Fancy an armful of vintage style blooms in spring? Planting tulips now will bring you a flourish in the garden in spring, plus you can cut them and bring them inside for a pop of natural colour.
We’re currently being romanced by dreamy double tulips; our imagination drifting to thoughts of these big blousy blooms as they open petal by unfurling petal. They’re almost reminiscent of the beloved paeony. So if you have a passion for paeonies, these could be your spring fling…
Flicking through the pages of various arty magazines, our gaze fell upon the above pastel masterpiece and we were compelled to try and recreate a real-life version using modern-day bulbs. We won’t see the final results till spring, but if you’d like to join us in reconstructing this sumptuous, satin-soft bouquet, then read on to find out what’s in the mix.
Lifting colours from a pastel palette, we picked violet, rose to caramel tones using these favourite varieties:
1. La Belle Epoque – Large, caramel blush tones appear in late spring in this many-petalled tulip, makes a great cut flower
2. Finola – Bowl-shape, painterly soft rose-madder and white with a hint of green in April and May, a long-lasting tulip
3. Mondial – Cupped-shape, fresh white palette in April and May, a lightly fragrant tulip
4. Angelique – Delicate, deep to light rose tone petals in April and May, a strong performer in beds and borders
5. Blue Diamond – Large cupped-shape, rich violet with a soft pearl lustre blooms in April and May
6. Dream Touch – Large, deep magenta petals with lighter fringes in May, a dramatic addition to the palette
7. Greenland – Fluted-shape with soft pink and green petals in April and May, a popular cut-flower
If you like a little eye-catcher to stand-out in a floral display alongside roses, hesperis and foraged green cuttings take a peek at the Rembrandt stripe varieties. Seemingly an artist has taken a rigger brush and whipped a stroke of fervent colour onto a creamy canvas
8. Grand Perfection – soft cream with scarlet
9. Flaming Flag – ivory with violet
You still have time to pick your favourites and plant this month, so join us in our painterly tulip recreation. We’ll be sharing our results in the spring.
Meanwhile, we are busy setting-out planting threads of tulips through borders and beds, densely planting in the cutting garden and filling pots and planters, near the house, to reward our clients with a fine display worthy of an artist’s canvas
Fallen in love with our double-tulips? No-one fell harder than the Dutch merchants of 17th century Amsterdam.
Find out how tulips bulbs at the time cost more than the price of a house.
