TULIP

Family LILIACEAE
Tulipa species
Perennial

An invaluable genus of bulbous plants, native to Europe, North Africa and many parts of Asia.

Tulipa gesneriana, South Russia and Asia Minor, grows one to two feet, with black-purpled centred scarlet, white or yellow flowers, and is a parent of the florist’s Tulips classed as Breeders of Selfs, Feathered, Flamed, Bizarres, Byblomens, and Roses, and the garden varieties Darwins, Rembrandts, Cottage and Parrot, in the almost infinite range of colours and shapes the many varieties now present.

Tulipa suaveolens, a fragrant, scarlet and orange, six-inch Tulip from the Crimea, is parent to some of the early flowering varieties.
What are generally termed the Species Tulips are the wild Tulips from abroad.

Tulipa kaufmanniana, the Water Lily Tulip from Central Asia, twelve inches, with creamy-white flowers, striped rose on the back, has several distinguished varieties.

Plant in November in well-drained sandy loam, with bone meal, in full sun.

Propagate by offsets or form seed.

The flowering season is from March to May.

Tulip
Hardy Bulb.
Six inches to three feet.
Flowers of many colours, March to May.

The Tulips are hardy which, unlike the Hyacinth, will flower and increase in our climate year after year.
In all soils but wet and heavy clays the roots may remain in the ground several years; but it is best to lift them every third or fourth, and in unkindly soils, or in places where the Tulip disease is prevalent, they should be taken up annually.
This should be done as soon as the leaves are yellow and withered; dry the leaves and roots together in the sun; then remove the leaves, root-fibres and earth, and store the clean, dry bulbs (secure from mice) in a cool, dry place till next planting time.
The bulbs should be planted in October or November, from three to four inches deep, and the same distance apart.
Ordinary garden soil is all that is required.
Tulips may be arranged in groups or clumps in borders; and where bedding is done, they should make the lawns gay until it is time to prepare for the summer display.
They may be planted under trees (not evergreens) as the flowers will be over before the shade from the foliage becomes injurious. In planting beds or groups, be careful that the sorts flower simultaneously, or the effect may be lost by a scattering display of early and late varieties.

The earliest Tulips are the Van Thols, a race of single flowers, from six inches to a foot high; there are pink, yellow, purplish and white forms, but the best and most usually grown is the kind which gives its name to the rest, a pure vivid scarlet, with a yellow flake in the bottom of the cup.
This should be planted in masses wherever there is any attempt at spring bedding.
It flowers from the end of March to the end of April, according to the season.

The next earliest section comprises a great number of singles and doubles, a foot to eighteen inches high, in many shades and mixtures of colours.
Beds may be planted with a single colour, with two colours, in fine harmony or contrast, or with a medley of all colours, which, if simultaneous in flowering, is very bright and effective.

The following are some of the best sorts:

Singles
Artus: Deep purple.
Canary Bird: Clear yellow.
Chrysolora: Clear yellow.
Cottage Maid: White and pink.
Duchesse de Parma: Extremely fine, bronze and orange.
Epaminondas: Cherry.
Joost van Vondel: Rose, white stripes.
Keizer Kroon: Scarlet, yellow edge.
Pottebakker (striped): White with scarlet lines.
Proserpine: Deep rose.
Rose luisante: Pink, white edge.
Thomas Moore: Yellowish orange, very free.
Wouverman: Claret.

Doubles (early)
Blanche hative: Early white.
Imperator Rubrorum: Scarlet.
Le Blason: Rose.
Salvator Rosa: Pink.
Tournesol: Yellow and scarlet.

Doubles (later)
Duke of York: Carmine, white edge.
La Candeur: Pure white.
Mariage de ma Fille: Crimson and white.
Titian: Crimson and yellow.
Yellow Rose: Deep yellow, late, scented.

For ordinary bedding, a good mixture of all sorts will suffice.
With these flower the Parrot Tulips; they have very large flowers whose petals are fringed and twisted into fantastic shapes; their colours are chiefly red and yellow. They are not as accommodating as the ordinary tulips, and too often “go blind” or refuse to flower.
Next in order comes a class of flowers generally called “various”. From it may be selected the following:
Bouton d’Or: a small deep yellow cup, on stout stalks two feet high; excellent.
Gesneriana major: a magnificent crimson-scarlet flower, very large, with blue-black cross at the base of the petals; about three feet; indispensable.
Picotee, or Maiden’s Blush. Very pretty, half-recurved flower, white with narrow pink border; eighteen inches. The flowers remain perfect for as much as three weeks.
Retroflexa: yellow, recurved petals.
Golden Eagle: resembles Gesneriana, but of a strong yellow.

The latest of all the Tulips are the Florist, Mat-flowering, or Old English kinds.
They have incurved cup-shaped blooms, on tall stout stems, three or even four feet high.
Their colours are chiefly in stripes and featherings, crimson, pink, purple or dark maroon, on white, cream or yellow grounds.
They should be planted in clumps of six to several dozens, six inches apart; in good light soil they may be left alone for three or four years.
The breed called Darwin Tulips are also May-flowering; they are tall growers, and show many shades of crimson, rose, lilac, claret and deep purple.