Top 10 plants for tulip mania
The RHS Daffodil & Tulip Committee has selected 10 of the best tulips available to gardeners. This is no easy task for a plant inspiring such passion that men have spent the equivalent of £4 million on a bulb, and which today drives a multi-billion pound international trade.
Choosing tulips for the garden can be tricky when there are some 2,600 cultivars in cultivation. However, 180 top performers have been given the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) and the RHS Committee’s list will help gardeners whittle down their choice even further.
Images: J S Pennings
10 Top Tulips: Best of the Best
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1 'Apricot Beauty' AGM – An early-flowering, strong-stemmed, in eye-catching apricot pink, with wavy-edged leaves
2 'Ballade' AGM – A unique blueish purple with a smart white outline to sinuous petals
3 'Bright Gem' AGM – Free-flowering, small, with sulphur-yellow flowers flushed pinkish orange
4 'Fusilier' AGM – A showy, multi-headed, brilliant red cultivar which is early flowering
5 'Maureen' AGM – Tall, late-flowering and white as marble
6 'Purissima' AGM - Early-flowering, white and fragrant
7 'Red Riding Hood' AGM - Late-flowering, small, bright red, with patterned leaves
8 'Showwinner' AGM- Very early-flowering, small, glossy deep red
9 'Vivex' AGM - Tall, long-lasting in flower and with orange petals edged with gold
10 'White Triumphator' AGM- Pure white with gracefully pointed petals
Suppliers
There are numerous suppliers of quality tulip bulbs - including good garden centres. The following are regular exhibitors at RHS shows
Bloms Bulbs, Primrose Nurseries, Melchbourne, Beds MK44 1ZZ. Tel: 01234 709099. E-mail: cjcblom@aol.com
Walkers Bulbs @ Taylors Washway House Farm, Washway Road, Holbeach, Spalding, Lincolnshire PE12 7PP Tel: 01406 426216. E-mail: walkers@taylors-bulbs.com
The RHS Plant Finder lists almost all current AGM plants and the nurseries and garden centres that stock them (available in all good bookshops & from RHS shops priced £12.99). There is also an online version of RHS Plant Finder.
Visitors to the RHS London Flower Shows in March 2006 will be able to see spring bulbs including species tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. In April 2006 the show will feature tulips from countries around the world, such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and of course Holland.
RHS gardens are great locations to see many cultivars of tulips at their best. Next year, visitors to RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey will be able to see the committee’s top 10 tulips planted in a demonstration bed near the glasshouse. There will also be a trial at Wisley of small-flowered tulips on the Portsmouth Field, which are being planted this autumn for a first flowering next spring. One of the main objectives of the trial is to assess which species and cultivars survive and multiply in the garden without annual lifting, and to identify which should be awarded the AGM. The trial will be three years in duration. There will be a broad range of entries flowering from as early as February to June.
Secrets of success with tulips
1. Tulips are best planted in November.
2. Most hardy bulbs prefer a warm sunny site with good drainage.
3. Soil conditions are important. Improve light or sandy soils with humus, incorporated below bulb depth; heavy soils with sharp grit or sand.
4. Plant in groups. Excavate a hole to the required planting depth. Fork in some bonemeal then space them at least twice the bulb’s own height and width apart. Carefully replace the soil and gently firm with the back of a rake.
5. Plant to two or three times bulb height i.e. the tip of a 5cm (2in) high bulb should be 10-15cm (4-6in) below soil level.
6. Some tulips persist from year to year, particularly the smaller Tulipa kaufmanniana and T. greigii hybrids, which only need to be lifted when overcrowded.
7. Larger cultivars do not always flower well in their second year. When grown as part of spring bedding they may simply be discarded.
8. Where retained, deadhead after flowering and dig up as the foliage yellows. If lifted while green, allow the foliage to dry off naturally.
9. Clean off soil, and loose bulb coverings and foliage as it withers and discard any damaged or diseased bulbs. Dust with sulphur (Vitax Green or Vitax Yellow Sulphur Dust) and store in net bags or trays in a cool, airy place.
10. Replant full-size bulbs in their flowering position in late autumn; line out smaller bulbs in a nursery bed, feeding with high potash fertiliser to grow on to flowering size.