My bed of tulips 2013

Patti, I like your analogy! The white helps make red stand out - I had just anticipated more red than white.

We're having a cold (32*F), rainy day too, as you can see from the tightly closed blooms. Yesterday I noticed one of the red tulips looked gorgeous when it was fully open, so I'd hoped to catch a photo today, but no such luck. Maybe tomorrow.

Looking at the bed today, it appears that there are at least a dozen yellow tulips about to bloom! I can justify the white tulips to make the red look better, but yellow? I think one of the two following may have happened:

1. Someone at the bulb company got some yellow tulips mixed in with the red assortment (it happens)

OR

2. I missed a few bulbs when I pulled them up last summer. Last year this bed had multi-color Mayflowering tulips, so, if I missed some, this bed could be 'interesting'

Off with there heads and into a vase to enjoy inside. i have some orangish ones coming up in bed of pinks which I must have mixed the bags up and planted them in the wrong bed. It is Tulip Girlfriend. I am going to move them tomorrow. Patti

The rain yesterday caused the big, double peony-flowering tulips to bend over. I'm afraid this display is going to be a disaster. Last year I did a test and the plants seemed shorter and sturdier. Maybe it's the additional rain we're getting this year that makes the difference. This year they seem so tall and gangly.

The first picture was taken today - April 24. The second and third photos are from my test last year - the pictures were taken March 26 - the warm winter and dry spring cause everything to be about a month early.

I love the double peony ones too, but they are apt to collapse on us due to the wind and rain we tend to get each spring so I have given up on them for now. I have found that one of the strongest over many years has been Tulip Division 9 Parrot Rococo which will be open tomorrow. I have had good results for durability with the very tall Tulip Division 5 Single Late El Niño as well as the now blooming Tulip Division 13 Fosteriana Flaming Purissima,but oh so many more to try. I think your efforts are amazing and hope your double perk up.

We dug up a bunch of Tulip Division 15 Species vvedenskyi x mogoltavica.Girlfriend and another one that seems to be missing from my journal and we moved them. I doubt many will return next year but they were totally in the wrong spot. Patti

Another cool, rainy day (yipee!) and the tulips are all looking great. here are a few views

Pic #1 - 'Olympic Flame' tulips I planted in the border 3-4 years ago - they have naturalized and are still going strong.
Pic #2 - NoID tulips I planted in the border 6-7 years ago - still come back each spring.
Pic #3 - 'Red Passion' collection (with a few yellow mixed in - lol)
Pic #4 - Double Peony tulips - heavy with the rain
Pic #5 - One of the seven Double Peony varieties is fringed - and very short.

They are looking really good. What a beautiful garden. My garden is looking a little out of control and I will be switching to "summer" flowers this weekend.

Leawood, they are such happy,beautiful tulips!

Vals, my garden "switches" by itself. I plant the largest bulbs deepest while the small, early bulbs are on top, taking advantage of every inch of gardening space. I like for my front garden to always have something in bloom for passersby. Muscari and daffodils are just about done, and tulips (what is left of them) are coming into full bloom. Some still have very tight buds. In the meantime, the allium and lilies are coming up gangbusters.

They look really beautiful!

Another cool, rainy day and the tulips are all standing at attention - all, that is, except the double peony tulips, which are bent over from the rain - This bed has not been what I'd hoped. I picked up about a dozen blooms that broke off in the rain. Oh well, they made a nice centerpiece on the breakfast room table - they're even interesting in a single vase (or in this case, a juice glass - lol). It gives you a chance to appreciate the beauty of the bloom up close.

One of the varieties in the bed has red markings on the leaf. They were so interesting that I wanted to see what color the blooms would be. Today they are just starting to open and it looks like they will be a dramatic red color. I can hardly wait to see them fully opened.

After all the cool rain, we've had a couple of warm days and the tulips are at their peak. Here's how they look today.

The blooms on the different varieties are so interesting.

Leawood, they are so gorgeous. I love that they are by the walk and in full of passersby. I'll bet you get lots more traffic when the tulips are in bloom. I gather you add some new varieties each fall.

Simply stunning! I especially love that last of the three bed shots. Stunning, stunning, stunning!

A couple more photos of the individual flowers - each is lovelier than the last. I especially like the fringed variety.

Just Beautiful....OH MY GOSH!!!

Wow, LG your tulips are exquisite, and the beds magnificent!!!! What an amazing display. Your neighbors and people who pass by are are getting such a wonderful view.

The rain and snow were pretty devastating to the peony-flowering tulips. We received about two inches of moisture, in the form of a gentle, but cold rain, turning to sleet and eventually snow over the last two days. The tulips can handle the cold, but the weight of the rain and snow on the enormous blooms caused many stems to snap, leaving blooms lying on the ground.

The individual blooms on all varieties are spectacular, but I really like the red variety best. They are interesting before they open and glorious when fully opened. Some of them have not yet opened, and they survived the rain and snow just fine.

That red one is just stunning. Hardly looks real.

So sorry for your damage. The merciless Mother Nature flailing at them. We haven't been plagued yet, except for the drought.

That tulip bed is such a lovely welcome.

I don't know how you put these in every year. It's been more than five years since I planted any tulip bulbs. I think this is an angelique that has been in bloom for more than a week. I took this photo yesterday with the promise of rain today and the expectation that it will fall apart. Definitely a peony style tulip.

It is beautiful. Tulips may be a lot of work with all that planting but they are so pretty it seems worth it. We don't want you to stop! We love seeing your tulip show each spring.

A beautiful display! I look forward to it each year.

Here's the downside to large display beds of tulips. Once they start to fade, you're faced with an ugly bed that must be left undisturbed if you plan to dig and save the bulbs. They need another 3-4 weeks of development before you dig them up, so you'll have big, ugly expanses in your garden from Mid-May to mid-June. The second or third week of June I'll lift all of these bulbs and store them in my basement for the summer. In their place, I'll plant begonias or impatiens, but they won't really look nice until August - most of the summer the bed will be less than optimal.

That is why I mostly plant my tulips in my daylily beds between the daylilies. I have lots of daylily beds. The daylily folliage helps hide the fading tulip folloage. Plus I never dig my bylbs anyway.

I also dig my bulbs and put in annuals. I also put in gladioluses, which I also dig to put the tulips back in. I really don't care for daylilies, and I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't like hostas. I find that the two make a dependable, but unchanging look most of the season. I can change the look of my beds every few weeks. And I save the expense of buying a lot of bulbs every year. And there is no need to hide foliage, which may be one of the reasons that people have hostas.

Here, all in the same bed.

Pic. 1 Happy Family and Weisse Berliner - multiflowering Triumphs. Then out they come - and they are stored.

Pic. 2 Same bed with Gladiolus Matchpoint installed, mirabilis jalapa growing.

And later, nicotiana alata and verbena bonariensis are added to the mix.

As the season goes on, different flowers dominate.

The three annuals are permanent residents of the bed - they just seed. The glads are pulled when they start turning brown. And bag them for the next yera. Glads multiply in storage.

And then the multiflowers tulips go back in. Or maybe a different kind of tulip. I had these combos in other places in the yard.

I think it's a lot of fun, very cost effective. It depends on what you want.

Here is what I do with the "odd men out".

Pic. 5 From batches of tulips. I put them together, hence doubles Maywonder, Angelique and Mt. Tacoma, Weisse Berliner, and White Trumphinator.

Donna, you're a great gardener and very inspiring. You got me to start saving my tulips, now I guess I'd better start saving my glads! Thanks!

It's wonderful when someone inspires you. My grandma is why I started gardening. I keep doing it because it is can never be perfect, which is why it is so perfect.

Dear Leawood,

Saving glads is a piece of cake. Better yet, when they are ready to be planted, they start sprouting. I keep them in those little brown paper lunch bags in my basement.

Love your picture. Great smile!

Donna

Saving glads is a piece of cake here in my garden. I just leave them be. They come back on thier own year after year.

Not in my zone. I'm in 5a.

Donna, I am just remembering what others have said about glads perennializing. I was agreeing with you, but have heard stories from CANADA and Iowa of glads coming back without being dug. That was going to be my next experiment until I moved.