Yellow tulips have a particular talent for looking like spring itself.
After months of brown earth, gray skies and bare branches, ‘Yokohama’ arrives with clear, saffron-yellow flowers held above fresh green foliage. It is neither wildly fringed nor elaborately double. Instead, it possesses the clean cup-shaped flower, strong stems and dependable garden performance for which Triumph tulips are valued.
And then there is the name.
Why should a Dutch-bred yellow tulip carry the name of one of Japan's great port cities?
That question leads us into a surprisingly interesting bit of tulip history.
What Type of Tulip Is ‘Yokohama’?
‘Yokohama’ is classified today as a Triumph tulip.
The Royal Horticultural Society describes it as a Triumph Group cultivar with saffron-yellow, pointed flowers produced in mid-spring on plants approximately 35 cm—or about 14 inches—tall.
Triumph tulips are among the great practical tulips of the garden.
They produce the classic single, cup-shaped flowers most people immediately recognize as tulips, but they generally have sturdier stems than many older garden types. Their moderate height and midseason flowering make them particularly useful for bedding, containers and mass landscape plantings.
‘Yokohama’ is comparatively compact for a Triumph, which opens up some interesting possibilities in the garden.
When Was ‘Yokohama’ Introduced?
There is some confusion about the date in modern horticultural sources.
Several retail references give 1973 as its introduction date, and that date has been repeated widely.
However, stronger evidence points to an earlier date.
A peer-reviewed study of tulip cultivars published in Scientia Horticulturae, drawing upon established cultivar records, lists ‘Yokohama’ as a Triumph tulip dating from 1961.
More importantly, a European cultivar reference identifies the originator as J. F. Van den Berg & Sons and gives 1961 as the registration date.
For that reason, 1961 is the date I would use rather than the frequently repeated 1973 date.
The discrepancy may result from confusion between registration, introduction and later commercial distribution. Such muddles are surprisingly common in old bulb catalogues.
So our best available evidence is:
‘Yokohama’ was registered in 1961 and originated with the Dutch firm J. F. Van den Berg & Sons.
Why Is It Called ‘Yokohama’?
This part of the story is more mysterious.
The name plainly refers to Yokohama, Japan, the great port city on Tokyo Bay. What I have not found is reliable documentation from Van den Berg explaining why the name was chosen.
So once again, it is worth separating history from horticultural folklore.
We can confidently say that the cultivar bears the name of Yokohama.
We cannot confidently say that it commemorated a particular event, person or Japanese connection without documentary evidence.
There is, however, some historical context that makes the choice less peculiar than it might initially seem.
By the middle of the twentieth century, Japanese place-names had become familiar throughout Europe and North America, and Dutch bulb breeders frequently gave tulips international geographical names. A memorable foreign city made an excellent cultivar name.
And Yokohama certainly qualified.
The City Behind the Name
Yokohama grew from a relatively modest settlement into one of Japan's most important international ports after Japan opened more fully to foreign trade during the nineteenth century.
The port opened to foreign commerce in 1859, and Yokohama became one of the principal points of contact between Japan and the Western world.
That gives the name a certain appropriateness for a Dutch tulip.
The Netherlands, after all, had a particularly long relationship with Japan. During Japan's centuries of restricted foreign contact under the Tokugawa shogunate, the Dutch were the principal Europeans permitted to maintain regular commercial relations with the country through their trading post at Dejima.
I have found no evidence that the breeder chose ‘Yokohama’ specifically because of that Dutch-Japanese history, so we shouldn't turn coincidence into fact.
Still, for a Dutch flower to carry the name of a Japanese port long associated with contact between Japan and the West seems rather fitting.
A Pure, Clear Yellow
The chief attraction of ‘Yokohama’ is its color.
The RHS describes the flowers as saffron yellow, with pointed tips. Other horticultural descriptions emphasize the cultivar's bright, clear yellow coloration.
There is little muddiness or complicated striping.
It is simply yellow—and sometimes simplicity is precisely what a garden needs.
The flowers rise above broadly lance-shaped green foliage on relatively sturdy stems.
Because ‘Yokohama’ grows only around 14 inches tall, it remains compact enough to resist some of the battering that taller tulips can receive during windy spring weather.
How to Use ‘Yokohama’ in the Landscape
‘Yokohama’ is particularly useful near the front of a flower border.
Its modest height means it won't tower awkwardly above neighboring plants, yet its strong yellow color gives it considerable visibility.
The RHS recommends it for flower beds and borders, cottage gardens, courtyard gardens, containers, cutting gardens and underplanting roses and shrubs.
That last use is particularly interesting.
A group of yellow tulips flowering beneath still-bare roses can provide color at precisely the time when the rose garden needs it most.
By the time the roses begin their real performance, the tulips are finishing theirs.
Good gardens make use of time as well as space.
Plant ‘Yokohama’ in Masses
Yellow is a powerful landscape color.
That makes ‘Yokohama’ particularly effective when planted in broad groups or drifts.
Five bulbs provide an accent.
Twenty-five provide a display.
Fifty or a hundred can produce a great pool of yellow that is visible from across the garden.
For a formal landscape, plant them in disciplined blocks or ribbons.
For a cottage or informal garden, loosen the arrangement into irregular groups.
Either approach works because the flowers themselves are so clean and uniform.
Yellow and Blue: A Classic Combination
Perhaps the finest companions for ‘Yokohama’ are blue spring flowers.
The combination is almost impossible to spoil.
Blue grape hyacinths (Muscari) planted beneath yellow tulips create one of the classic spring bulb combinations.
Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) works beautifully for the same reason, and horticultural references specifically recommend combining ‘Yokohama’ with forget-me-nots and Siberian squill.
Forget-me-nots provide a softer blue carpet.
The tall yellow cups rise above the blue flowers, and each color intensifies the other.
It is an old-fashioned combination because it works.
Pair It With White
For a calmer effect, combine ‘Yokohama’ with white tulips, white narcissus or other white spring flowers.
Yellow and white produce a fresh, clean display particularly suited to entrances, paths and formal beds.
Cream can soften the combination further.
A planting of pale cream daffodils, white tulips and yellow ‘Yokohama’ has enough variation to remain interesting without becoming noisy.
Or Give It Some Drama
If cheerful yellow isn't quite enough, place ‘Yokohama’ beside deep purple or nearly black tulips.
Now the character changes completely.
The dark flowers provide weight and shadow; the yellow appears almost luminous beside them.
Deep burgundy can achieve much the same result.
Yellow is one of those colors that becomes more interesting when something dark is placed beside it.
Excellent in Containers
Its compact height makes ‘Yokohama’ an excellent container tulip.
Large terracotta pots filled generously with the bulbs can produce an impressive spring display without the flowers becoming top-heavy.
For a simple container, plant ‘Yokohama’ alone.
For a layered display, underplant it with blue violas, pansies, forget-me-nots or grape hyacinths.
Yellow flowers in an aged terracotta pot have a timeless quality about them.
There is no need to improve upon everything.
A Good Cut Flower
Like other Triumph tulips, ‘Yokohama’ also makes a useful cut flower. The RHS specifically recommends it for cutting.
Yellow tulips are particularly useful in spring arrangements because they combine easily with white, blue, purple and other yellow flowers.
A simple vase of ‘Yokohama’ alone can be equally effective.
And since the plants are relatively compact, you can grow a dedicated row in the cutting garden without sacrificing much space.
Growing ‘Yokohama’
Plant the bulbs in late autumn in fertile, well-drained soil, preferably in full sun.
The RHS recommends planting ‘Yokohama’ approximately 4 to 6 inches deep and protecting it from excessive winter wet and strong winds.
Drainage matters.
Tulips can tolerate remarkable winter cold while dormant underground, but a bulb sitting in soggy soil is conducting an experiment unlikely to end happily.
After flowering, deadhead the spent blossoms but allow the foliage to remain until it has yellowed naturally.
Those leaves are replenishing the bulb.
A Tulip With an International Name
‘Yokohama’ combines several virtues that explain its longevity: clear yellow flowers, compact growth, sturdy Triumph stems and considerable versatility in the landscape.
The best evidence places its registration in 1961, from the Dutch firm J. F. Van den Berg & Sons.
Why they chose the name of Yokohama remains uncertain.
Perhaps the city simply had the cosmopolitan ring the breeder wanted. Perhaps there was a particular connection now buried in an old Dutch bulb catalogue. Until documentary evidence turns up, we should leave the question open rather than inventing a story.
But the name has certainly traveled well.
A Dutch tulip carrying the name of a Japanese port, planted more than sixty years later in gardens around the world—that seems somehow appropriate.
And when those clear yellow flowers appear in spring, ‘Yokohama’ needs very little explanation anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment