6 spring bulbs with red flowers

The 'Cardinal' Tulip: Theatrical

While many red tulips deserve to be included in this selection, it can be confidently stated that the early single tulip ‘Couleur Cardinal’ is one of the most beautiful representatives. This old variety with single flowers is early-flowering, revealing its charms sometimes as early as March, but more often in April.

It bears robust stems 30 cm tall with solitary flowers of a superb crimson red, with pink and plum reflections. Once opened, the petals reveal a yellow centre with black stamens. Its sturdy stems are very weather-resistant, making it a perfect tulip for cut flower arrangements. It is a stunning tulip, elegant and simple in shape, unique and precious for its intensely velvety red colour. Its medium height makes it a perfect bulb for borders, pots, or mass plantings.

Asian Buttercup 'Double Red': refined

Originating from Syria, Asian buttercups (or florist’s buttercups) are charming spring bulb flowers that are certainly not well-established in gardens. They brighten up borders or pots with their delicacy, featuring small flowers with countless petals.

Often found in pastel or orange shades, the red varieties are particularly striking under the May sun, such as the ‘Double Red’ Asian buttercup: it offers its flared corolla of double flowers like a graceful millefeuille of bright red petals, which gradually open. The small flowers (4 cm in diameter) are stunning when about twenty claws (the storage organ of the buttercup) are planted, and its finely cut rosette foliage is somewhat villous. The ‘Double Red’ Asian buttercup requires a sufficiently sunny position to bloom well, and a soil that is both rich and light, slightly moist (“Ranunculus” means little frog in Latin, hence its predisposition to grow in damp soils).

Reaching 35 cm in height, you can invite it to the edge of a flowerbed, or in a pot on the terrace or balcony. It pairs beautifully with other buttercups in pink or orange, or with late tulips and freesias.

Anemone coronaria 'Hollandia': an old-fashioned charm

Of natural simplicity, the Anemone coronaria ‘Hollandia’ is one of those flowers with an old-fashioned charm that we love so much! Proudly displaying an ultra-bright red hue, its silky petals surround a white centre enhanced by black stamens, creating a stunning contrast.

With its simple flowers measuring about 5 cm in diameter, it is the traditional Caen anemone, magical in small spring bouquets… but especially in the garden where its petite height (25 to 30 cm) allows it to be planted practically anywhere: rockeries, borders, mixed borders, pots… The crowned anemone ‘Hollandia’ enjoys the sun, but also partial shade. It blooms between April and May. When massed with blue anemones, it creates a lovely scene in a country garden.

The Fringed Tulip 'New Santa': frilly

While red tulips are often less favoured in gardens today for their sometimes outdated appearance, the ‘New Santa’ tulip proves this notion wrong: it boasts finely dentate red flowers with white margins along their edges, a uniqueness that gives them an uncommon frilly French cancan flair! Small in stature, about 30 cm tall, this fringed tulip flowers between mid-April and early May, earlier if the weather is mild, allowing for numerous combinations with a variety of spring blooms.

This tulip is particularly well showcased in pots. Like all tulips, ‘New Santa’ displays excellent hardiness and requires sunlight to bloom well.

‘New Santa’ tulip

Freesia x 'Simple Rouge': graceful

Freesias are planted a little less in gardens, perhaps due to their lower hardiness compared to other bulbous plants… And yet, these “Cape lilies” have long captivated with their vivid or pastel colours and their delightful fragrance.

Among the Freesias with the warmest tones, the Freesia x ‘Single Red’ is a little marvel: this hybrid offers its simple trumpet-shaped flowers in a radiant vermilion red, accented with a yellow throat. Admittedly, it is not the most fragrant (the white and yellow varieties, as well as the botanical species, are more aromatic), but it produces spikes bearing 8 to 10 flowers all situated on the same side, somewhat like crocosmias. The upright leaves are grouped in a tuft and surround the flowers with a lovely green backdrop. It also lends itself well to creating charming spring cut flower arrangements, particularly with ranunculus, with which it pairs beautifully. You can leave your Freesias in place in seaside gardens along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Elsewhere, it is better to use them in pots. They will bloom earlier when left in the ground, between April and June.

It is worth noting that the “bulb” of the Freesia is actually a corm, which should be planted the right way up in the soil (follow our advice in our complete guide: Freesia: planting, cultivation, and care).

Amaryllis 'Charisma': exotic

Among the spring bulb plants, Amaryllis or Hippeastrums are stunning indoor plants, often featuring warm colours like the famous ‘Red Lion’. In this selection, we present a much lesser-known variety that will surely delight enthusiasts of this exceptional flower: the Amaryllis ‘Charisma’.

The colour of its flower is sublime, intimately blending crimson red and white, with each of the 6 petals edged in a deep red trim. The upper petals, beautifully striated, are more tinted with red than the lower ones, which are whiter and delicately speckled with red. The Amaryllis ‘Charisma’ produces 4 flowers per stem, sometimes 6 or 8. The plant typically bears two stems supporting the flowering, which lasts two to three weeks.

Like all Amaryllis, it is sensitive to frost; however, in the orange tree zone, you can plant this superb bulb with an exotic appearance in the ground, in well-drained soil, and in a sunny position. It will look magnificent in a clump of 5 or 6 plants. In a pot indoors, you should plant the bulb half-buried, and it will flower approximately 6 weeks after planting.