It's not too late to plant tulips! In fact, that's my plan for this weekend in the garden, encouraged by the beautiful weather... Every year, I try a new colour harmony in my "sanctuary" bed of annuals and biennials, but I've also scattered a few hundred among clumps of perennials that I don't dig up each year. Over time, I've been able to identify the best varieties for my garden: the most reliable and easiest to pair, along with a few "favourites" for which I willingly forgive a shorter lifespan... Here’s my "Top 15" list of tulips from my garden:
1. Discovered in the "Carnival of Venice" collection years ago, I can't do without it! Solid as a rock, the Triumph tulip 'Jan Reus' multiplies and returns more beautiful each spring in all the spots in the garden where I've planted it. I love its deep, powerful red-brown colour, which has a sober elegance and pairs well with any other colour.
Triumph tulip 'Jan Reus'
2. Undoubtedly one of the best white tulips, 'Purissima' is an early variety, with its large goblet-shaped flowers appearing as early as April. When in full sun, they open completely, revealing a grey-blue stigma set against a bright yellow halo. Close to its wild origins, this tulip from the fosteriana group is very, very hardy. If you adopt it, it will never disappoint you.
Fosteriana tulip 'Purissima'
3. The Triumph tulip 'Barcelona' is a mid-season variety, vigorous and quite tall, with beautiful bright pink flowers radiating brightness. I've had it in place for 10 years alongside the purple 'Negrita' and the black-purple 'Queen of the Night', accompanied by large clumps of bleeding hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) and the young, tender green foliage of daylilies as a backdrop.
Triumph Tulip 'Barcelona'
4. Speaking of which, here’s the famous black tulip 'Queen of the Night': a classic often imitated, never equalled. Long stems for bouquets or as second and background plants in beds where its dark colour enhances the depth effect. Mid-late flowering, it blooms between the "Triumph" and the very late varieties like the lily-flowered or viridiflora tulips.
Late single tulip 'Queen of the Night'
5. The botanical tulip Whittallii, a group of tetraploid clones with large brick-orange flowers in the species Tulipa orphanidea, is a beautiful specimen for a wild tulip, standing at 30 cm tall. Its slender stems elegantly bend under the weight of the very graphic flowers, with pointed tepals arranged in a cup shape. Perfect in a warm corner of the garden, near the acid green and spring-like euphorbias, for example.
Tulipa orphanidea Whittallii (botanical)
6. The lily-flowered tulip 'White Triumphator', the perfect embodiment of chic. Its height, well-rounded shape, and the purity of its colour give it an incomparable presence. Late-flowering, I love to plant it alongside other late white bulbs like 'Thalia' or 'Piper's End' daffodils and Ornithogalum magnum with spike-like flowers to vary the forms. In my garden, I have to replant it a bit more often than the others, but it's worth it!
Lily-flowered tulip 'White Triumphator'
7. From the same group as the previous one, the elegant 'Ballerina' is unmatched for brightening up a spring bed. Its slender carrot-orange lily flowers, held high and fragrant, I don't hesitate to sprinkle them in the heart of pink-purple or blue-lilac harmonies to satisfy a colour appetite cruelly sharpened by the winter months.
Lily-flowered tulip 'Ballerina'
8. The Triumph tulip 'Negrita', with its large violet-purple flowers, is absolutely essential for creating a white-pink-purple gradient like in the "clair-obscur" harmony. A bit shorter on the stem than the other tulips of this season, it also adds dynamism to the combinations by varying the heights.
Triumph tulip 'Negrita'
9. I am literally melting for the caramel-orange colour of the tulip 'Cairo'. It’s a recent variety that has quickly gained popularity among gardeners, and it's easy to see why. This robust mid-season tulip, with its large well-formed flowers and wide rounded tepals, brings a true novelty in its colour, a blend of orange with a hint of brown pigments.
Triumph tulip 'Cairo'
10. Like a blue diamond, or rather amethyst, the double tulip 'Blue Diamond' is an excellent ambassador for this rare and elegant "blue" colour, unique among tulips. Despite its double petals making it a bit more demanding, it’s a proven variety, and its flowers are not too heavy to droop towards the ground at the first rain.
Late double tulip 'Blue Diamond'
11. 'Menton', as its name suggests, is a French variety grown in the South for producing very high-quality cut flowers. In the garden, it’s an extremely robust variety that delights me every spring with very large flowers of an impossible-to-define salmon colour.
Long-stem tulip 'Menton'
12. I don't know of a purer pink colour among tulips than that of 'China Pink', which makes it very precious to me despite its somewhat fragile nature. Not to mention the unparalleled refinement of the shape of its flowers. Each flower is a condensed essence of spring freshness!
Lily-flowered tulip 'China Pink'
13. I was surprised to find myself loving the tulip 'Ballade' after using it in a harmony of mauve and lilac tones. As much for its pink-lilac colour edged in white and -once in a while- its elegant lily flower shape, I particularly appreciate its robustness and longevity.
Lily-flowered tulip 'Ballade'
14. I still wonder what made me plant the tulip 'Fontainebleau' the first time, but I have come to appreciate its purple-black colour with a white edge, as it has not chosen to exhaust itself and disappear from the garden. By a happy coincidence, it fits well into a slightly more graphic atmosphere than the rest of my garden, with yuccas and grasses, far from the other colourful tulip varieties.
Triumph tulip 'Fontainebleau'
15. And to finish, a great originality with the variety 'Yellow Crown', with the soft colour of true butter yellow, and tepals folded in on themselves, making each flower resemble an origami creation. Although I planted them "just out of curiosity", I was surprised, and indeed delighted to see these tulips return faithfully every year since.
Tulip 'Yellow Crown'
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