A Promise Kept (Tulipa)

Tulips encourage strong opinions among some gardeners. There are those who shun the hybridized tulips as garish or, worse, lacking character. Others wax poetic about drifts of bright tall tulips and regard the species tulips as insignificant.

I find myself with one foot planted firmly in each camp.


Big Eartha was a winner, the color a silky rose. Not at all a mundane pink, it contrasted beautifully with the bright reds and purples of the Crusaders blend.



Tulipa bakeri, a species tulip I had never grown, was a total success. It showed up early and stayed late, behavior unbecoming in a dinner guest but so welcome in spring flowers.




This tulip was labeled, rather vaguely, 'Species Tulip'. I believe it is Tulipa tarda.




Henry Mitchell, in The Essential Earthman, speaks to the charms of this particular species:

I used to wonder why anyone would fool with T. tarda... First of all, it sometimes grows to six inches instead of two, but mainly this is a fine example of a modest plant whose virtues are never quite captured in print. I first grew it only to try to comprehend why merchants kept selling it. Now I know. It is one of those plants you never want to be without. It is as exuberant and vigorous as it is small. It costs only a few cents, and looks fine against cobblestones.

I would add only this to Mr. Mitchell's observations. The pods provided an interest of their own long after the flowers had faded and the petals were blown away in an April storm.