Not every tulip needs to stand two feet tall and carry a flower the size of a teacup.
Some of the most charming tulips are much closer to their wild ancestors—small, graceful plants that look perfectly at home among stones, along a pathway or scattered through a sunny border. ‘Peppermintstick’ belongs to that company.
With narrow flowers striped cherry-red and creamy white, this diminutive tulip really does resemble an old-fashioned peppermint stick before its flowers open. When sunshine reaches them, however, the blossoms spread into delicate stars and reveal a surprisingly dramatic interior.
It is a very different creature from the great Darwin Hybrids and Triumph tulips—and therein lies its charm.
What Is a Species Tulip?
‘Peppermintstick’, often sold as Tulipa clusiana ‘Peppermintstick’, belongs to the group gardeners commonly call species or botanical tulips. Strictly speaking, the Royal Horticultural Society now describes ‘Peppermintstick’ as a small hybrid tulip and lists Tulipa clusiana ‘Peppermintstick’ among its synonyms. It is nevertheless closely associated horticulturally with T. clusiana, the Lady Tulip, and is generally marketed with the species tulips.
Species tulips are generally smaller and less extravagantly bred than the familiar garden hybrids. Many retain characteristics of wild tulips, including relatively delicate foliage, smaller bulbs and flowers that respond dramatically to sunlight.
They can also be remarkably persistent.
Where conditions suit them, some species tulips settle into the garden and increase rather than gradually disappear.
‘Peppermintstick’ is particularly good at this.
Where Does It Come From?
To understand ‘Peppermintstick’, it helps to understand its close relative, Tulipa clusiana.
The wild species has an extensive native range stretching from northern Iraq eastward through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the western Himalayas.
This is important because the natural home of a tulip tells us a great deal about what it wants in the garden.
These are not plants of permanently damp woodland.
Within its range, Tulipa clusiana occurs in forest openings, dry savanna-like slopes and rocky slopes, at elevations reported from roughly 1,500 to 3,300 meters.
Think mountains, rocky ground, bright sunshine and pronounced seasons.
That background explains much of the plant's behavior in cultivation.
Wet Winters, Dry Summers
The Lady Tulip is particularly well adapted to climates having cool, reasonably moist winters followed by warm, dry summers.
The Missouri Botanical Garden recommends well-drained soil and notes that T. clusiana performs especially well where winters are cool and moist without being waterlogged and summers are warm and dry.
That summer dryness matters.
Tulips spend summer underground as dormant bulbs. A bulb resting in relatively dry soil is quite content. A dormant tulip bulb sitting in hot, wet ground is another matter altogether.
Rot soon settles the argument.
For that reason, ‘Peppermintstick’ is particularly suited to rock gardens, gravel gardens, raised beds and sunny borders with excellent drainage.
Why Is It Called ‘Peppermintstick’?
This name requires very little detective work.
Before the flowers fully open, the narrow pointed tepals show a striking combination of cherry or cerise red and white. A Dutch specialist describes the flowers as cherry-red with white edging and an ivory-white interior, while the RHS describes them as white with cerise markings on the outer tepals.
The closed flower therefore resembles a striped peppermint candy stick.
It is one of those rare plant names that tells you almost exactly what you are going to get.
The cultivar is reported by Dutch bulb specialist Peter C. Nijssen as dating from 1998.
Two Flowers for the Price of One
One of the most delightful things about ‘Peppermintstick’ is how completely the flower changes according to the weather.
On cloudy days and at night, the blossoms remain comparatively closed. The red-and-white exterior is then prominent, emphasizing that peppermint-stick appearance.
Give them sunshine and something quite different happens.
The pointed tepals spread outward until the flower becomes an open star, revealing a mostly white interior with a dark bluish or violet center.
A planting can therefore look like a collection of slender striped tulips in the morning and a scattering of white stars by a sunny afternoon.
That little transformation gives ‘Peppermintstick’ considerably more interest than its modest stature might suggest.
Small Is Part of Its Charm
‘Peppermintstick’ generally reaches only about 10 to 12 inches tall, sometimes less. The foliage is correspondingly narrow and graceful rather than broad and substantial.
Don't regard that small size as a disadvantage.
It allows this tulip to be used in places where a 24-inch Darwin Hybrid would look ridiculous.
Put ‘Peppermintstick’ near the front of the garden, where its details can be appreciated.
Perfect for the Rock Garden
This may be one of its finest uses.
Plant ‘Peppermintstick’ among stones and low-growing plants in a sunny rock garden, and it begins to resemble the sort of wild tulip from which our elaborate garden varieties ultimately descended.
Good drainage in a rock garden also suits its natural inclinations.
Tuck the bulbs into pockets between rocks, but don't plant them as isolated specimens. A single ‘Peppermintstick’ is charming; a colony is far better.
Plant It Along a Walkway
Because the plants are small, they are excellent along paths and garden walks.
Plant irregular groups along the edge rather than making an unbroken line. The flowers are interesting enough to reward close examination, particularly when they open in sunshine and reveal their dark centers.
This is a tulip that invites you to stop and look.
Let It Naturalize
Perhaps the greatest virtue of ‘Peppermintstick’ is its ability to naturalize.
The clusiana group has a reputation for persistence. Missouri Botanical Garden notes that Lady Tulips can increase by offsets and stolons under favorable conditions, eventually forming colonies. ‘Peppermintstick’ itself is described by specialist growers as reliably naturalizing, and the cultivar is frequently recommended for that purpose.
This distinguishes it from many modern tulips.
A grand Double Late tulip may put on a tremendous show the first spring and then gradually decline. A happy species-type tulip may do the opposite: begin modestly and become more impressive as the years pass.
That is my kind of bargain.
Try It in a Gravel Garden
‘Peppermintstick’ is almost made for the modern gravel garden.
Plant bulbs in sunny, sharply drained soil among low drought-tolerant perennials. The tulips provide spring interest before many summer plants have reached their stride, and the drier summer conditions suit the dormant bulbs.
Creeping thyme, low sedums and other restrained groundcovers can make suitable neighbors, provided they don't smother the tulips.
The effect can be natural without becoming untidy.
Excellent for the Front of a Border
In a conventional perennial border, place ‘Peppermintstick’ right at the front.
Its narrow foliage and modest height make it particularly useful around emerging perennials. As the tulips finish flowering, neighboring plants expand and conceal the declining foliage.
That arrangement also solves one of the perennial problems of tulip gardening: what to do with the leaves after the flowers disappear.
Don't cut them off.
Allow the foliage to yellow naturally so it can replenish the bulbs for next year's flowers.
Plant Enough to Make an Impression
Small bulbs should generally be planted in larger numbers.
Garden references recommend ‘Peppermintstick’ for beds, borders, rock gardens and naturalized areas, with groups of at least 15 bulbs suggested for a worthwhile visual effect.
Fifteen is a good beginning.
Twenty-five is better.
And if the planting is happy, nature may eventually supply the rest.
Unlike tall hybrid tulips, these don't necessarily need to be arranged in great formal blocks. Irregular colonies suit their character beautifully.
Scatter them deliberately—but make the scattering look accidental.
Gardeners have been practicing that particular deception for centuries.
What Should You Plant With It?
Because ‘Peppermintstick’ is red and white, blue is a particularly good companion.
Grape hyacinths (Muscari) can create a low blue carpet around the tulips. Forget-me-nots can provide a softer effect.
Small daffodils are another excellent choice, particularly delicate types rather than enormous trumpet varieties.
Other recommended companions include Anemone blanda and creeping phlox.
The important thing is scale.
‘Peppermintstick’ possesses a delicate character. Pairing it with enormous, aggressively colored spring flowers can overwhelm it.
An Interesting Tulip for Southern Gardens
There is another reason the clusiana tulips deserve attention.
Missouri Botanical Garden notes that they can show good perennial performance in southern gardens because they require less winter cold than many tulips.
That doesn't mean they will thrive everywhere in the Deep South. Tulips still require appropriate seasonal conditions, and hot, wet summer soil remains a serious obstacle.
But among tulips for gardeners in milder climates, the clusiana group is certainly worth experimenting with—particularly in raised, sunny, sharply drained locations.
A Tulip With a Distinguished Namesake
The species name clusiana honors Carolus Clusius (1526–1609), the great Flemish physician and botanist whose work played an important role in establishing tulip cultivation in Europe.
That gives this little tulip a connection to the very beginnings of Europe's fascination with tulips.
The great formal tulip displays of Holland came later. Before them were wild tulips from Asia, botanical collectors, gardens and scholars trying to understand these curious bulbs from the East.
‘Peppermintstick’ still looks close enough to that older world to remind us where tulips came from.
Small Tulip, Big Personality
‘Peppermintstick’ will never compete with a Darwin Hybrid for sheer size.
It shouldn't try.
Its virtues are entirely different: slender foliage, pointed red-and-white flowers, star-shaped blossoms in sunshine, compact growth and an ability to settle into suitable gardens and form colonies.
Plant it in a rock garden. Let it wander along a sunny path. Tuck it among low perennials. Give it gravel, sunshine and good drainage.
Then leave it alone long enough to become established.
The great hybrid tulips may provide the spring fireworks.
‘Peppermintstick’ provides something quieter and perhaps more enduring—the charm of a wild tulip that looks as though it actually belongs in the garden.
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