Em's Garden

I like the tiny species tulips because they don’t take up much room, and after they are done blooming the foliage dies back very quickly. They add a nice dash of color to my flowerbeds but don’t get in the way.

Most of the species tulips really don’t look that much like tulips. ‘Apricot Jewel’ is an exception. When in bloom, the plants look like regular tulips, just much smaller:

This is the first year I’ve grown ‘Apricot Jewel’, and I’m impressed with these little plants. They grow 6-10 inches tall with apricot-orange flowers.

When I was taking photographs of the flowers, I was pleased to discover that they have a lovely fragrance. ‘Apricot Jewel’ blooms in mid-spring and is hardy in Zones 4-8.

I’m definitely going to be planting more of these cute little tulips in my flowerbeds.

I only planted my bulbs last fall, but tulip ‘Come Back’ got its name because it supposedly returns year after year. I guess I’ll find out next spring.

‘Come Back’ is a Darwin tulip. It grows 16 to 20 inches tall with bright red flowers and is hardy in Zones 3-8. My flowers battled a great deal of wind and rain and still managed to look good for more than three weeks.

‘Monte Carlo’ is my last Double Early tulip to bloom this year. The fragrant flowers are a clear, sulphur-yellow, and the plants grow about 10 to 12 inches tall.

Like all of the other Double Early tulips, the beautiful, double blooms of ‘Monte Carlo’ resemble peonies.

‘Monte Carlo’ is hardy in Zones 3-8, and the weather-resistant flowers appear for over a month in spring.