walks and paths, and in lawns or open grassy areas where they can naturalize.

They are also excellent container plants.

Because deciduous trees have not yet fully leafed out when spring crocuses are flowering, crocuses can thrive beneath them where the ground receives plenty of winter and early-spring sunshine.

For naturalizing in a lawn, remember one important rule: don't mow the foliage down immediately after flowering.

How Deep Should Crocus Corms Be Planted?

For most small spring-flowering crocuses, planting the corms about 3 to 4 inches deep works well. Large Dutch crocuses can be planted somewhat deeper, around 4 to 5 inches.

Plant with the pointed end upward. If you cannot determine which end is which, don't lose sleep over it. The emerging shoot is surprisingly capable of finding its way toward daylight.

Space the corms a few inches apart, or plant them more closely when you want an immediate massed effect.

For a natural appearance, avoid planting them in military ranks. Scatter a handful gently over the planting area and plant them approximately where they fall. Nature seldom uses a ruler.

Sun and Soil

Most crocuses perform best in full sun or light partial shade.

Drainage is more important than rich soil. Crocus corms sitting in cold, soggy ground are invitations to rot.

Ordinary garden soil is generally adequate if it drains freely. Heavy clay can be improved with organic matter and by planting in raised areas where excess water can escape. Rock gardens and raised beds are especially useful for species that demand sharp drainage.

The RHS notes that crocuses generally thrive in sunny, well-drained locations and can grow in borders, turf, containers and beneath deciduous trees.

Caring for Crocuses After They Bloom

Once the flowers fade, leave the foliage alone.

Those narrow green leaves are manufacturing and storing food in the corm for next year's flowers. Cutting or mowing them prematurely weakens the plants.

Allow the foliage to yellow and die naturally. Only then should it be removed.

This is particularly important when crocuses are naturalized in lawns. Delay mowing the crocus area until the leaves have substantially yellowed.

Established crocuses generally require little attention. In favorable conditions the corms multiply, gradually forming larger colonies. Crowded clumps can eventually be lifted and divided while dormant.

Crocuses in the Lawn

Few spring displays are more satisfying than crocuses scattered through an old lawn.

Smaller species are especially well suited to naturalizing. Rather than arranging them symmetrically, scatter the corms by hand and plant them where they land. Over several years the original planting may expand into broad colonies.

The effect can look as though the flowers had always been there.

That is often the difference between merely planting flowers and making a garden.

Small Flowers with a Long History

Crocuses are modest plants. They require little room, little ceremony and relatively little care. Yet they have followed human civilization for thousands of years — from the saffron fields of the ancient Mediterranean to monastery gardens, European estates, cottage lawns and modern American backyards.

Plant the spring-flowering sorts in autumn. Give them sunshine and drainage. Leave their foliage until it dies naturally. Put them where they can multiply.

Then wait.

On some cold morning when winter seems to have overstayed its welcome, a small purple or golden flower will appear almost at ground level.

The calendar may still say winter.

The crocus knows better.

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Salmon Impression Darwin Hybrid Tulip: Spring in the Color of a Sunset

 

 Some tulips are red. Some are pink. Some are orange.

‘Salmon Impression’ seems unwilling to choose.

Its great goblet-shaped flowers mingle salmon, apricot and warm pink, with paler rose-pink edges and subtle changes of color as the blossoms mature. The flowers tend to open with stronger apricot tones and gradually become pinker with age. Look inside and there is another surprise: a cool steel-blue base hidden beneath all that warmth.

It is a remarkably romantic flower—not sugary pink, not fiery orange, but something between the two, like the color of the western sky shortly before sunset.

And because ‘Salmon Impression’ is a Darwin Hybrid, all that delicacy of color comes on a plant of considerable substance.

What Type of Tulip Is ‘Salmon Impression’?

‘Salmon Impression’ belongs to the Darwin Hybrid class, one of the finest groups of tulips for landscape planting.

Darwin Hybrids are descended from crosses between old Darwin tulips and Tulipa fosteriana. The resulting plants combine enormous flowers with tall, strong stems and, under favorable conditions, a greater tendency to return in subsequent years than many other modern garden tulips.

‘Salmon Impression’ generally reaches about 20 to 24 inches tall, with large, classically shaped flowers held proudly above broad green foliage. Some descriptions give flower sizes approaching six inches when fully developed.

This is not a little tulip for peering at on your knees.

It has presence.

When Was ‘Salmon Impression’ Introduced?

There is some conflicting information in the horticultural trade about its introduction date. One current Dutch source gives 2010, but multiple specialist references identify ‘Salmon Impression’ as having been introduced in 2000. More importantly, those sources also identify its origin: it arose as a sport of the celebrated Darwin Hybrid ‘Pink Impression’.

Because the 2000 date is independently repeated by specialist bulb sources and accompanied by the cultivar's parentage, I would use 2000 for a catalog or blog history, while acknowledging that some modern records give a later date.

The original mutation changed the flower color while retaining the impressive stature and flower form associated with ‘Pink Impression’.

That family resemblance is still easy to see.

Who Introduced It?

Here the documentary trail becomes less satisfactory.

I can establish confidently that ‘Salmon Impression’ originated as a sport of ‘Pink Impression’ and was in commercial cultivation by about 2000, but I have not found a sufficiently authoritative cultivar record identifying the individual breeder or nursery responsible for discovering and introducing the sport.

Rather than assign the flower to somebody on the strength of an unsupported internet listing, I would leave the originator unnamed until a Dutch registration record establishes it.

Tulip history has accumulated enough invented certainty already.

Why Is It Called ‘Salmon Impression’?

The name is wonderfully descriptive.

The “Impression” portion connects it with its parent, ‘Pink Impression’, and the famous family of Impression Darwin Hybrids.

“Salmon” describes the transformation.

But this isn't the rather dull salmon color sometimes encountered on old bathroom tile. The flower contains an extraordinarily warm blend of salmon-pink, apricot and rose. As the blossom matures, the balance between those colors changes.

That changing color gives a mass planting particular depth.

Some flowers may appear more apricot.

Others are decidedly pink.

Still others fall almost perfectly between the two.

The result is a planting that looks harmonious without looking mechanically uniform.

The Romance of Salmon Pink

There is something particularly gentle about salmon-colored flowers.

Scarlet demands attention.

Yellow sparkles.

Purple brings depth and mystery.

Salmon glows.

In early morning, ‘Salmon Impression’ can look soft and rosy. Under the stronger light of afternoon, its apricot warmth becomes more apparent. Toward evening, when sunlight becomes golden, a bed of these tulips can seem almost illuminated from within.

That is where the romance of this tulip lies.

It doesn't merely possess a color.

It responds to light.

A Tulip Made for the Landscape

Darwin Hybrids were practically made for large garden displays.

Their height, strong stems and enormous flowers allow them to be seen from a considerable distance. ‘Salmon Impression’ is specifically recommended for landscape planting, mass planting and cutting.

Plant ten and you have a handsome group.

Plant twenty-five and you begin to understand the cultivar.

Plant fifty or a hundred and the landscape changes.

A broad drift of salmon-pink tulips rising through fresh green foliage can create a pool of warm color that draws the eye from across the garden.

For an informal landscape, avoid straight lines. Plant generous irregular groups and allow their edges to mingle.

The flowers are stately enough.

Their arrangement needn't stand at attention.

Plant Them Along a Walk

‘Salmon Impression’ is particularly effective along a garden walk.

At roughly two feet tall, the flowers rise sufficiently high to make an impressive display while remaining close enough for their subtler coloring to be appreciated.

This is important.

From fifty feet away, you see salmon-pink.

From five feet away, you begin seeing apricot, rose, pale pink and the extraordinary blue-toned base inside the flower.

A winding path with broad colonies of ‘Salmon Impression’ appearing at intervals could be magnificent.

And because the cultivar flowers in mid- to late spring, the surrounding garden will already be filling rapidly with green.

Against that background, the warm flowers glow.

Salmon and Deep Purple

One of the richest combinations is salmon with deep purple.

A dark purple tulip planted among ‘Salmon Impression’ gives the border visual depth and makes the lighter flowers seem almost luminous.

Plum and burgundy work beautifully for the same reason.

I would use the dark color sparingly—perhaps one dark group for every two or three groups of salmon.

The object is contrast, not combat.

‘Salmon Impression’ should remain the star.

Salmon and Cream

For a quieter and more romantic planting, combine ‘Salmon Impression’ with cream or ivory.

This softens the entire scheme.

Cream connects naturally with the pale portions of the salmon flowers, while the apricot and pink provide warmth.

The combination would be especially handsome beside old brick, weathered stone, a white-painted fence or traditional architecture.

There is nothing fashionable about such a color scheme.

That is precisely why it won't go out of fashion.

Salmon and Blue

Blue is another natural companion.

Low blue flowers such as forget-me-nots or grape hyacinths can create a cool carpet beneath the tall salmon-colored tulips.

The contrast is particularly effective because the blue remains low while ‘Salmon Impression’ provides the vertical element.

And there is a delightful little secret here.

The hidden steel-blue base inside the tulip itself subtly repeats the blue at its feet.

Most visitors will never consciously notice the connection.

They will simply think the planting looks right.

Some of the best garden design works that way.

Plant It Among Perennials

‘Salmon Impression’ also belongs naturally in the perennial border.

Plant the bulbs between herbaceous perennials that emerge relatively late in spring. The tulips provide color while the perennials are still developing.

Then the exchange begins.

The tulips finish flowering.

Their foliage starts to yellow.

The neighboring perennials expand and gradually hide the declining leaves.

By early summer, the tulips have disappeared and the perennial garden has taken their place.

Nothing looks empty because the same ground has been asked to perform twice.

Good gardens are economical with space, even when they look extravagant.

A Natural Companion for Spring-Flowering Shrubs

The warm coloring also works beautifully beneath spring-flowering shrubs.

Imagine a drift of ‘Salmon Impression’ beneath white-flowering shrubs or against the fresh green foliage of deciduous azaleas.

Pale pink flowering shrubs can create a softer, tonal effect.

The tulips occupy the lower level of the landscape while the shrubs provide height behind them.

The important thing is sunlight. Darwin Hybrids perform best when they receive plenty of it, especially if you hope the bulbs will return in later years.

Don't Be Afraid of Large Numbers

This cultivar rewards generosity.

A complicated multicolored tulip can sometimes become overwhelming when planted by the hundred.

‘Salmon Impression’ does the opposite.

Its related shades of pink, salmon and apricot become more beautiful as the planting grows larger.

Imagine a great sweep of them running through a border.

The individual flowers provide slight variations in color, while repetition unifies the whole planting.

From a distance it becomes a ribbon of warm salmon.

Up close it dissolves into hundreds of individual goblets, each catching the light a little differently.

That is exactly what a good mass planting should do.

Beautiful in Containers

Although its tall stature makes ‘Salmon Impression’ primarily a landscape tulip, it can also be impressive in large containers.

The key word is large.

A tall Darwin Hybrid emerging from a tiny flowerpot can look rather like a church steeple mounted on a teacup.

Use a substantial urn, broad terracotta pot or other container with enough visual weight to balance the flowers.

Plant generously and keep the color scheme simple.

A large pot filled entirely with ‘Salmon Impression’ can be far more effective than an overly complicated assortment.

Place it against a wall, beside an entrance or on a terrace where the flowers catch morning or evening light.

An Exceptional Cut Flower

The long, strong stems and enormous blooms also make ‘Salmon Impression’ an excellent cut flower. Professional growers specifically recommend the cultivar for cut-flower production.

And this is where its subtle coloring becomes particularly valuable.

Indoors, you can see what isn't obvious from across the garden: the transition from apricot through salmon to pink, the pale petal edges and the contrasting base inside the flower.

A vase containing only ‘Salmon Impression’ needs very little assistance.

Add cream flowers for softness.

Deep plum for drama.

Or nothing at all.

Sometimes a dozen tulips and an old glass vase are sufficient.

One of the Better Tulips for Returning

Perhaps the greatest practical virtue of ‘Salmon Impression’ is its Darwin Hybrid ancestry.

Darwin Hybrids are among the modern tulips most likely to return and flower for multiple seasons under favorable conditions. ‘Salmon Impression’ itself is described by professional bulb growers as reliable, long-lasting and particularly capable of perennializing.

That doesn't mean it should be treated like a daffodil.

No modern tulip comes with a lifetime contract.

But if you want a large-flowered garden tulip with a reasonable chance of returning, Darwin Hybrids are among the best places to start.

Give It What It Needs to Come Back

Plant the bulbs in autumn in a sunny location with excellent drainage.

Professional growers recommend planting Darwin Hybrids about 6 to 8 inches deep and approximately 6 inches apart.

If you hope for repeat flowering, don't cut the foliage after bloom.

Deadhead the spent flowers so the plant doesn't waste energy producing seed, but allow every green leaf to remain until it yellows and dies naturally. That foliage is manufacturing the food that replenishes the bulb underground.

And avoid excessively wet soil during summer dormancy.

Tulips come from ancestors accustomed to climates where spring moisture is followed by relatively dry summers.

A dormant bulb appreciates a rest.

It does not require a bath.

A Sunset Captured in a Tulip

‘Salmon Impression’ combines two qualities that do not always occur together.

It is powerful and gentle.

The plant itself is substantial: tall stems, enormous flowers, strong Darwin Hybrid growth and enough presence for great landscape plantings.

Yet the color is soft.

Salmon melts into apricot. Apricot becomes pink. Pale rose touches the petal edges, while a hidden steel-blue heart waits inside.

Plant it beside cream for elegance.

Set it against purple for drama.

Let blue forget-me-nots gather at its feet.

Or plant a hundred bulbs in a great sweeping drift and allow that warm salmon color to flow through the spring landscape.

There are tulips that look best at noon.

‘Salmon Impression’ deserves to be seen toward evening, when the sun is low and the light turns golden.

Then the flowers seem less like something planted in the garden and more like something borrowed from the sunset.

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Orange Princess Double Late Tulip: A Royal Flame in the Late-Spring Garden

 

There are orange tulips, and then there is ‘Orange Princess’.

Calling it orange hardly does it justice. Its great, many-petaled flowers mingle warm orange and apricot with reddish-purple flames, occasional touches of pink, a yellow glow near the base, and even hints of green along the outer petals. As the flowers unfold, those colors seem to shift with the light.

It is not a quiet tulip.

Nor should it be.

‘Orange Princess’ belongs to the Double Late tulips—the great peony-flowered varieties that bring the tulip season toward its extravagant conclusion. By the time it blooms, spring is no longer tentative. The trees are green, perennial borders are awakening, and the garden is approaching that brief, wonderful interval when nearly everything seems possible.

Into all that fresh green comes ‘Orange Princess’, glowing like a small flame.

A Dutch Princess Born in 1983

‘Orange Princess’ was introduced in the Netherlands in 1983. The cultivar is credited to C. J. Zonneveld & Sons together with W. B. & Th. Reus.

That makes it a relatively modern tulip, but its ancestry reaches farther back.

‘Orange Princess’ originated as a double-flowered sport of the famous tulip ‘Prinses Irene’—usually known to English-speaking gardeners as ‘Princess Irene’.

A sport is a spontaneous mutation that causes part of a plant to develop differently from the original. If the new characteristic is stable and desirable, growers can propagate that altered plant vegetatively and preserve it as a new cultivar.

In this case, the result was remarkable.

The elegant orange-and-purple coloring of ‘Princess Irene’ reappeared in a much fuller flower, with layer upon layer of petals.

The princess had acquired a considerably more elaborate wardrobe.

Why Is It Called ‘Orange Princess’?

The name follows naturally from its parentage.

Because it is a double-flowered sport of ‘Princess Irene’, the name ‘Orange Princess’ preserves both the royal association and the flower's predominant orange coloring.

And “orange” here does not mean a flat, unvarying shade.

The flowers have been described as rich orange with garnet-red or reddish-purple flames, yellow toward the base and occasional green tips on the outer petals.

That complexity is precisely what makes the flower interesting.

From across the garden, you see orange.

Walk closer and another flower appears entirely.

What Type of Tulip Is ‘Orange Princess’?

‘Orange Princess’ is a Double Late tulip.

The Double Late class contains some of the most sumptuous flowers in the tulip world. Their blossoms contain so many petals that they are commonly called peony-flowered tulips.

‘Orange Princess’ typically grows about 12 to 16 inches tall, with great double flowers carried on relatively short stems. Dutch professional records place it firmly in the Double Late group and describe its flowering period as late.

That combination of a relatively compact plant and an enormous flower gives ‘Orange Princess’ much of its character.

It does not tower above the garden.

It sits among the spring foliage like a great bowl of glowing petals.

A Flower Made for Close Inspection

This is one tulip that deserves to be planted where people can see it closely.

At a distance, the orange makes the impression.

Up close, the details take over.

The reddish-purple flames become apparent. The outer petals may show green. The yellow base warms the center of the flower, while the multiple layers of petals create shadow and depth.

And because individual flowers vary slightly, a group of ‘Orange Princess’ tulips doesn't look like a row of identical manufactured objects.

One may be more orange.

Another may show stronger purple markings.

Another may reveal more green.

That slight unpredictability gives a planting life.

How to Use ‘Orange Princess’ in the Landscape

Because it is comparatively short, ‘Orange Princess’ is best placed toward the front or middle of a border.

It is especially handsome beside a walkway, where the complicated coloring can be appreciated at close range.

Its compact stature also makes it useful beneath deciduous shrubs and among emerging perennials, provided neighboring plants do not overwhelm it.

And then there is the obvious choice: plant it in groups.

One ‘Orange Princess’ is beautiful.

Three are interesting.

Twenty-five begin to look like something spring itself intended.

For an informal garden, plant the bulbs in irregular drifts rather than straight rows. Allow one group to flow into another, with a few bulbs wandering toward the edges.

A princess may require good breeding.

She needn't stand in formation.

Plant It Against Green

Sometimes the finest companion for an elaborate flower is simply foliage.

‘Orange Princess’ looks magnificent against fresh spring green.

Its own flowers already contain orange, red-purple, yellow and occasional green. There is no urgent need to introduce half the color wheel beside it.

Plant it among emerging perennials or in front of shrubs whose young foliage creates a calm background.

The green allows those extraordinary flowers to do the talking.

Orange and Deep Purple

If you do want another strong color, deep purple is one of the finest choices.

The purple echoes the darker flames within the ‘Orange Princess’ flowers while contrasting dramatically with the orange.

Deep burgundy can work equally well.

A broad drift of ‘Orange Princess’ with smaller groups of dark purple tulips appearing through it can create a remarkably rich late-spring planting.

The trick is restraint.

Let the orange dominate and use the dark color as punctuation.

Orange and Blue

Blue provides a very different effect.

Low-growing blue flowers beneath ‘Orange Princess’ create a classic complementary contrast. Forget-me-nots can be particularly charming if their flowering periods coincide.

The blue forms a cool carpet while the great orange flowers rise above it.

This combination works especially well in cottage gardens, where the little blue flowers can wander somewhat freely between the tulips.

It looks less designed and more discovered.

That is often the better compliment.

Try It With Cream

For a softer and rather more sophisticated combination, pair ‘Orange Princess’ with cream or warm white.

Cream takes some of the heat out of the orange without making the planting cold.

The result can be especially handsome near traditional architecture—old brick, stone, weathered wood or a white-painted fence.

Apricot and peach flowers can also be added to create a warm tonal planting, progressing from cream through peach and orange to the reddish-purple flames of ‘Orange Princess’.

In late-afternoon light, such a border can positively glow.

A Natural Choice for the Cottage Garden

There is something almost old-fashioned about Double Late tulips despite the comparatively recent introduction of ‘Orange Princess’.

Perhaps it is their resemblance to peonies.

Perhaps it is simply their extravagance.

Either way, ‘Orange Princess’ belongs beautifully in a cottage-style border among emerging perennials.

Plant it along an old brick path, near peonies that will flower later, or among hardy geraniums and other perennials that will expand as the tulips decline.

The tulips provide the spring performance.

Then, as their flowers fade, the surrounding plants gradually take over and conceal the yellowing foliage.

A good garden should have succession.

One flower bows while another walks onto the stage.

Splendid in Containers

‘Orange Princess’ is exceptionally well suited to containers.

Its relatively short stature keeps the plant in proportion to the pot, while its enormous double flowers provide more than enough drama. Horticultural references specifically recommend it for pots, and its compact growth has also made it useful for forcing.

A broad terracotta pot filled entirely with ‘Orange Princess’ would be difficult to improve upon.

Terracotta is particularly appropriate because its warm earthy color complements the orange flowers.

For contrast, add a few low blue violas or forget-me-nots.

Or plant nothing else.

Royalty doesn't always require an entourage.

A Magnificent Cut Flower

‘Orange Princess’ also makes a memorable cut flower.

Those enormous peony-like blossoms can reach roughly four inches across, making only a few stems sufficient for an impressive arrangement.

The flowers are complex enough that they need little accompaniment.

Put five or seven stems into a simple vase and allow them to open naturally.

As tulips continue growing and bending after cutting, the arrangement will gradually change. Straight stems become graceful curves, closed flowers become great bowls of petals, and the purple and green markings become increasingly apparent.

It is less a flower arrangement than a performance lasting several days.

Give Those Heavy Flowers Some Shelter

There is one practical consideration.

Double Late tulips carry a great many petals.

A flower filled with petals becomes considerably heavier after a hard rain, and strong winds can bend stems or damage the blossoms. ‘Orange Princess’ is relatively compact, which helps, but a somewhat sheltered site is still preferable.

A border near the house, courtyard, sheltered garden walk or protected perennial bed can be ideal.

The flower's extravagance is its virtue.

It is also its luggage.

Growing ‘Orange Princess’

Plant the bulbs in autumn in fertile, well-drained soil.

A sunny position is best, although some light shade can be tolerated. A planting depth of roughly 6 inches and spacing of about 4 to 6 inches works well for ordinary garden use.

For a richer first-year display, plant somewhat more closely in containers or dedicated bulb beds.

Good drainage matters enormously.

Tulips are remarkably tolerant of winter cold while dormant, but bulbs sitting in persistently waterlogged soil are liable to rot.

After flowering, remove the spent flowers if you intend to retain the bulbs, but leave the foliage until it turns yellow naturally.

Those untidy leaves are replenishing the bulb.

Spring beauty occasionally sends us a bill afterward.

An Award-Winning Princess

‘Orange Princess’ has not survived in cultivation merely because of an attractive name.

Its garden qualities have been formally recognized with the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

That is significant because the cultivar is more than a novelty.

It combines manageable height, extraordinary double flowers, unusual coloring and versatility in borders, containers and cutting gardens.

More than forty years after its 1983 introduction, it remains a distinctive tulip.

A Little Royal Extravagance

There is a moment late in spring when ‘Orange Princess’ reaches perfection.

The buds have opened into great peony-like flowers. Afternoon sunlight passes through the orange petals. Purple flames emerge from their folds. A little yellow glows near the heart of the flower, while touches of green seem to connect the blossoms to the garden around them.

Plant them along an old brick walk.

Let them rise among fresh perennial foliage.

Fill a great terracotta pot beside the front steps.

Or plant a generous drift and allow the whole bed to burn orange beneath the spring sun.

‘Orange Princess’ is not the tulip for a gardener seeking restraint.

It is warm, elaborate, slightly theatrical and unapologetically beautiful.

Spring, after all, has been restrained all winter.

By the time ‘Orange Princess’ flowers, it deserves a little extravagance.

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Rococo Parrot Tulip: A Little Baroque Extravagance for the Spring Garden

 

There are tulips that possess dignity, tulips that possess grace, and tulips that behave themselves impeccably in a formal border.

Then there is ‘Rococo’.

This extraordinary Parrot tulip seems to have been designed on the principle that moderation is overrated. Its great flowers are twisted, puckered, ruffled and feathered, with rich cardinal-red to crimson petals streaked and splashed with green, purple and touches of yellow. Even the individual flowers vary slightly from one another.

The result is wonderfully theatrical.

And the name could hardly be more appropriate. The Rococo style of the eighteenth century delighted in curves, ornament, asymmetry and exuberant decoration. ‘Rococo’ the tulip seems to have absorbed the same philosophy.

It is a flower that refuses to sit quietly in the corner.

What Type of Tulip Is ‘Rococo’?

‘Rococo’ belongs to the Parrot Group of tulips.

Parrot tulips are among the most extraordinary results of centuries of tulip cultivation. Their flowers have irregularly cut, curled, twisted and feathered petals that suggested the ruffled plumage of exotic parrots—hence the name of the group.

The Royal Horticultural Society describes ‘Rococo’ specifically as a Parrot cultivar with thick, puckered tepals of rich red, feathered with green and touched with yellow.

That description is accurate, but perhaps a little too polite.

The flowers can be positively wild.

As they mature, the petals twist and spread, sometimes opening very broadly in warm sunshine. Their crinkled surfaces catch light and shadow differently from ordinary smooth-petaled tulips, making the reds appear deeper in some places and almost luminous in others.

Where Did ‘Rococo’ Come From?

‘Rococo’ is a Dutch cultivar, but its immediate origin is particularly interesting.

It arose as a sport of the old tulip ‘Couleur Cardinal’. A sport is a spontaneous genetic mutation that produces a visibly different shoot or flower on an otherwise established plant. If that mutation is stable, horticulturists can propagate it vegetatively and preserve the new form as a cultivar.

Research on tulip cultivar lineages confirms ‘Couleur Cardinal’ as the parent cultivar of ‘Rococo’, and historic-tulip records likewise describe ‘Rococo’ as a sport of that famous old red tulip.

That gives ‘Rococo’ a rather distinguished ancestry.

‘Couleur Cardinal’ itself is one of the great surviving historic tulips, dating from the nineteenth century. Somewhere along the line, that comparatively restrained old red tulip produced something considerably more flamboyant.

Children will do that occasionally.

When Was ‘Rococo’ Introduced?

‘Rococo’ dates from 1942.

Historic bulb records identify it as a Dutch introduction from that year, and horticultural references credit the cultivar to H. Slegtkamp & Co.

That means ‘Rococo’ has now been in cultivation for more than eighty years.

That is impressive longevity in the world of commercial tulips. Thousands of cultivars have appeared and disappeared during those decades. A tulip that remains recognizable and desirable after eight decades has usually earned its place.

‘Rococo’ certainly has.

Why Is It Called ‘Rococo’?

I have not found a surviving statement from H. Slegtkamp & Co. explicitly explaining the choice of name, so we shouldn't pretend to possess documentary evidence that isn't there.

But in this case the resemblance is almost impossible to miss.

The historical Rococo style developed in eighteenth-century France and reveled in elaborate decoration, curving forms, asymmetry and natural motifs. The Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt describes Rococo as emphasizing organic forms and curved lines rather than rigid classical geometry.

Now look at the tulip.

Nothing is straight that could be curved.

Nothing is plain that could be ruffled.

Nothing is merely red when it could also contain green, purple and yellow.

If the cultivar was indeed named in reference to the artistic style—and its appearance makes that interpretation highly plausible—the name was inspired.

A Tulip With an Older Family History

Although ‘Rococo’ itself dates only from 1942, Parrot tulips have a much older history.

Their strange feathered forms emerged among cultivated tulips centuries ago, and the group became part of the extraordinary diversity produced during the long development of European tulip culture.

Modern Parrot tulips descend from mutations and selections in which petals became irregular, deeply cut, twisted or feathered. Current horticultural descriptions still emphasize mutation as an important source of these unusual forms.

‘Rococo’ is a splendid example of what happens when a genetic oddity becomes horticultural treasure.

The ordinary flower obeys the rules.

The memorable flower occasionally breaks them.

What Does ‘Rococo’ Look Like?

The dominant color is a deep cardinal to carmine red, but describing ‘Rococo’ simply as a red tulip misses most of the point.

The outside of the petals can carry conspicuous green feathering along with purple or burgundy tones. Yellow may appear in streaks and near the base. The flowers become increasingly flamboyant as they open. The Chicago Botanic Garden describes the cultivar as deep cardinal red with green and purple feathering.

Even the texture is unusual.

The petals can appear thick, folded, crumpled and almost waxy. One section catches the sunlight while another falls into shadow.

A bed of ‘Rococo’ therefore possesses much more depth than a bed of uniformly colored smooth-petaled tulips.

Shorter Than Many Parrot Tulips

‘Rococo’ is also relatively compact.

Historic-tulip specialists commonly describe it as about 14 to 16 inches tall and note that it is both shorter and somewhat earlier than many traditional Parrot tulips.

That can be an advantage.

Parrot flowers are large and heavy. Tall stems carrying enormous flowers can suffer in strong wind or heavy rain, especially after the petals have collected water.

A somewhat shorter plant presents less leverage to the wind.

Even so, ‘Rococo’ deserves a reasonably sheltered location. The RHS recommends protection from strong winds and excessive wet.

Magnificence sometimes requires a little looking after.

How to Use ‘Rococo’ in the Landscape

The first rule is simple: put it somewhere it can be seen.

This is not a tulip to plant at the far end of the property.

Its chief attractions are the extraordinary feathering, twisting and subtle mixtures of color within each flower. Those details disappear at fifty feet.

Plant ‘Rococo’ near a walkway, terrace, entrance or sitting area.

The RHS recommends it for flower beds and borders, cottage and informal gardens, courtyard gardens, containers and cutting gardens.

Its moderate height makes it especially useful toward the front or middle of a border.

Let ‘Rococo’ Be the Star

With a flower this elaborate, companion planting requires a little restraint.

There is a temptation to put flamboyant flowers beside other flamboyant flowers until the border resembles a carnival parade.

Sometimes that works.

Usually, ‘Rococo’ benefits from quieter companions.

Deep green foliage is perhaps the simplest background. It echoes the green streaking in the petals without competing with the flowers themselves.

A planting of ‘Rococo’ emerging from a restrained green border allows every strange twist and fold of the flowers to stand out.

Pair It With Cream and White

White or cream flowers can be magnificent companions.

They provide visual breathing room around the intense crimson and green of ‘Rococo’.

Rather than alternating individual bulbs, plant groups.

A broad group of ‘Rococo’ beside a quieter group of creamy-white tulips will usually look more natural than a strict red-white-red-white pattern.

The pale flowers act almost like light falling between the darker ones.

Deep Purple Makes It Richer

Deep purple, plum and burgundy can also work beautifully.

These colors draw attention to the darker purple tones already present in ‘Rococo’ and produce an exceptionally rich planting.

Use them sparingly.

‘Rococo’ already has plenty to say.

A few dark companions provide punctuation. Too many may start an argument.

Try It With Spring Green

Green-flowered tulips can make particularly interesting companions because they repeat the conspicuous green markings in ‘Rococo’.

A white-and-green Viridiflora, for example, would create a fascinating contrast: one tulip restrained and elegant, the other flamboyant and restless, but both connected by green.

The combination has enough contrast to be interesting and enough repetition to look intentional.

Wonderful in a Cottage Garden

Despite the grandeur suggested by its name, ‘Rococo’ fits beautifully into a cottage garden.

Its irregular flowers actually work particularly well among emerging perennials, where the surrounding foliage softens the planting.

Imagine groups of those great crimson-and-green flowers appearing between clumps of fresh spring foliage along an old brick path.

The effect is sumptuous without becoming formal.

In fact, ‘Rococo’ looks remarkably good in a garden that is just slightly overgrown.

Not neglected.

There is an important distinction.

Spectacular in Containers

This may be one of the best ways to grow ‘Rococo’.

A large container brings the flowers closer to eye level, allowing all those strange folds, feathers and streaks to be appreciated properly.

Use a substantial terracotta pot or traditional urn and plant the bulbs generously.

I would be inclined to let ‘Rococo’ stand alone rather than complicating the container with too many other large flowers. If you want something beneath it, use a restrained low-growing plant in cream, white or deep purple.

A pot full of ‘Rococo’ beside a doorway requires very little assistance.

Plant Enough to Create Drama

One ‘Rococo’ flower is a curiosity.

Five make a handsome group.

Twenty-five make a spectacle.

This cultivar is especially effective when repeated through a border in irregular colonies. Because the individual flowers vary slightly in their feathering and coloring, even a large planting does not become monotonous.

Quite the opposite.

The more flowers you have, the more variations you notice.

It is almost as though every bulb has been given the same set of colors but different instructions for using them.

An Excellent Cut Flower

‘Rococo’ also makes a superb cut tulip.

Its strange flower form becomes even more apparent indoors, where the blossoms can be examined closely. The Chicago Botanic Garden and RHS both recognize its usefulness as a cut flower.

A vase containing only a handful can be spectacular.

You don't need an elaborate mixed arrangement. The green and purple feathering already gives the flowers much of the complexity that foliage and companion flowers would normally provide.

Put them in a simple vase and let them misbehave.

Growing ‘Rococo’

Plant the bulbs in autumn in fertile, well-drained soil.

Full sun is best, although a location with some protection from severe wind is particularly valuable for Parrot tulips. The RHS recommends planting ‘Rococo’ approximately 4 to 6 inches deep and specifically cautions against excessive wet.

Good drainage is essential.

After flowering, remove the spent flowers if you intend to retain the bulbs, but leave the foliage until it yellows naturally.

The leaves are replenishing the bulb.

It isn't the prettiest stage of tulip cultivation, but gardens, like people, occasionally have to do useful things while not looking their best.

Will ‘Rococo’ Return?

It can.

Parrot tulips, however, are not generally the first tulips one would choose for dependable naturalizing. Historic-tulip specialists acknowledge the group's reputation for being relatively short-lived, although individual tulips can persist for many years when conditions suit them.

If you want the best chance of repeat flowering, provide excellent drainage, plenty of sunlight and a relatively dry summer dormancy.

Allow the foliage to mature completely.

And don't be terribly surprised if the display gradually diminishes. Many gardeners simply supplement their Parrot tulips with fresh bulbs periodically to maintain the desired effect.

Some extravagances are worth renewing.

More Than Eighty Years of Flamboyance

‘Rococo’ has survived in cultivation since 1942 for a very good reason.

It is unforgettable.

Born as a sport of the venerable ‘Couleur Cardinal’ and introduced from Holland by H. Slegtkamp & Co., it transformed an old red tulip into something altogether more extravagant: a mass of crimson, cardinal red, green, purple and yellow wrapped in twisted and feathered petals.

More than eighty years later, it still looks daring.

Plant it beside an old brick walk. Fill a terracotta pot with it. Let it emerge among perennials in a cottage border. Or plant a generous drift where afternoon sunlight can catch every fold and wrinkle of those extraordinary flowers.

There are tulips that bring order to a garden.

There are tulips that bring serenity.

‘Rococo’ brings theater.

And every good garden can use a little of that.

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Mixed Double Late Tulips: A Grand Finale for the Spring Garden

 

There comes a moment in spring when the garden seems determined to spend everything it has.

The tentative flowers of early spring are behind us. Trees have begun to leaf out, the days are warmer, and borders that only weeks before seemed almost empty are filling rapidly with green. Then, just when the traditional tulip season might appear to be drawing toward its close, the Double Late tulips arrive.

And they do not arrive quietly.

With enormous, many-petaled flowers in shades of rose, pink, red, purple, yellow, cream, white and combinations of several colors, Mixed Double Late Tulips can transform an ordinary spring border into something extravagant. Their flowers are so full that they are frequently called peony-flowered tulips, and when planted in a generous mixture, they create the impression of an old garden overflowing with flowers accumulated through generations.

There is something wonderfully romantic about them.

Perhaps that is because no two corners of a mixed planting look quite the same. Perhaps it is because their great flowers seem almost too elaborate for tulips. Or perhaps it is simply because they bloom at that fleeting moment when spring has reached its fullness and summer is waiting just beyond the garden gate.

What Are Double Late Tulips?

Double Late tulips are a distinct class of garden tulips characterized by their large, densely petaled flowers and comparatively late flowering season.

An ordinary single tulip has six tepals arranged in the familiar cup. Double tulips possess many more.

The result can be extraordinary.

A fully opened Double Late tulip may scarcely resemble the simple wild tulips from which centuries of cultivated varieties ultimately descended. Instead, its layers of petals form a broad, rounded flower reminiscent of a peony or old-fashioned garden rose.

This resemblance has given the group its familiar alternative name: peony-flowered tulips.

Plants generally grow about 16 to 24 inches tall, depending upon the varieties included in the mixture. Their flowers are substantial and are carried above broad, blue-green to fresh-green foliage.

And substantial is not an exaggeration.

When fully open, some Double Late flowers can reach roughly four inches across or more. A mature planting in full bloom has a richness that few other tulip classes can equal.

The Last Great Tulip Show of Spring

The word "Late" in Double Late is important.

These tulips generally flower toward the end of the tulip season, often from late April into May, depending upon climate and weather.

That makes them tremendously useful.

A garden planted only with one class of tulips may produce a magnificent display for a short period and then suddenly be finished. But by combining early, midseason and late tulips, the performance can continue for weeks.

Double Late tulips provide the finale.

And what a finale it is.

By the time they flower, the garden around them is considerably greener than it was when the earliest tulips appeared. Emerging perennials and shrubs provide a lush background for the great double blossoms.

They do not seem to announce that spring has begun.

They proclaim that spring has reached its height.

Double Tulips Have Been With Us for Centuries

The idea of a double-flowered tulip is by no means modern.

Tulips with multiplied petals were already known in European cultivation during the seventeenth century, the great age of Dutch enthusiasm for the flower. Double-flowered forms appear in early tulip classifications and period illustrations, evidence that gardeners prized their extraordinary fullness almost from the beginning of Europe's long love affair with tulips.

The modern Double Late class developed from later generations of breeding and selection, particularly from the old late-flowering double tulips sometimes historically associated with the Peony-flowered group.

So while the particular cultivars available today may be comparatively recent introductions, the gardener who plants double tulips is participating in a horticultural tradition several centuries old.

That seems appropriate.

There is something decidedly old-world about a great double tulip.

A modern landscape can certainly accommodate them, but they look equally convincing beside an old brick walk, spilling through a cottage border or flowering near a weathered garden gate.

They carry a little of the old Dutch garden with them.

Why Plant a Mixture?

There are times when planting a single tulip cultivar in a great disciplined sweep is exactly right.

Mixed Double Late Tulips offer something entirely different.

Instead of a uniform block of color, a mixture creates a changing tapestry.

One flower may be deep burgundy.

Beside it stands another in shell pink.

Beyond that is cream, yellow, scarlet, white or lavender-purple. Some may be solid colors while others can be streaked, edged, flushed or feathered with contrasting shades.

The eye moves constantly through the planting.

That makes a mixture especially effective in gardens intended to look abundant rather than regimented.

The Delight of Not Knowing Exactly What Will Appear

There is also a small pleasure in planting a mixture that disappears completely underground for winter.

You know tulips will emerge.

You know they will be double.

But you don't know precisely where each color will appear.

Autumn conceals the arrangement.

Winter keeps the secret.

Then spring reveals it.

A pink flower appears here. A dark one opens there. A yellow bud begins showing color somewhere you had forgotten planting anything at all.

It is one of the few occasions in gardening when uncertainty is part of the attraction.

A gardener spends enough time trying to control things.

Sometimes it is pleasant to plant the bulbs and allow spring to arrange the bouquet.

A More Natural Garden Effect

Mixed colors also help a tulip planting feel less like a bedding display and more like part of the garden itself.

Uniform plantings have their place, particularly in formal landscapes. But in cottage gardens, mixed borders and informal settings, an assortment of colors can blend more naturally with the plants already present.

The trick is to plant enough bulbs.

Scattering ten Double Late tulips over a large border may simply make them look lost.

Planting thirty, fifty or a hundred in generous groups produces something quite different.

The colors begin to repeat.

One pink flower answers another several feet away. White appears here and then again farther down the border. Dark purple provides occasional depth. Yellow catches the sunlight.

The mixture gains unity without becoming uniform.

Plant in Drifts, Not Rows

For an informal garden, resist the temptation to line the bulbs up like soldiers.

Instead, plant them in broad, irregular drifts.

One useful method is simply to mix the bulbs before planting and distribute them naturally through the chosen area. Avoid trying to arrange the colors individually. Part of the beauty of a mixture is allowing chance to create combinations you might never have planned.

Plant some groups more densely and allow others to thin toward the edges.

The finished planting should appear to flow through the border rather than occupy a rectangle within it.

Nature is rather fond of irregularity.

Gardens usually benefit from borrowing some.

Perfect for the Cottage Garden

Mixed Double Late Tulips seem almost made for a cottage garden.

Plant them among emerging perennials where their great flowers can rise through fresh spring foliage.

Peonies make particularly appropriate neighbors. The tulips flower as the peony plants are developing, and the visual relationship between a double tulip and the great flowers that will follow is delightful.

Hardy geraniums, catmint and other perennials can also surround the bulbs. As these plants expand later in spring, they help conceal the tulip foliage as it begins to yellow.

The tulips have their moment.

Then the perennial garden takes the stage.

Magnificent Along a Garden Walk

Double Late tulips deserve to be seen closely.

Their flowers contain far more detail than can be appreciated from across a lawn. Layers of petals fold over one another, colors deepen toward the centers, and some varieties change subtly as their blossoms mature.

Planting them beside a walkway allows you to enjoy those details.

It also lets the flowers spill visually toward the path, creating that wonderfully abundant impression of an old garden slightly too full of beautiful things.

There are worse faults for a garden to have.

A Romantic Planting Beneath Roses

Mixed Double Late Tulips can also be planted among roses.

When the tulips are flowering, the roses are generally developing rapidly but have not yet reached their summer glory.

The tulips provide the color first.

As their flowers fade, the roses begin taking over.

Meanwhile, expanding rose foliage helps distract attention from the declining tulip leaves.

This succession is one of the oldest and best principles of ornamental gardening: don't ask one plant to provide everything.

Allow one season to hand the garden to the next.

Wonderful With Old Houses

There is something particularly attractive about mixed double tulips near traditional architecture.

Plant them along an old brick walk.

Place them beside stone steps.

Let them fill a bed beneath a white picket fence.

Use them around a porch or near an old garden bench.

Their great peony-like blossoms possess enough formality to complement architecture, while the mixture of colors keeps the planting from becoming stiff.

Against weathered brick, aged wood or old stone, they can look as though they have been flowering there for generations.

That illusion is worth cultivating.

Plant Them in Containers

Mixed Double Late Tulips can make spectacular container displays.

A large pot filled with a mixture becomes a ready-made spring bouquet.

Because the flowers are large, choose a container substantial enough to balance them visually. Broad terracotta pots, urns and traditional planters work especially well.

Plant generously.

Tulip containers are not the place for excessive economy. Closely planted bulbs produce the lush display we are after.

When several colors begin opening together, the pot can resemble an enormous floral arrangement that happens to be growing from the soil.

Place it near an entrance or terrace where the flowers can be enjoyed every day.

The Perfect Cutting-Garden Tulip

If you enjoy bringing flowers indoors, Mixed Double Late Tulips are difficult to resist.

Their long stems and peony-like blossoms make them magnificent cut flowers.

And a mixture gives you an assortment of colors without requiring a separate row of every cultivar.

Cut a few pinks.

Add a white.

Perhaps a deep purple and a pale yellow.

Suddenly you have a spring bouquet that looks as though it came from a florist who had been given very generous instructions.

Or use one color alone.

A vase containing five great double white tulips can be just as beautiful as an elaborate mixed arrangement.

A Word About Those Enormous Flowers

The very characteristic that makes Double Late tulips spectacular can occasionally make them vulnerable.

Those flowers are heavy.

After a hard spring rain, the petals can hold considerable water. Strong wind combined with wet flowers may bend or break stems.

For that reason, plant them where they have some protection from the worst winds if possible.

A sheltered border, courtyard garden or area near a hedge can be ideal.

This is not a defect peculiar to tulips. Large flowers throughout the garden pay a price for magnificence.

A peony after a thunderstorm understands the situation perfectly.

Growing Mixed Double Late Tulips

Plant the bulbs in autumn after the soil has begun to cool.

Choose a location receiving plenty of sun and having fertile, well-drained soil. Tulips need moisture while actively growing, but they strongly dislike waterlogged ground.

Planting bulbs approximately 6 inches deep is suitable in many garden soils, with somewhat deeper planting sometimes useful in lighter soils or colder climates.

For landscape groups, bulbs can generally be spaced about 4 to 6 inches apart, although closer planting creates a more concentrated first-year display.

Then wait.

Autumn planting is an act of faith peculiar to gardeners. We bury something brown and apparently lifeless just as the garden is dying back, cover it with cold earth, and trust that spring will remember where we put it.

Usually, it does.

Let the Foliage Finish Its Work

After flowering, Double Late tulips leave behind the same problem as every other tulip: foliage that becomes progressively less attractive.

Leave it alone.

The leaves need sunlight to manufacture and store energy in the bulb. Cutting green foliage immediately after flowering weakens the bulb and reduces its chance of flowering well again.

Instead, remove the spent flower heads and allow the foliage to yellow naturally.

This is another reason to grow the bulbs among perennials. As neighboring plants expand, they gradually conceal the fading tulip leaves.

Good planting design can hide a multitude of horticultural necessities.

Will They Return?

Double Late tulips may return in subsequent years when conditions suit them, but they should not be expected to naturalize with the enthusiasm of daffodils or some species tulips.

Excellent drainage, abundant sunlight and allowing the foliage to mature fully will improve their chances.

Even when some bulbs gradually decline, the first great spring display can make the planting worthwhile.

And when a clump does return and flower again, it feels less like something purchased and more like something that has become part of the garden.

Why Mixed Colors Work So Well

Perhaps the strongest argument for a mixture is that spring itself is mixed.

Look at an old garden in April and May.

There isn't one shade of green but dozens. Azaleas bloom beside dogwoods. Roses are beginning while narcissus are finishing. Violets appear beneath shrubs. New leaves are bronze, chartreuse, emerald and gray-green.

Mixed Double Late Tulips belong naturally to that abundance.

Their colors don't need to match perfectly.

They need to converse.

Pink beside purple.

Yellow beside white.

Red emerging through green leaves.

A pale flower catching the last light of evening while a dark one disappears into shadow.

That variety gives the planting life.

The Grand Finale

Mixed Double Late Tulips are flowers for gardeners who believe spring ought to finish generously.

Their ancestry reaches back through centuries of fascination with double-flowered tulips, to a time when European gardeners were already marveling at tulips transformed by extra petals into flowers resembling roses and peonies.

Today they offer the same pleasure.

Plant them in broad drifts through a perennial border. Let them wander beneath roses. Fill great pots beside the front steps. Grow enough to cut armfuls for the house.

And don't worry too much about which color will appear beside which.

There is a certain romance in surrendering that decision to chance.

All winter the bulbs lie unseen beneath the earth. Then, late in spring, they rise together—pink, crimson, purple, yellow, white, cream and all the shades between—until the garden looks less like something carefully decorated and more like something celebrating.

And perhaps that is the real appeal of Mixed Double Late Tulips.

By the time they flower, spring has nothing left to prove.

It can simply be beautiful.

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