Although the garden is bursting with new beauty daily, it doesn’t feel right to write about it all until I record and close out the 2020 tulip season. Our tulips will continue on for another couple of weeks, and it’s been a pretty spectacular tulip year.
A month ago the first “perennial” tulips opened, with 300 ‘Big Eartha’, ‘Big Apricot’, and the red-edged yellow, ‘Beauty of Spring’ as the stars. These Darwin hybrids are stately, huge, and very long lasting, and I’m just now deadheading the last of them. I’ll plant them in clumps throughout the garden and attempt to get a second year’s enjoyment from them.
I treat all the remaining tulips as annuals, composting them after they bloom. ‘White Marvel’ were the next to pop and have been blooming for over three weeks. They are just now taking a hit from some serious rain. I highly recommend this marvelous white tulip.
The name ‘Pretty Princess’ is not a favorite, but I bought them mainly for the promise of their variegated foliage, which has been very subtle. I promptly renamed them ‘Coppertop’ and have loved their pink and orange blooms. They look especially nice grouped with the white.
This week, the last of the containers of tulips are opening. They’re packed with the ‘French Blend’ combo I loved last year from Colorblends and re-purchased. They are wonderfully cheerful and will probably see us through to June. Hurray for the 2020 tulip season!
Gardens at Coppertop 
Absolutely breath taking and beautiful!
Thank you for sharing you gorgeous tulips with us.
MJ
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So glad you enjoyed these, Mary Jane! Stay safe down there.
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They are beautiful! I am glad you decided to share them with us.
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Thank you, Lisa. Hope you are well!
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STUNNING- and I don’t bandy that word around easily!
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I appreciate the bandying, Lauren!
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‘White Marvel’ is a Darwin Hybrid?
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Oops, that would be ‘White Cloud’ or ‘Hakuun’. I am familiar with that one.
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I’ll have to check those white ones out. The only Darwin hybrids I grew were the three mentioned at the beginning of my post — the earliest and hugest bloomers of the bunch.
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I have not investigated tulips much just because I do not grow them. I will eventually, but will limit selection to the more resilient sort. They will not get much chill here, so are not likely to naturalize. Only the straight species are that reliable.
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All absolutely beautiful, and beautifully photographed! I can see we gravitate toward different color palettes (i lean more towards startling oranges and reds) but there’s nothing wrong with that!
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Thanks, Jason! I always enjoy seeing your orange ballerinas and more. Gorgeous. Each year I try some different combos, but haven’t returned to all hot colors since 2015. There’s always next year…
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What a gorgeous array of tulips! Absolutely stunning!
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Thank you, Cindie!
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