Tulips are a sign that spring is well underway. Winter is forgotten and plans are being made for summer.
However, tulips are something that I don’t have much experience of in the garden. I think that’s because I became frustrated by the fact that so many varieties don’t come back again. I’d plant tulips that flowered beautifully the first year (and perhaps remember to photograph them) but then the next year I’d wonder what I’d done wrong when they failed to reappear.
Recently I’ve allowed myself to fall in love with them again. They are one of the prettiest and most feminine of flowers at this time of year and I love to photograph them too. So now I am happy to grow a few every year, to give myself something new to photograph and to enjoy while they’re here.
Some tulips, like the one below, have only flowered once before disappearing. So I was delighted when the tulip in the top picture not only came back this year but has produced even more flowers. It’s ‘Angelique’ and is certainly a vision of sweetness in the early morning sun.
I didn’t buy any bulbs last autumn but this year I’ll make a point of buying some tulips that I haven’t tried before. Then there will be something new and delightful to look forward to next spring.
Ann Mackay: Inspired by Nature 
That’s a really soft beautiful bloom in your top photo!
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Thank you Liz! I was so pleased to see this one come back. 🙂
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Is that top photo of the beautiful pink flower truly a tulip? It’s lovely, and you photographed it well with those rain or dew drops. But it still looks like a rose to me!
I thought I remembered that hybrids don’t always do as well as species types, and I found this paragraph of interest:
“Although technically considered a perennial, most of the time tulips act more like annuals and gardeners will not get repeat blooms season after season. The reason for this is most areas can’t recreate their native climate of having cold winters and summers that are hot and dry. In addition, many hybrid varieties are more likely to perform as annuals, so if you desire perennial tulips, you will have better success growing species types.”
There’s so much to learn!
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It really is! And is often said to look more like a peony at a distance. The variability of our winters (summers too, come to that) probably explains why you can’t be sure if tulips will come back or not. I like the species tulips and will likely plant more of those as I get the borders closer to how I want them.
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Feminine and sweet tulips indeed Ann!! They are so pretty!! 🙂
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It’s nice to have the pretty and feminine flowers of spring after the harshness of winter!
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Is the top shot, and it is a top shot 🙂 , a double? We’ve never had much success with tulips but have put more effort into other garden embers. This one is gorgeous!
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members!!! 🙂
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Hehe! Plenty of embers in autumn! 🙂
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Yes it is, Steve. They like the heat and well-drained soil here but I haven’t done so well with tulips in the past. I reckon they can be a bit fussy!
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Pretty, delicate flowers, but I’m amazed they’re tulips! They look nothing like the tulips of my youth (confirmation of my sheltered upbringing, maybe? 🙂), and don’t conform in the slightest to my image of tulips at the time of the 17th century ‘tulip mania’. I guess they are the result of intensive cross-breeding by horticultural scientists over many decades…do you think this would make them more susceptible to variable weather / soil conditions than the ‘original’ bulbs.
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Tulips seem to be very varied in size and shape! I think the only ones you could rely on would be the species tulips which seem to be tougher than the bred ones. Usually I find my tulips fail to come back after a year or two, so this was a nice surprise. Tulips need hot dry summers and cold winters, as they’d get in their native areas. They like to be planted deeply (I think this protects them from getting too hot in summer) and they like good drainage. I’m going to keep trying with them, but I’m resigned to them probably just flowering once. Any more will be a bonus! 🙂
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I was surprised to see three la Belle Epoque return this year after a gap. The thing with tulips is that they have to make a new bulb and so it takes time to be big enough to produce a flower. I have long accepted that they are annuals, but they bring so much colour and joy to the spring garden they are well worth buying. The doubles or peony tulips as they are sometimes known are gorgeous, but a little heavy for April winds.
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Aha! So there’s hope for some of the tulips that didn’t come back from last year. Tulips are so lovely that it’s well worth treating ourselves to them! And having to replant means there’s the chance to experiment with something new. 🙂
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Gorgeous tulips Ann! I would never have guessed they were tulips. I do not do well tulips here as it is too warm but the groceries are bringing them in to buy. I have bought some rather exotic ones before and tried to plant their bulbs later, but it did not work. All I can say is that yours are simply beautiful!
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Thanks Syd! I can imagine that tulips would not suit your climate – you’d need a cold winter for them. But it’s great that you can get them as cut flowers – they’re so lovely in a vase. 🙂
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That top photo had me convinced I was looking at a rose, Ann. That’s a very elaborate tulip! 🌷
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It’s a very double flower and often compared to a peony. It’s nice to have something pretty in the garden while the borders are still pretty much empty. Maybe I need more…hehe!
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I’m sure more is on its way for you, Ann!
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Pretty. I never grow tulips after early failures.
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I had plenty of early failures too, but tried again so that I would have something new to photograph. (It’s been a bit hard to find any new subjects for photography recently!)
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