It is shaping up to be Bulb Week here at Cosmos and Cleome, and today we will ponder the question, “Can you take too many pictures of tulips?” Of course the answer is a resounding NO! My hard drive and my husband may disagree.
Those who’ve followed me for a while may remember that I treat my tulips like annuals, planting them in the fenced vegetable garden to protect them from deer, and then digging them once they’re finished for the season so I can put tomatoes or beans in their place. It’s great fun for me every fall to scour my favorite bulb website (John Scheepers) to plan and design my tulip bed for the following spring. Yep, it’s indulgent.
This year’s early tulips started blooming two days ago. The first was Tulipa ‘Janis Joplin’, a Triumph tulip. It’s a pretty shade of pinkish lavender with a violet-blue base. There’s a bit of pale orange visible up the center of each petal’s exterior, and just a hint of raspberry at each petal’s tip. So far, the tallest is fifteen inches, but it may gain an inch or two over the next few days.
‘Orange Emperor’ is a tulip I’ve grown before and really like. True to its name, it has an orange flower with some yellow-green flaming on the exterior and a bright yellow base with distinct black anthers. It is said to bloom a little later than the other Emperors, in late rather than mid-April. It’s the largest tulip, both in height and blossom size, of the four blossoming now, ranging from fifteen to eighteen inches high with three to four inch flowers. I think this Emperor shows a bit of a jaunty attitude when open!
‘Daydream’ is a Giant Darwin Hybrid, and a real trickster. Its buds and initial open flower lead you to believe it’s a yellow tulip, but then you walk outside an hour later because you love your tulips so much and can’t stop looking at them, and voila! It’s now an orange tulip! The day the first of these opened was very hot and the sun was bright; perhaps the magical color change occurs more slowly if the weather is cooler and less sunny. Scheepers tells me these tulips grow to twenty-two inches in height; mine, currently topping out at sixteen inches, have a way to go to attain that.
OK. I literally just stepped outside, where the day is cloudy and twenty degrees cooler than yesterday, and I can confirm that ‘Daydream’s’ color change is considerable slower when there’s no hot sun beating relentlessly down on it!
Giant Darwin Hybrid tulips tend, as their name suggests, to be large, sometimes reaching twenty-six inches. Their bloom time varies from early to late in the season, depending on the cultivar. They are known to be good perennializers, which is good news for whoever is willing to take my discarded bulbs this year! (When I dig them, I leave the stems and leaves attached and let them dry in an airy place until the foliage completely dies back to feed the bulb.) The Impression series of tulips, many of which I’ve grown before, are Giant Darwin Hybrids.
The last tulip I bring you today is Double Early Tulip ‘Marie Jo.’ This one features very round, tightly packed buds that explode into layers of ruffled yellow petals. There is some pale green flaming on the exteriors of the petals which fades into yellow as the flower matures. Mine are all very near fourteen inches tall, which is the height advertised by Scheepers. Double Early Tulips are recommended for both bedding and forcing purposes.
So, what’s the verdict? Too many tulip photos? I don’t think so! In fact, there are plenty I haven’t shared! If you haven’t had your fill, go ahead a scroll on down for some bonus shots of these early beauties!
Cosmos and Cleome 
I can understand your obsession, K. 🙂 Gorgeous colors, and that ‘Daydream’ is quite amazing… it should have been named ‘Chameleon!’
Do you cut them for the house or just enjoy them outside?
Sometimes I cut them, but mostly not. I guess I just don’t think to do it! Now that it’s in my mind, though, I think I’ll go cut some now!
Your tulips are stunning! I love the different heights and colors you’ve assembled in your garden, and I agree that you can never take too many garden snaps.
You have a lot of tulips. My dad loved to take pictures of his, but that was back in the film days. Tulips are another plant we can’t grow here.
I suspect there are a lot of things that each of us grows that the other can’t!
Love them! And I must look out for Janis Joplin, for the name alone…. amazing someone decided to name a tulip after her! 😉
I found it funny too! Maybe there’s a ‘Bobby McGee’ tulip out there, too!
🤣