Celebrate Spring In Your Garden

With Dutch Bulbs

You know what I said on another page about a “guaranteed spring show“? Well, in the case of tulips (especially) that only goes for the first year. In fact, some people treat them like annuals.

I have found that is not always the case, and with some research you can give your bulbs the optimum conditions and have many years of pleasure viewing spring vistas. The first matter is choosing long lasting bulbs. Some nurseries   offer tulips they call “perennial”, and those are a safe bet. (Of course, the names of the cultivars are not listed, so you can’t just pick them up from the garden center).

Tulips and Daffodils in the Landscape

There are many ways to use tulips and daffodils, so I hope you don’t mind that I only mention my favorites. I’ve seen beds of mixed varieties which were very effective, but I prefer groups of the same type interspersed with small bulbs or low perennials.

Merry Widow Tulips have dramatic white-edged cherry petals.

A section of twenty-or-so bulbs when using tulips; as little as ten for daffodils, create a focal point for the eye. In a former garden, I used a delicately colored group of ‘Elegant Lady‘ lily-flowered tulips, in creamy ivory blushed with rose, next to ‘Blue Ideal‘ hollandia iris (the fall-bulb type), surrounded with clouds of blue flax and footed with Alyssum saxatile ‘Citrinum‘. I was very taken with this picture in late May.

One is always reminded to keep track of heights and bloom times; it is so disappointing to see a beautiful stand like ‘Mt. Hood’ daffodils obliterated by the mistakenly placed taller partner. ‘Mt. Hood’ is an old-fashioned, but truly lovely daffodil in cream-white. Another beautiful old variety is ‘Mrs. R. O. Backhouse’, with a soft coral-pink cup. The whites and Pink cup daffodils show most effectively in a slightly shaded spot, just not too shady or they don’t bloom.

If you have high shade of deep-rooted trees, or some smaller spring blooming trees such as redbud or dogwood, small groups of daffodils are naturalistic and picturesque. As long as you forego the mower, it is a beautiful landscape feature.

Remember to plant more bulbs this fall.

Of course, when neatness counts, the late showing foliage of hostas is perfect to camouflage the ugly growing out phase of the daffodil. Please forget about braiding and rubber bands, unless you feel those knobs add an abstract art quality to your planting. Miniature daffodils are quite easy to work with. They are as good as the the larger members of their family, just having smaller scale. ‘Tête å Tête‘ with Iris reticulata among some interesting rocks is an idea to try.

Yes, I tend to like the small and delicate effects of spring flowers, but when loud, proud, and gorgeous is wanted the ‘Red Emperor’ tulip provides pomp and circumstance. As with most of my tulips, it is hard to keep a perennial stand, but the Red Emperor is a good red and isn’t as short-lived as some of the other types of tulip. It is wonderful alongside the chalk white bloom and deep green foliage of perennial Candytuft,Iberis sempervirens.

The Greigii type of tulip tend to be perennial and ‘Cape Cod‘ is one of the best. Most are of short stature, but one named ‘Oriental Beauty‘ is very leggy. A quality better found in the sturdy upright Darwins, I think. But it is nevertheless, quite a beautiful tulip.

The approach for tulips is different than for daffodils. First consideration is color: daffodils will mix and match in sunrise, yellow, and cream tints, so color is not an issue. Tulips, like lipsticks, are bright or light, anything from orange to lavender, and of so many forms and intensities that it is like using a new paintbox.

You can give your garden the face color you want – even clown makeup! The safe and easy way to use tulips is in front of evergreens, at the foot of trees, or beside walks. They can be placed in martial-looking blocks or blowsy drifts. The tulips are framed by the evergreen shrubs, and no need to worry that after June the space is bare, although it is often a space for a bright patch of annuals.

It is a little trickier integrating them into a garden bed. I invariably slice some when working later in the season, and the areas they inhabit must have some late showing perennial to take their place. Tulip foliage is much better to deal with than daffodil, and some of the T. greigii type actually have nice striped leaves.

Still, all will fade and disappear by Mid-June.