For the first few years here, I felt the garden lacked ‘oomph’ when we opened the gates to visitors in early April. Yes, there is plenty of apple and cherry blossom and there are pools of dainty early spring perennials to enjoy - but I wanted so see more colour, for myself and for our early visitors.
I began adding tulips in 2008, experimenting with different types and colours, getting to know what I liked and what seemed to suit the garden too. Over time, colour themes have evolved and we began to settle on shapes and types that worked. From the start, I knew we were going to plant them in drifts in the borders, not in formal groups, or in pots, and that we were not going to lift them after flowering. We don't do ‘formal’ here and we simply don't have the time or the inclination to lift them. At the end of this blog, I'll tell you a bit more about managing tulips in mixed borders.
What began as a simple desire to add a splash of colour has become an annual theme of using tulips to complement the colour theme of each part of the garden. Above is our birch tree border. A few years ago, I added Narcissus ‘Ambergate’, the lovely honey-toned Narcissus you can see in the middle ground (currently unavailable in the UK). I liked the buttery warmth of it, both with the white birch stems and with the white narcissus I had previously planted. Later, I added some orange Imperial Fritillaries and loved the rich orange and clean white together. I then felt I wanted to bridge the gap between the orange and white, so added ‘Vancouver’, the bold canary yellow tulip in the foreground. A few rogue orangey/red ones arrived of their own accord and after a bit of musing, I felt they could stay - just a light sprinkling of them. The combinations work well now and I don't feel a need to add anything new.
The area above was once dominated by a huge conifer which I took down in 2018. After being so dark here, I wanted a lighter theme, so I planted Whitebeam trees (Sorbus aria) and underplanted them with silver, blue and purple flowered perennials. The white tulips went in next, but it looked too stark, so in 2024 I added Tulip ‘Bojangles’, the pale one with purple streaks, above. Emboldened by that, this year I added Tulip 'Atilla', a gorgeous rich purple which looks paler inside, almost like a Magnolia flower. It's scented too, which is an unexpected bonus :-).
This border near a curving beech hedge is underplanted with Bergenia ‘Overture’, so I chose a dark red tulip recommended by Sally - ‘Curly Sue’, which has just a faint riffle at the edge. With it is a new one for us - a gorgeous white with a lemon yellow flaming at the base. It's called ‘Flaming Coquette’, but ‘Lemon Sorbet’ would surely be a much better name.
I much prefer single tulips. A bumble bee cannot tumble around as if slightly drunk in a double one, and in any case the heavy flowers tend to collapse under their own weight. I quite like a little frilling at the top - T. ‘Louvre Orange’ (bottom left) is perfectly frilly enough - and what a spectacular colour it is too. I'm not keen on short stubby ones, they look too stiff and prim amid the relaxed clumps of emerging perennials. A little flaring at the top is lovely - see T. ‘Jimmy’ top left. I particularly love tulips that light up with the setting sun behind them - Tulip ‘Blushing Apeldoorn’, below right, glows each evening - I absolutely love it. Top right is T. ‘Avignon’, very classy. These four are all blended together in drifts in our huge ‘Square borders’.
Above, clockwise from top left are Tulip ‘Atilla’, (mentioned above), then T. ‘Purissima’, nestling elegantly among the Erythronium ‘Pagoda’. Tulip ‘Grand Perfection’ is my mother's recommendation and an excellent one too. We pair it with ruby red 'Ronaldo;. Finally, bottom left is Tulip ‘Bojangles’. This last one is understated, but has proved very easy to blend in with whites and purples and also with spring perennials such as Lamium orvala. T. ‘Purissima’ is a very early flowerer - today's stormy weather finished it off, but that's where mixing up the timing plays an important part - ‘Atilla’ and ‘Bojangles’ are still putting on a fine display to replace it.
As for lemons and yellows, they offer such cheerful, uplifting tones which look especially good in dappled shade. Don't worry about planting tulips in a bit of shade, pale colours shine out beautifully and the flowers tend to last much longer out of direct sun. From top left, clockwise, the first is Narcissus ‘Ambergate’. If you come across it, snap it up. It's a joy. The canary yellow Tulip ‘Vancouver’ is stately, tall, robust and a lovely tapered shape. The primose-hued one below it has been in the garden a while and I've long forgotten the name - do let me know if you happen to recognise it. And finally, bottom left, is a gorgeous Narcissus that we've spotted growing in the hedgerow in the garden. My friend Teresa Clements who heads up the Bulb Commitee at the RHS has identified it as ‘White Lady’, a very old variety that is still available from a few growers.
I said I'd offer some tips for growing Tulips in the borders…. Ideally, the growing foliage of perennials will hide the tulip leaves as they fade - leave them as long as you can before cutting them down. They are only doing the underlying bulb any good while they are green so you can cut them down as soon as they turn yellow.
Some tulips, such as ‘Brown Sugar’ are perennial, able to return enough energy to the bulb to reflower next year, most are not. We obviously like them to come back the following year, but even those that don't will usually reflower in a few years. So we leave all the bulbs in the ground and keep adding more of the same varieties, or complementary ones, each year. Over time, it builds up, though some returnees are smaller than new bulbs. That's fine by us, we quite like the subtle variations in height and form.
We are ruthless about removing rogue colours, however. If an insipid pink one turns up in an orange-themed border it really grates. We dig it up, replant it elsewhere or throw the bulb away and enjoy the flower in a vase for a few days.
We have never previously sold bulbs in the autumn, as we close at the end of September, but with Tulips and Narcissus now forming such a big part of our spring garden, we're going to be adding them to our website this August. We'll be focussed exclusively on bulbs we have grown and loved here in the garden. If you have any favourites you'd really like us to stock, please let us know. One that we are trying hard to source is the lovely Narcissus ‘Hawera’ that drifts gently around under the apple trees in our orchard meadow.
If you're not already on our mailing list, do email info@bluebellcottage.co.uk and ask to be added. You'll only get one email a week - I promise! But you will be the first to know when our bulb stocks arrive so you'll get first chance to buy them. In the meantime, do come and visit very soon - the tulips are still looking spectacular. We are open Good Friday, Easter Saturday and, for the first time in six years, we are open Easter Sunday 10am to 4pm, in 2025.
Hope to see you soon. Sue.