The tulip carnage in my backyard is almost laughable now. Every day new blooms open up and within hours they are beheaded and left for dead. I’ve still managed to sneak in a few photos of my beautiful-but-doomed tulips before their demise. And there are two, out-of-the-way clumps that the perpetrators have not yet discovered.
One of those clumps is Darwin tulip ‘Akebono’ (which means dawn or daybreak in Japanese):
When the flowers first opened they were very pale yellow with just a whisper of color on the petal edges. But within two days the flowers had darkened to a lovely buttery-yellow, and a distinct red edge adorned each petal.
‘Akebono’ blooms a little later in the tulip season (except this year when everything is 4-6 weeks ahead of schedule). The big, double flowers appear on stems 20 to 22 inches tall and have a hint of fragrance.