Tulip
TULIPA
PROBABLY NO OTHER FLOWER HAS ENGENDERED AS MUCH CURIOSITY, INTEREST, AND ROMANTIC INTRIGUE AS THE TULIP. THESE SMOOTH, SILKY-TO-THE-TOUCH BULBS, MEMBERS OF THE LILY FAMILY, HAVE MADE FORTUNES FOR BOTANISTS, CAUSED INTERNATIONAL SCANDALS, AND CHANGED THE WAY WE PLANT, AND LOOK AT, SPRINGTIME GARDENS.
I have been growing these graceful, colorful, easy-to-grow flowers forever, it seems. My fondness for which colors to plant changes from year to year, depending on where in my garden I want to invest my energies with hundreds of gorgeous tulips—sometimes in a single color, sometimes in a mix of varying shades, sizes, and types.
One year, in a rush to grow sufficient tulips for photographing, I ordered fifty of each tulip that caught my fancy while studying the Brent and Becky’s Bulbs catalog. We planted several thousand in a large, well-prepared bed just next to my cutting garden. Each type of bulb had its own row, and each row was numbered and cataloged on a map for future reference. I had never planted quite so many tulips in one place and the experiment was amazing. We made so many arrangements of cut tulips, gave so many as gifts, and learned so much about the growing habits of many different types.
The “en masse” planting method has been the favored way to show tulips in gardens for several hundred years, but now many gardeners have forsaken tradition and instead plant tulips loosely here and there amid perennial plants, in azalea borders, and among beds of soft, low-growing plants such as Alchemilla. By choosing colors and types wisely, these planting methods can really enhance the early-spring garden, and tulips can bloom over a period exceeding six weeks.
The catalog descriptions of the different kinds of tulips are fascinating, but I can assure you that almost every type is valuable as a cut flower: Tulips range from very tall and elegant to much shorter and sturdy. In the latter category are the single early and double early. The Triumph group are midseason, of medium height, and last a long time in arrangements. The midseason bloomers of the Darwin hybrid group are tall, graceful, and very desirable as cut flowers, with huge blooms and spectacular colors. The single late types allow for extended bloom time. They have long stems, come in beautiful hues, and are also very good cut flowers; their petals can be lily-shaped, scalloped, flamed, or striped. Fringed tulips are midseason or late, single or double, and medium to tall in height. And then there are ‘Viridiflora’, single-flowered cultivars whose petals all have some green on them. They are especially hardy in the garden and are excellent in arrangements. The ‘Parrot’ tulips are single-flowered cultivars, medium to tall, with huge flowers in vivid single or multiple colors. I especially love ‘Flaming Parrot’, a red and yellow tulip that can grow 27 inches tall!
Lastly, for cut flowering types, are the very popular double late, or peony-flowered, tulips. They are long-stemmed late bloomers. The most popular of this type have been ‘Angelique’, a pale pink, and ‘Mount Tacoma’, an ivory white.
Of course, many other tulips, and types of tulips, are available to American growers. I have a penchant for small spring flowers and many tulip varieties fit this category—kaufmanniana, fosteriana, greigii, clusiana, and bakeri, to name a few. I suggest that you gather suppliers’ catalogs and sit and pick and choose, as I do. Order in late summer or very early fall to be sure you get what you want. And plant as soon as you receive the bulbs, so they have time to start the growing process before the very cold winter months.
Tulips are not like daffodils; they do not necessarily bloom year to year, but with proper care you can prolong some of your initial investment. That first year after planting is the one that requires documentation, including photographs, and parties so you can invite others to observe the “Tulipomania” taking place in your own garden.
Single, double, peony, fringed, and parrot-style tulips including ‘Bleu Aimable’, ‘Blue Spectacle’ (a double-form purple), ‘Formosa’ (yellow), ‘Flaming Parrot’ (red and yellow variegated), ‘Black Parrot’ (dark ruffled), and ‘Queen of Night’ are combined in a vintage cast-iron brazier in a faux-bamboo pattern. “This is one of my favorite compositions,” says Kevin. “Martha suggested that I create something bold and outrageous, and this was the result.” A color palette of rosy purples and pops of yellow allows the eye to appreciate the vast array of flower shapes available within the tulip family. To assemble, Kevin used tulips in full bloom, with a few lilac stems as accents. The stems are allowed to bend and bubble over the brazier’s edge.
Mounted on the side of the Winter House at the farm in Katonah, this American folk art wrought-iron wall stand normally holds plants; using it to display different bunches of flowers illustrates the abundance of the cutting garden. Here, fourteen of the varieties from my tulip beds at Katonah greet guests as they arrive at the height of spring. Varieties include ‘Apricot Parrot’, ‘Hakuun’, ‘Spring Green’, ‘Jackpot’, ‘Helmar’, ‘Cashmir’, ‘Purple Prince’, ‘Monsella’, ‘Weber’s Parrot’, and ‘Angelique’.
GROWING & ARRANGING
TULIPS (TULIPA) HAVE BEEN GROWN AROUND THE WORLD FOR CENTURIES. IN FACT, THEY WERE SO COVETED DURING THE HEIGHT OF “TULIPOMANIA” IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY HOLLAND THAT A SINGLE BULB COULD COST AS MUCH AS A HOUSE. TODAY THERE ARE MORE THAN THREE THOUSAND GARDEN VARIETIES TO CHOOSE FROM.
On the farm in Katonah, the tulip beds (located in what was once the pumpkin patch) comprise three thousand bulbs arranged in neat rows—a smaller-scale version of the famed Dutch tulip fields. We arrange varieties according to color, height, and bloom time. The cutting beds are situated such that the flowers enjoy full sun throughout the summer, in a dry area of the garden.
HOW TO GROW
The best thing about growing tulips is how undemanding they are. Different varieties bloom at different times, so by judiciously mixing cultivars from early-, middle-, and late-season classes, you can have tulips in bloom for six weeks or more. When I lived in Westport, Connecticut, I tucked clusters of bulbs wherever there was space among the perennials and shrubs; now, at the farm in Katonah, I have an entire bed of my cutting garden dedicated to these beautiful flowers.
ZONE Most tulips thrive in Zones 3 to 8, which means they grow readily everywhere from the Dakotas to the mid-South in the United States, though they tend to fare better in the cooler zones, up to Zone 7. They can even bloom in the Deep South and Southwest, Zones 8 to 10, as long as they’re treated like annuals and the bulbs are refrigerated for six to ten weeks before planting (see Chilling, this page). In many areas with warmer winters, bulbs are often sold prechilled. This simulates the winter freeze and thawing process that encourages bulbs to spring into action.
SOIL Sandy soil enriched with organic matter works best for tulips; they also need good drainage and prefer a pH level of 6.0 to 6.5. Prepare the soil by adding compost and bulb booster, a fertilizer made especially for bulbs, and use a garden fork to loosen the soil to the depth you will be planting—which should be quite deep, about 8 inches below the surface. Aerated soil will allow the plants to grow strong, healthy roots.
LIGHT Plant tulips in full sun, unless you are growing varieties with dark (or even black) blossoms—these petals can burn in constant sun, so a little shade is preferable.
CHOOSING Watch for mold on bulbs. To test a bulb, immerse it in water. Healthy bulbs should sink, while those with decay will float. Also ensure the bulb has retained its outer covering (tunic), which can slip off easily.
PLANTING Plant tulips in the middle of fall, or as soon as they arrive from the supplier. You can plant tulips, like daffodils, right up until the soil freezes, so if you get a late start, take advantage of end-of-season bulb sales.
You can plant tulips in informal clusters, or take a cue from the tulip fields of Holland and plant varieties in straight lines or distinct blocks. You can also space clusters close together in a container—a few bulbs each in 6- to 8-inch diameter pots with plenty of drainage holes. Cover the pots with wire screening to keep out vermin that love to gnaw on the bulbs. Be sure to plant the area all at once to avoid digging into an already-planted bulb; in large plots, mark your layout with bone meal. Always plant bulbs at a depth of three times their height and at least 8 inches deep; in areas with squirrels, deer, and rabbits, try a depth of four times the bulb height. This is also a good trick in regions with frequent freezing and thawing, to prevent heaving (when roots are pushed to the surface due to the freezing and thawing action of the soil).
Bulb planters—tools that feature a long metal cylinder with a handle—are extremely efficient for planting tulips; pick one up at a garden or home center. The tool neatly cuts and removes a section of soil, allowing for the bulb to be dropped in, the soil replaced, and the planting completed in just a few steps.
WATERING Water the bulbs regularly throughout spring, but gradually discontinue watering for the summer. Most tulips prefer to stay dry to mimic the conditions of their native habitat. Once they are established and have begun flowering, normal rainfall should suffice, unless the season is unnaturally dry. Never water from above while the tulips are in bud or bloom, as water on the petals can cause burning, spots, and shattering.
FERTILIZING At planting time, feed tulips by mixing bulb fertilizer (follow product instructions for dosage) into the soil at the bottom of the deep planting hole. Feed again in the spring, and continue to fertilize established plantings each fall. In Katonah, the tulip beds receive a generous dose of bulb food and bone meal before planting, before the first snowfall, and again in the early spring before shoots emerge. We also treat with an extra layer of compost each year in the fall.
PRUNING Deadheading tulips is necessary to prevent the plant from wasting energy on developing seed capsules. Simply cut off fading flowers below the swollen bases. You can also cut any bare stem below the seed capsules, but leave the foliage on the plant until it yellows and browns. The yellowing leaves are necessary to help fuel next year’s bloom cycle. If you prefer to hide withering foliage, mix in other perennials for ground cover. If any older bulbs fail to bloom or bloom poorly, pull them so that they can be replaced the next fall. Be sure to keep tulip beds weeded during summer.
CHILLING In warmer regions (Zones 8 to 10), where the soil doesn’t stay below 50 degrees long enough to give the tulips a cold period, you will need to purchase prechilled bulbs or store bulbs in a dry, cool place, such as the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or an empty root cellar. Place the bulbs away from fruits and vegetables, which produce ethylene gas that can harm the embryonic flowers inside the bulbs. Make sure the bulbs remain dry. The usual chilling time is ten weeks or longer at 40 to 45 degrees. Once the bulbs are removed from cold treatment, plant them right away. Bloom occurs about six to eight weeks after planting. Though the simulated chilling period will lead to blooms the first few years, you may begin to notice declining quality by the third year, depending on the variety. The flowers will eventually start to exhibit the effects of not receiving a true winter ground freeze, and you will likely need to start afresh with new bulbs.
TROUBLESHOOTING Tulip bulbs are irresistible to squirrels and deer. Plant tulip bulbs alongside daffodils or crown imperial (Fritillaria imperialis)—these bulbs have an unpleasant flavor and may help keep vermin away. You can also bury sheets of chicken wire (with openings no bigger than 1 inch wide) in the soil just above newly planted bulbs. Stems and foliage will easily grow through the mesh, but squirrels and deer should be prevented from reaching the bulbs. Place chicken wire just below the bulbs for extra protection—or plant groups of bulbs in wire cages (available at hardware stores).
Other methods include sprinkling bulbs with cayenne pepper or sprinkling the ground above the bulbs with bone meal as a rodent deterrent. The best way to keep deer out is with a good fence specifically manufactured to be deer-resistant. Deer repellent is less efficient: it doesn’t always work and needs to be reapplied often.
Because tulips are planted individually, diseased or problematic bulbs can be removed easily. If you notice spindly stems and white or yellowish mottling or streaking of the foliage, your tulips may have a virus or blight. Simply dig up and remove the entire bulb before it spreads. If you see aphids on your tulips, spray them with water.
Single- and double-variety tulips bloom in the garden. Van Engelen’s ‘Apricot Parrot’, top left, is a May bloomer with beautiful fringed petals. At top right, ‘Orange Princess’ tulips are Rembrandt-type midspring bloomers with a stronger fragrance than some others. ‘Monte Carlo’, bottom, has fully double, bright yellow cups, and is a good choice for beds, forcing, and arrangements.
HOW TO ARRANGE
CUTTING You can harvest tulips when the buds are still predominantly green, with a touch of color starting to show, though many florists—and Kevin—prefer to cut them in full bloom, to ensure they open to the desired degree. If there is a leaf (or two) on the upper part of the stem, leave it intact if possible—it will encourage the blossom to fully open and hold its shape better by increasing light intake. Always cut flowers in the morning and place them in cold water.
MAINTAINING Place tulips in cool spaces out of direct sunlight to avoid burning the petals, and change the water regularly. When kept in clean, plentiful water, some varieties, especially parrot tulips, can last up to two weeks. Tulips are notorious for growing, or “jumping,” in the vase after cutting. An important trick (one Kevin recommends) is to “slit the throat” by using a pin or small knife to pierce the neck of the tulip stem, right below the blossom. This allows the stem to release oxygen so that the cut flower doesn’t continue to grow. Even after slitting the throat, tulips will often flop over in arrangements. If you want to keep them straight, try putting them in a tall bucket right after cutting, so the heads are below the rim and contained. You can also wrap them tightly in newspaper after cutting, and place the entire bundle in water.
ARRANGING Older, more developed tulips are the most likely to bend—no matter which tricks you utilize. When you have a bending tulip, try using it as an element of movement within the architecture of the arrangement. Consider the horizontal gesture the tulip blossoms will create, and fill in the center with other upright blooms so they don’t leave empty spaces behind. Tulips are, of course, beautiful on their own, but can also be lovely in arrangements combined with lilacs, fritillaria, and different kinds of foliage, such as rhubarb leaves. Restrict yourself to a narrow palette by grouping flowers in shades of the same color family, or embrace the multitude of colors available, like a Dutch tulip field. I love to pair orange and black, or arrange white, yellow, and mauve tulips together. Kevin often opts for pink and yellow pairings.
Almost any container can be used for tulip arrangements. Their good-looking stems can handle a clear glass vase or cut crystal; arrange a bunch together in a pail for a rustic display, or embrace the contrasting texture of a woven basket. Kevin’s go-to vessels for tulips are trumpet vases, which encourage the movement and shape of the stems, and ginger jars. For an unusual approach, Kevin likes to cut off the tulip heads and perch them in shot glasses, so they look like colorful eggs in cups.
In the greenhouse at Cantitoe Corners, Kevin gathered these red ‘Cashmir’ and yellow ‘Fringed Elegance’ tulips in the farm’s signature metal buckets. (A Chinese stoneware storage jar in front awaits an arrangement.) The red and yellow tulips play off each other and the marbleized ‘Monsella’ and ‘Caribbean Parrot’ varieties nicely. I use my greenhouse to grow hothouse tropical plants, but it also makes a wonderful staging area for arrangements before they’re brought into the main house. At far right, ‘Formosa’ tulips show off their yellow and green–flamed petals.
The slender English blown-glass trumpet vase used for this arrangement of tulips celebrates the natural structure of the flower, letting the stems, blossoms, and foliage do all the work. “The character of a tulip is so beautiful on its own,” Kevin says. “It can handle unconventional foliage.” Here, Ligularia leaves lend a dark, dramatic accent to the deep purple of ‘Black and White’ tulips.
Neatly trimmed tulip stems can stand up under observation in a shallow glass mantel vase like this one, which holds a mix of tulips, white bleeding hearts (Dicentra), and the wavy leaves of Japanese bird’s nest fern. Kevin used the curving Dicentra to create the illusion of movement, allowing it to arc out and away from the center of the bouquet. The deep green of the ferns provides a perfect background against which the white ‘Double Maureen’ tulips can pop: together with the purple and white ‘Jackpot’ variety, they are a stabilizing presence for the airy arrangement.
Different hues can happily coexist in an arrangement without being deliberately integrated or mixed together. Here, ‘Jan Reus’ tulips (dark crimson single-blossoms), ‘Ballerina’ (lily-flowered blooms with crimson-edged petals), and ‘Perestroyka’ (a large, lily-shaped variety in pale orange flushed with pink) are grouped alongside fritillaria, primrose, wallflower, and ivy. In a footed vase, they are permitted to splay outward in every direction.
On a counter at the Tenant House in Katonah, a modest arrangement of ‘Caribbean Parrot’ variegated tulips in an ironstone mixing bowl is elevated by a decorative wooden platform, lending balance to the arrangement and establishing a heftier presence. Kevin used a tape grid across the mouth of this bowl in order to stabilize the short-stemmed flowers; it also has the benefit of making an arrangement look like it has more flowers than it actually does. This low display is perfect as a kitchen table centerpiece, so guests can see one another over the top.
By a window in the Tenant House, simple tulip cuttings show off every angle and height this flower can offer. An arrangement series like this one, featuring ‘Blue Spectacle’ and ‘Bleu Aimable’ tulips, in late-1920s McCoy pottery, illustrates the idea that the sum of many flower types can be greater than its individual parts; when used in combination, an asymmetrical trumpet, a bursting bubble bowl, and a freeform tangle of stems balance and complement one another. A single blossom in a fingerbowl completes the tableau.
Purple tulips lend drama to a late-spring bouquet that would delight any of the Dutch master painters with its varying textures and deep colors. Varieties including ‘Queen of Night’, a very dark-purple single tulip, dark-purple ‘Greuze’, roselike ‘Lilac Perfection’, feathery-fringed ‘Black Parrot’, and white-edged ‘Arabian Mystery’ are paired with fritillaria, lilacs, and rhubarb and Heuchera foliage. Though small, fritillaria can add a great deal of impact to an arrangement, with its graceful stems and distinctly patterned, delicately pointed blossoms.
Green goes with everything in the garden, making it easy to pair with accent colors. The pink and yellow parrot tulips in this arrangement pair nicely with the pretty geranium leaves, viburnum, and fritillaria. To build an arrangement like this, start with a tape grid (see this page), then add the tallest stems in the center and work toward the rim. To hide the tape, tuck in the outermost ring of flowers and foliage at a steep angle. For an unexpected touch, Kevin turned back some of the tulip petals to modify their form.
On a wicker table, I arranged tulips and lilacs in a McCoy ceramic vase. “This represents a riot of the season,” says Kevin. Yet every spring bloom doesn’t have to result in a chaotic bouquet: stick to a limited color palette, like the blush ivories and whites here, and let the natural green of the garden be your accent color. The cloudlike blooms are brought down to earth by using the woven surface, showing how the textures of an arrangement’s surroundings and back-drop can be incorporated to great effect.
A CONVERSATION WITH
KEVIN SHARKEY
Tulips can look very severe and very modern, or they can look very lush and romantic. They can truly do it all.
What are some of your favorite varieties?
I love parrot tulips, and my favorites are the ‘Black Parrot’ variety. I love the form of the flower—they’re reckless and savage and have so much movement. You can create great foundational arrangements with them because they have such strong stems. But I also like the lily varieties, which are the total opposite shape, with very severe and angular petals. My new favorite is a marbleized, or “broken,” tulip, the ‘Black and White’, available from Old House Gardens. It’s a really old, rare variety, and it’s so unusual, it actually stopped me in my tracks in the Katonah garden. ‘Insulinde’ and ‘Absalon’ are other marbleized varieties.
What do you love about them?
The fragrance is amazing. When I’m arranging certain flowers, like lilacs, I can appreciate the scent for a while and then I get so used to it that I no longer notice. And with something heady like lilies, the scent is so overwhelming that it’s kind of like getting drunk too fast. Smelling a tulip is an intentional action, however, and it just makes something magical happen. You have to put your head right into the tulip in order to get the fragrance, and it’s so individual to this flower.
How do you cut tulips?
I like to cut long stems, but Martha wants to make sure the bulb stays strong for next year, which means not removing as much of the stem. She cuts tulips at a reasonable length, maybe 12 inches, but I like to cut them all the way down to the ground. I think the construction of the blossom is really balanced best by a long stem. Martha instinctively takes into consideration how much to leave behind so that the bulb will replenish itself. She’s thinking about the future of her cutting garden, but I’m all about what it looks like in that moment.
How do you like to pair them?
I like lilacs with tulips, and I like foliage. I especially like tulips with other tulips—you’re able to see each tulip more clearly because they are such a simple shape; your eye might look for other shapes and they just aren’t there, which allows for a better appreciation of the main flower.
Any special considerations?
You just have to be aware of the dirt and sand hidden beneath the leaves. Tulips can be deceiving because the stem looks clean once the leaves are off, but generally there’s sand and dirt left behind, and you need to make sure you have a clean stem. You can use any sharp, small knife to clean it out.
Right after cutting a tulip, I slit the throat of it, a trick I learned when I was working for a florist. This way, when I’m arranging, I’m not spending a ton of time primping each flower. It’s part of the prep, kind of like what a sous chef would do: choose leaves, get everything in clean, cold water, and then start arranging.
Any favorite tricks for arrangements?
I sometimes like to pull the petal back, so it changes the form of the tulip (see this page). Some varieties you can do that to more than others—some are more pliable. And experiment with vessels. You can go from a fingerbowl with a simple blossom (see this page) to the tallest vase with the beautiful stems of French tulips (see this page). Tulips will work in pretty much any vase. It would be a fun challenge, actually—select any tulip and a random vase and somehow make it work.
What are some common mistakes with tulip arrangements?
You really have to take a step back when you’re arranging and think about whether the vase calls for two dozen flowers or only five. It’s all strategy, and scale is so important. Too-small tulips in a too-big vase just looks wrong. When in doubt, add more tulips.
Tulips don’t need to be bright or vivid to make a statement. For this delicately hued display, Kevin combined silky ‘White Parrot’ and ‘Salmon Parrot’ tulips, green snowball viburnums, large single-petaled peonies, and the velvety foliage of scented geraniums. Spilling over the rim of an antique Sheffield silver wine cooler, the tulips function as the base of the arrangement. “Peonies can get buried, whereas tulips are great foundation flowers,” says Kevin, who started with their sturdy stems to build upon.
To capture the voluptuous abundance of the season, double and single tulips—the more the better— are arranged in an early- twentieth-century glass pitcher that shows off the sturdy stems of ‘Bronze Gem’, ‘Mrs. J. T. Scheepers’, ‘Fondante’, ‘Montreux’, and ‘Blushing Beauty’ varieties. Alongside is a different category of the flower: smaller-scale botanical tulips (with their own foliage). In this Georgian blown-glass rummer (an eighteenth-century drinking glass), the comparison invites an appreciation of both.
This slender Juliska glass vase is the perfect container for long-stemmed single tulips. Cut the stems as long as the vase and line them up as straight as possible. Use a clear rubber band to secure bundles of clean stems, and stick to a limited variety—such as these two French tulips that complement each other in form and color.
When arranging flowers in an interesting container, don’t miss the opportunity to call attention to it. Kevin arranged these yellow ‘Monte Carlo’ and bicolor ‘Helmar’ tulips in a shallow copper baking pan, to show off the sleek handles and blur the line between container and surroundings. “Think about the texture and material not only of the vessel, but of the surface,” he advises. “An arrangement may be sitting on a highly polished metal, a mirrored tile, or a platform—why not have the flowers interact with the surface itself?”
‘Boston’ variegated tulips, with their deep, rosy purple petals and yellow “throat” centers, serve as the inspiration for this beautiful spring bouquet’s color palette. Joined with buttery narcissus, trout lilies, and deep violet lilacs—a departure from predictable pastels—the arrangement becomes a celebration of spring in unexpected colors. Always condition daffodil stems (see this page) before mixing them with other cut flowers.