Tulips are often seen as little more than garage-forecourt flowers, but there is a world of variety out there waiting to be discovered
My favourite of all flowers is the tulip, which comes as a surprise to many people, since I spend most of my life researching and collecting weird and wonderful plants to grow. Nowadays tulips are a standard supermarket staple, so it is hard to imagine what on earth drove the fevered “tulip mania” of centuries past, when single bulbs could sell for the price of country estates. But sidestep the boring, block-coloured blooms of petrol station forecourts and a world of botanical wonder awaits. And fortunately, these days you won’t need to remortgage the house to grow them.
If you only know the classic turban-shaped tulip, I implore you to track down the ruffled, exotic petals of “parrot” varieties. Streaked with delicate watercolour striations, their translucency catches the spring sunlight as if lit from within. And this is made even more dramatic by their habit of recurving out into loose, tousled locks. I am fascinated by ‘Amazing Parrot’ whose peach and pink feathered petals are painted with gentle green accents towards their base. Growing more than half a metre tall, this one is a true jungle giant and even comes with a subtle fruity scent. Its deeper-hued cousin, ‘Avignon Parrot’, adds richer orangey reds to the mix, but still with the enormous size and sweet scent. Both last ages in a vase of water if you are growing them for flower arranging, too.
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