The Prettiest Tulip

No, it’s not a beauty pageant. It’s not a contest at all, in fact. It is just some images of the tulips blooming here in the Fairegarden in 2012. The weather has not been kind to the tulips, getting near ninety degrees Fahrenheit in mid-March. But thanks to quick work with the camera, some of these beauties were captured at their peak, to be preserved for posterity. And the blog. There are many other tulips grown here, but alas, photos of them are not available at this time. Above is Tulipa vvedenskyi.

Tulips are real starlets, showing off for the closeups with aplomb. But this garden is not merely a series of dressing rooms for divas of the flower world, it is meant to be viewed from various pathways and seating areas, inside and outside of the house. The long view is what counts. T. vvedendskyi is a brilliant red orange that grabs the retina, standing out well against white creeping phlox and the various shades of greens and blues along the garage side entrance to the back gardens. Remember these words, they shall be used as an acronym for the rest of the post; need more, or NM.

Very pretty and very little is Tulipa ‘Little Beauty’. Originally planted with T. ‘Little Princess’ that is the same except orange where this is pink, the pinks are far more vigorous after several years in the ground. The orange is nearly a no-show.

Thanks to sound advice from my friend and tulip aficianado, Pomono Belvedere of Tulips In The Woods, we planted a new patch of Tulipa ‘Purissima’, aka T. ‘White Emperor’. Freebie bulbs with purchase from a nursery long ago were planted behind the mailbox of this house in 1996. They still return to bloom in most years. Identification was made by Pomona in a comment on a blog post that featured these returning tulips. More were added a couple of years ago to the white/yellow garden and have shown the same returning trait.

Beyond sublime but oh so unreliable is Tulipa ‘Angelique’. Stunning in the first spring after planting but absent for the next four years except for a leaf or two, one flower has graced us in 2012. Don’t let the macro shot mislead you, one tulip a garden does not make.

Going with the theory that if white purissima/emperor is such a perennial, perhaps Tulipa ‘Orange Emperor’ would prove to be also, three groups of four were planted along the edge of the Black Garden. In this, the second year, only a couple bloomed, but hope lives on for more in the future. Maybe a little feeding would help.

There could be no more perfect tulip for the Black Garden than Tulipa ‘Queen Of The Night’. Planted and replanted through the years, one or two will always return. Sometimes it is best to treat tulips as annuals and keep buying more. Here it is: NM.

The newest tulip is quite outstanding, Tulipa ‘Prinses Irene’. Oh, she is something with her gown of dark orangey red with purple brushstrokes on the outer edges.

Seen above with Persicaria microcephala ‘Red Dragon’, the color echo is serendipitous. It is with great sincerity that we wish for her to return in subsequent seasons.

In bright light, Prinses Irene, also spelled Princess in some places, appears more golden, also attractive in the dark realm of the Black Garden foliage.

Planted in 2000 in the Knot Garden, with crowded clumps dug and spread to fill in gaps in the four quadrants that are surrounded by a boxwood hedge, Tulipa viridiflora ‘Spring Green’ holds court as the Queen of the Garden.

Exquisitely elegant, the green and white simplicity of this tulip is the opposite of the over the top Prinses Irene. In close up or from afar, this is a dedicated space for a few fine days each spring to the grand show of a mass planting monoculture. As the tulip foliage yellows after the seed heads are snapped off, this area is ignored until the tulip leaves have dried up to wisps and can be safely removed. Until next year, my pretties.

Frances

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~ by fairegarden on March 30, 2012.