The small tulips that bring joy to your garden

I first fell in love with species tulips 30 years ago in Crete. My father, a botanist, had written (for the Alpine Garden Society journal) about a trip he’d done in the early 1950s, in search of the rare Tulipa saxatilis, a rich pink tulip with a large egg-yolk-yellow splodge at its heart. He had been asked to help decide whether saxatilis was a separate species to the almost identical Tulipa bakeri, or whether the two were actually one.

His visit was to the White Mountains at the western end of Crete. There, in an old stone quarry, he found three Tulipa saxatilis in flower, growing in a crack in a boulder. With Tulipa bakeri also nearby, he was able to decide that the two had enough individual characteristics for their separate classification to stand.

When I met my husband, Adam, we thought it would be fun to repeat my dad’s trip. In his article were surprisingly clear instructions of where to go and when; Adam was confident he could find the spot.

We did find it, and the boulder – and incredibly, we found the tulips, but the flowers had gone over, the pink petals dropped. Amazed the tulip was still there 40 years on, but also disappointed not to see it in flower, we headed back east towards Heraklion and the airport. Halfway there, we stopped at the small mountain village of Spili for the night and went looking for a place to eat. There wasn’t much open in early April, as the tourist season hadn’t started, but one taverna looked good. In we went, to find, not three tulips on a boulder, but a jug of 30 sitting on the bar.

It was one of the triumphant moments of my life – and from then on, I’ve always loved a species tulip. The taverna’s matriarch had picked the huge bunch from the high meadows above the town, which every spring turns into the most wonderful wild garden of Mediterranean flowers. First comes T. bakeri and saxatilis from March into April, followed by T. doerfleri, a Cretan endemic, flowering for Greek Orthodox Easter. I try to visit as often as I can in spring, as these fields of tulips, mixed with orchids, widow iris, fragrant daphnes and wild narcissi, make a paradise hard to resist.

West Dean Species Tulip Trial

When Tom Brown, head gardener at West Dean Gardens in West Sussex [see page 17], told me last autumn that he was planting up a trial of species tulips, I jumped at the chance to write about it. They were all to be grown in pots, on staging in one of the magnificent greenhouses. Kelly Dyer, the greenhouse gardener at West Dean, was put in charge. She loves her alpines so this trial was right up her street. Using 6in terracotta pots, 15 bulbs were planted per pot, tightly packed shoulder to shoulder in a single layer, not a lasagne (ie multiple layers).

Growing under glass forced them forward by 2-3 weeks; if grown outside early March until late April would be their normal flowering time. But between them, the wide range of varieties gave a good succession of flower.

Tulipa humilis flowered first, and then all its hybrids, followed by Tulipa turkestanica. Then came T. sylvestris, ‘Zwanenburg’, T. praestans ‘Fusilier’ and ‘Shogun’. Next were the Cretan finds, T. bakeri and saxatilis in their brilliant pinks and then finally, T. batalinii, T. ‘Honky Tonk’, T. ‘Fenna’, T. tarda and the lovely stripy T. ‘Peppermint Stick’ and ‘Lady Jane’.

Kelly and Tom had expected a spectacular early spring firework display, but ended up thinking that, rather than rockets and Catherine wheels, they’d had a procession of beautiful, delicate ballerinas, and truly lovely for that.

Trial Technicalities

Bulbs arrived in September, 50 each of 28 varieties. It’s fine to plant tulips later, into November and even December.

Planting

Bulbs were planted into a mixture of 70/30 Melcourt peat-free compost/grit, to a depth three times that of the bulb.

The compost surface was top-dressed with gravel to make pots look instantly smart. Pots were placed straight into an unheated glasshouse for protection.

Watering

Pots were only watered once foliage appeared, and then only very lightly. Watering increased as spring progressed. Kelly found watering a challenge as the flowers initially emerge very low in the pot, then the flower stem extends. Water droplets made some flowers look almost scorched so, rather than watering overhead, pots were flooded from below the leaves with the hose or the can was placed on the lip of the pot. If you have a few pots, place in saucers and water into those.

Feeding

A general Maxicrop feed was given only after the bulbs had started flowering.

Pests and diseases

There were no issues with any bulbs.

Trial results: The West Dean top 10 performers

Tulipa ‘Lady Jane’

Outstanding. Very elegant, white interior petals, with red-pink outers and beautiful glaucous silver leaves. This was ranked top at West Dean.

Tulipa turkestanica

Flowering early and for the longest period with good seed heads too, this was another front-runner.

Tulipa sylvestris

A brilliant yellow classic, with honey-scented flowers. This is not to everyone’s liking as it collapses a bit in a pot and can look messy, but at West Dean they loved its loose look with good shape as well as colour. When supported with a few birch or hazel twigs, this is a jewel.

Tulipa ‘Little Beauty’

Magenta flowers are round and egg-shaped with flowers held well above the leaves, this was a favourite.

Tulipa saxatilis

One of the Cretan originals, with very distinct bright green glossy leaves and a laxer habit than the others. This tulip is taller too, with flower stems reaching 35cm tall compared to the 8cm ‘Little Beauty’. Beautiful in a pot if grown with some twiggy support.

Tulipa ‘Tinka’

Like a tulip you might find on a Cretan hillside, with primrose-yellow interior petals and soft red outside, with the same elegant silvery leaves as ‘Lady Jane’, with a touch more green.

Tulipa praestans ‘Zwanenburg’

In a brilliant scarlet, but a bit dumpy in stature, with deep green leaves and large flowers for a species bulb. This is very similar in flower size and overall feel (apart from colour) to ‘Shogun’.

Tulipa praestans ‘Fusilier’

Almost indistinguishable from ‘Zwanenburg’.

Tulipa praestans ‘Shogun’

True saffron to egg-yolk yellow, this did not do so well in pots as it does in a border or grass.

Tulipa kolpakowskiana

Bright yellow with red wash on outer petals, this was OK, but if anything a bit coarse.

Favourite Species tulips at Perch Hill

With the Cretan link, I’ve trialled lots of species tulips at Perch Hill over the years, some in pots, some in borders and some planted to naturalise in grass. Here are my long-term favourites.

For Grass

You know a bulb is naturalising by looking closely at ground level. If the mother bulb is making bulbils, there will be fine, almost chive-like leaves without flowers and one or two with smaller than usual flowers. The foliage-only bulbils are one-year-olds, those with smaller flowers are two. By the third year they are indistinguishable from the parent.

Tulipa praestans ‘Shogun’

A zingy orange-yellow, this comes up year after year in our damson orchard, with the clumps gradually getting bigger.

Tulipa ‘Honky Tonk’ AGM

Good for naturalising, this also works in a pot. The colour reminds me of an ancient vellum scroll, the outer petals shadowed with pink and grey, the inner a clear vanilla yellow. Long- flowering and long-lived.

For Borders

Tulipa ‘Peppermint Stick’

We planted this beneath step-over apple trees. The blossom perfectly matches the tulip and they flower at the same time. It’s also excellent for shallow pots. 

Tulipa whittallii

Gently scented, with petals in a glamorous orange-bronze, this is now hard to find; a real shame, as it’s a beauty in a class of its own.

For Pots 

Tulipa bakeri ‘Lilac Wonder’

With true Mary Quant style, I love this in a pot and often have a large, shallow pot of it in pride of place on the table, bang in the middle of the cutting garden.

Tulipa ‘Little Beauty’

This is fantastic in a large pot with bulbs crammed in, almost touching – and unlike many of the species, it flowers for a long time.

Tulipa acuminata

Not strictly speaking a species, but bred in Turkey in the 19th century from a similar one in the wild, this is a massive favourite for pots. It gets lost in a border, but really shines in a pot, ideally raised so that you can see the flowers close to hand (we have ours in pots on a well head, or on a metal café table by our back door).