Specialty Gardening: By special request (part 2), 1 by wallaby1

wallaby1 wrote:
You will find many of the taller hybrid tulips don't come back, I have had some return after a 6 year regrowth! Tulips are native to areas with hot dry summers and cold winters, but not that cold, we have few frosts and mostly not below -5C (23F) but do have one or two sometimes a little lower.

The secret is to grow them where something else will take up water in the summer, not necessarily in a hot sunny spot as I have some under the tree in the hosta bed, the hostas take the water, and the tree loses it's leaves for winter. That's where I had some parrot tulips and some others return after 6 years. Electra, which you might have seen on my threads is the dwarf double red which has a strong honey scent, it's around the edges of the raised hosta bed.

I have had some which didn't flower for years too, wrongly named but a species, it turned out to be T bakerii Lilac Wonder. I had it in a metal tub, it was spreading by loopy runners on top as well as the bottom, and the foliage grows over winter. I moved them to the hosta bed and they flower every year now after some time to establish, also increasing well, but I thought they were too small for a start although species bulbs are smaller. They may also take longer for some to establish as species are not like hybrids, made to flower reliably from the outset. The foliage is broad and glossy, attractive on it's own.

Tulips don't need feeding with nitrogen, that is likely to produce just foliage, they need Potash, the 'K' in NPK. I don't give them that either, but have on the odd occasion watered the hosta bed with a soluble tomato food with high PK. The variegated one praestans Unicum, Stresa and Johann Strauss I started in pots of good leafy compost, they barely flowered but increased and after a year or two put them in the ground, they are now establishing. I like to give some a good start in pots before they go in the ground so they can renew themselves with natural food.

Some of the late flowering single tulips do return reliably, I have some tall yellow and reds which were already here, more than 9 years, they are in a semi shaded spot where the snowdrops are. I did find some names which I though they might be but have forgotten them!

Gavota has returned so far too,