Tulip

Tulipa

Liliaceae, Lily family, Tulip

How to pronounce: Tew-lih-puh

Description: Tulips are classic spring bulbs.The 3 petals and the 3 petal-like sepals form lovely that are borne singly or in groups atop naked stems.The flowers come in every color except for true blue.Shades of white, yellow,red and pink are the most common.The long broad leaves have wavy margins;they may be green, dark spotted or striped.Several species are available,but most tulips today are hybrids.

Types of Tulips:
Single Early Tulips
Double Early Tulips
Triumph Tulips
Darwin Hybrid Tulips
Single Late Tulips
Lily-Flowered Tulips
Fringed Tulips
Viridiflora Tulips
Rembrandt Tulips
Parrot Tulips
Double Late Tulips
Kaufmanniana Tulips
Fosteriana Tulips
Greiggi Tulips
Wild Tulips
(Each of these are the head of many different species of tulips)

How to Grow:
Tulips are easy to flower the first season because they are planted with the buds already developed.Many Hybrids decline after the second year, so many gardeners treat them as annuals and replace them every year. Darwin hybrids and single late Tulips are the longest lived and the most dependable.Species tulips are also very reliable as perennials,often persisting and increasing every year.
Tulips need ample food in water when actively growing and a reasonable dry summer dormant period.Plant them in well drained,fertile,humas rich soil that is moist and the spring and fall but dry in the summer.
Plant new tulips in the fall at a depth of 8 inches from the soil surface to the bottem of the bulb.If you planting them as a bedding display be sure to plant them all at the same depth or they will bloom unevenly..Space bulbs 2 inches -6 inches apart,depending on the size of the plant.Do not remove the foilage until it is fully yellow,no matter how strong the temptation is,unless of course you are discarding the bulbs.Next years flower production depends on the previos year's foilage.


Landscape Uses:Tulips are lovely planted in mass bedding schemes in single or mixed colors,combines with other spring bulbs or planted with perennails and shrubs.