Tulip Talk
The fall season brings about cooler weather and time to plant your tulip bulbs for spring blooms. Bulbs should be planted in the season they were purchased and planted before the danger of frost. In colder growing zones or the top half of the U.S, tulips are usually planted between September and November.
There are so many varieties of tulips, which ones are the best to plant?
For plants that are hardy, multiply, and come up every year, look for perennial tulip plants.
Tulips are categorized in divisions(Div) that are based on the flowering time and the shape of the flower. The divisions that provide a hardy perennial tulip plant look for (Div 13)Fosteriana, (Div 3)Triumph,(Div 4) Darwin Hybrid, (Div 8) Viridiflora, and (Div 6)Lily-Flowered tulips.
A few historical facts can be found in the Fosteriana and Darwin Hybrid Tulips. Both varieties were the result of the Dutch hybridizer, D.W. Lefeber’s hard work. He hybridized the wild red tulip from Central Asia to bring the “Tulipa Fosteriana” which became known as Emperor Tulips. In 1951, he once again introduced a hardy beautiful tulip called the Darwin Hybrid.
Another worthy note includes the Triumph. Out of the 8,000 registered varieties of tulips, the Triumph was crowned the Flower Bulb of the Year in 2021. The Triumph was the result of a cross between early and late blooming single flowered tulips. They are very popular because of their sturdy stems and longevity of the flower.
No matter what you choose for a tulip, you will not be disappointed after the long cold winter to see their beautiful colors accenting the drab landscape.