Gardens Illustrated | Boomerang Bulbs

Words by Veronica Peerless
October 2023

Looking for bulbs that come back reliably year after year? We asked plant experts and growers for their advice on reliably perennial tulips, plus other beautiful spring bulbs to grow with them.

CAPTIONS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Tulipa ‘Apricot Foxx’, a Triumph tulip that has perennialised at Perch Hill, Sarah Raven’s garden in East Sussex, where it can be found growing at the base of a hawthorn hedge. 45cm. RHS H6†; Nursery beds at Bayntun Flowers, where grower Polly Nicholson, who holds the National Collection of Historic Tulips, tends to all the bulbs by hand; Tulips growing through grass for a naturalistic look at Blackland House.

Concerns around sustainability – not to mention our increasingly restricted wallets and time – mean that many of us are looking for longer-term, reliably perennial spring bulb displays. Tulips are, of course, a must for spring colour, but hybrids (the tall, showy types that give the best display) have been bred to perform well for just one year. So how can we achieve brilliant spring displays without having to buy fresh bulbs every year?

Naturally perennial tulips

One option is to choose a naturally perennial tulip. These include species tulips and their primary hybrids such as Tulipa greigii, T. kaufmanniana, T. praestans, T. tarda and T. turkestanica. However, they are generally short in stature, with smaller flowers, so tend not to work well in borders. Not all species tulips last well in British gardens, either, thanks to our wet climate – in the wild, they hail from very well-drained spots in hot climates. They therefore grow best where they have good drainage, for example in raised beds, gravel gardens or rockeries, or where they are sheltered from rain, such as under a tree or hedge.

Reliable performers

Viridiflora tulips have chlorophyll in their flowers, which are tinged with green. Because the flower photosynthesises too, the bulb has extra reserves of energy, and so is more likely to bloom year after year. Viridiflora tulips include T. ‘Spring Green’, ‘Groenland’ and ‘Artist’, and the new ‘Orange Marmalade’.

Darwin hybrids, a cross between T. fosteriana and more conventional hybrid tulips, are also reliably perennial. They have huge flowers and very large bulbs, and usually come in red, orange, yellow or pink. They include the bright-red ‘Apeldoorn’ and the Impression Series.

We’ve probably all noticed tulips that come back year after year in our gardens that fall outside of these categories. “We have extensive plantings of annual tulips that are grown as perennials in our walled garden and naturalised in grass,” says Polly Nicholson, expert tulip grower and owner of Baytun Flowers in Wiltshire. “Over the years we have developed a master list of those that perform most reliably for us year on year,” she says, but suggests experimenting to see which tulips work best for your soil, aspect and personal taste. She recommends the Purissima Series of tulips, including T. ‘Purissima’, ‘Flaming Purissima’, ‘Mystic van Eijk’ and ‘Greenstar’.

Bulb expert and supplier Sarah Raven says: “T. ‘Mistress Mystic’, a grey-pink Triumph tulip, has totally perennialised under a fruit tree at Perch Hill and ‘Jan Reus’, ‘Apricot Foxx’ and ‘Request’ have perennialised for us under a hawthorn hedge.” The deep-red ‘Kingsblood’ is reliably perennial at both Arundel Castle in West Sussex and Forde Abbey in Dorset.

How to perennialise tulips

“Tulips are the most demanding of all bulbs, so they need perfect circumstances to be able to perform well,” says Dutch bulb expert Jacqueline van der Kloet. “They should be planted in November when the soil has cooled down a bit. They should be planted deep (at least at 15cm depth) in a well-drained, not too poor soil in a sunny spot. They need lots of sunlight and warmth. And they are greedy, so I use organic fertiliser when they start to grow, in February to March.”

And if you want your bulbs to perennialise, Dutch designer and bulb expert Carien van Boxtel suggests copying Dutch bulb growers: “Deadhead first; take away the petals as they can infect the bulbs; dig them up after the stems have died and store them dry. Then plant them in the autumn again. But never exactly in the same spot” – because of the risk of tulip fire (see over page).

Sarah Raven has found that with perennialising tulips, it’s down to variety, but also site and situation. “Gardeners tend to put them in ‘overfed’ beds where there’s tonnes of organic matter. But in the wild, they’re on top of a boulder with 3cm of organic matter that has built up over millennia. That’s where they thrive. We have found that under hedges, under fruit trees and below artichokes, which are famously quite hungry and thirsty, are where tulips have perennialised very effectively.” “Don’t be greedy and create plantings that are too dense,” advises Polly Nicholson. “You will find that the tulips stop performing for you and disease is more likely to spread.”

CAPTIONS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: One solution to tulip fire, which was rife this spring, is to plant bulbs in containers as designer Arne Maynard has done with these pots filled with Tulipa ‘Brown Sugar’ and T. ‘La Belle Époque’; Tulipa ‘Little Beauty’ is a pretty species tulip with hot-pink flowers with a deep-blue centre, and a delicious scent.

What about tulip fire?

Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent will not have any tulip displays in 2024, following an outbreak of the fungal disease known as tulip fire (Botrytis tulipae) this spring. Head gardener Troy Scott Smith and his team have dug up every infected tulip bulb in the garden, and are not planting any more this autumn, even in pots. Sarah Raven has also dug up thousands of infected bulbs at nearby Perch Hill and is only planting in pots this year. She is trialling the use of a home-made organic fungicide made from bicarbonate of soda, sunflower oil and liquid soap that has been used successfully to treat mildew on Ranunculus growing in the greenhouse.

However, she points out that this spring was particularly wet, and that she previously hadn’t been affected by tulip fire for many years. She adds: “We’ve had really good success with growing the species varieties in grass. In grass, you don’t get the fungal spores of tulip fire spotting upwards as you do from soil. We had no tulip fire at all on various species varieties.”

Polly Nicholson points out that not all tulip problems this spring were due to tulip fire. Incessant rain and warm temperatures in March, a critical time of growth, made this a tricky year for tulips. “Many growers feared their crops and stocks had been struck by the dreaded tulip virus, but much of the damage was simply weather related. When I harvested bulbs in July I inspected them very carefully for signs of damage (usually presenting as black spots under the bulb tunics) and they were nearly all lovely and clean,” says Polly. “Any suspicious-looking ones were thrown on the bonfire, rather than the compost heap.”

8 perennial tulips

These cultivars are reliably perennial, provided that they are grown in optimal conditions

1 Tulipa ‘Jan Reus’ A mid-season Triumph tulip that has perennialised under a hedge for Sarah Raven. 50cm. RHS H6.

2 Tulipa ‘Kingsblood’ Single late cultivar that comes back reliably at Forde Abbey and Arundel Castle. 60cm. AGM*.

3 Tulipa ‘Artist’ Viridiflora type ranging in colour from orange to dusky pink, tinged with green. 30cm. AGM. RHS H6.

4 Tulipa ‘Mystic van Eijk’ Darwin hybrid, with large flowers, streaked red, on a cream background. 60cm. RHS H6.

5 Tulipa ‘Pink Impression’ Charming Darwin hybrid, with deep-pink flowers. 55cm. AGM. RHS H6.

6 Tulipa ‘Mistress Mystic’ Smoky-pink Triumph tulip, reliably perennial under a fruit tree for Sarah Raven. 45cm. RHS H6.

7 Tulipa ‘Purissima’ Sometimes sold as T. ‘White Emperor’, this is a large, creamy-white Fosteriana tulip. 30cm. AGM. RHS H6.

8 Tulipa ‘Spring Green’ Elegant green and ivory Viridiflora tulip. 45cm. AGM. RHS H6.

*Holds an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. † Hardiness ratings given where available. Find more perennial tulips at gardensillustrated.com/tulips

CAPTIONS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: At RHS Garden Wisley, 100,000 tulip bulbs were planted in grass for this year’s tulip festival, to stunning effect; At RHS Garden Wisley, 100,000 tulip bulbs were planted in grass for this year’s tulip festival, to stunning effect.

She adds: “I recommend planting a little further apart than normal, to allow air circulation and to prevent diseased parts of one tulip from touching another. Carefully remove any that are spotted and mouldy, making sure to disinfect tools afterwards, and don’t let spent petals build up on the soil. We operate a four-year rotation in our flower field, so that a bed which has been planted with tulips for cutting remains tulip-free for three years, to allow any pathogens lurking in the soil to dissipate.” Rotation is also followed by other gardens, including Arundel Castle.

However, if you’re worried about tulip fire, Guy Barter, chief horticulturist at the RHS, offers some reassurance. “There is no reason to forswear tulips this autumn except in areas where the disease has occurred in the previous year or two,” he says. “But gardeners of a nervous disposition may wish to grow them in containers.”

Planting tulips sustainably

“The number of bulbs I purchase each autumn has reduced dramatically,” says Polly Nicholson. “I recycle many of the bulbs I grow – bulbs are purchased new for container combinations, lifted, dried and replanted as perennials to fend for themselves. I am passionate about species tulips and would encourage others to try them.”

Many gardens are also now lifting tulips less. Jacqueline van der Kloet says: “I have always planted tulips as a part of all the ingredients that make a border, rather than in blocks (which I think looks unnatural). And I never take the bulbs out after they have flowered (deadheading them at the right moment, leaving the foliage until it has turned yellow) so they can come back year after year.” At Forde Abbey, owner and head gardener Alice Kennard is also lifting less and planting fewer tulips each year and making use of species tulips T. turkestanica and T. sprengeri, plus T. ‘Kingsblood’. At Arundel Castle, head gardener Martin Duncan is doing something similar: “In the Tropical and Herbaceous borders along with areas of the castle landscape we keep the tulips in situ, topping them up occasionally.” Meanwhile Carien van Boxtel now only plants hybrid tulips in large pots or raised beds, relying on naturalising bulbs elsewhere. “Every year I make new combinations – and yes, I buy new bulbs. It allows me to enjoy my most favourite flower in the world.”

Many large gardens, including Arundel and Hever Castle, now plant tulips in grass. “We did this by using a mechanical bulb-planter which was advantageous to wildlife as there was less disturbance to the ‘residents’ and insects,” says Neil Miller, Hever’s head gardener. At RHS Garden Wisley, 100,000 bulbs were planted in grass for the tulip festival this year. “We’ve removed all areas of bedding display from Wisley, but we planted the bulbs through the lawns, then mowed them off and composted them afterwards,” says curator Matthew Pottage. “It involved little soil disturbance and no extra fertiliser or water. The response from visitors was phenomenal – people love ‘massed’ tulips and a sea of colour, no matter what the ‘good-taste brigade’ stipulates.”

Other perennial spring bulbs

Many spring bulbs are, of course, reliably perennial. We asked some top gardeners what they will be planting this year

Sissinghurst Castle
In the absence of tulips the team is focusing on narcissi, hyacinths, fritillaries and alliums to enhance spring displays of Erysimum, Lunaria and Hesperis. “Older cultivars that reflect the early 20th century are preferred to give a more authentic feel,” says Helen Champion, assistant head gardener. In pots, hellebores with a succession of snowdrops, crocuses, Muscari and Iris reticulata are planned for early winter and spring, to be followed by heritage daffodils such as Narcissus ‘White Lady’, N. ‘Cragford’, N. ‘Avalanche’ and N. poeticus ‘Plenus’.

Polly Nicholson
“I also grow a wide range of narcissi, favouring the smaller, heritage types. This year I am trying a few interesting, old cultivars in pots – N. ‘Irene Copeland’ (1915), thickly ruffled with scented, creamy petals; and N. ‘Elvira’ (1902), a bright-white and late-flowering tazetta. We are also favouring naturalised plantings of the Tenby daffodil and poeticus hybrids. And fritillaries too, of course, with the classic snake’s head happily spreading through a lawn-turned meadow, Fritillaria uva-vulpis (above) dotted through the gravel of the walled garden and F. acmopetala in rough grass at the further reaches of the garden.”

Jacqueline van der Kloet
“I like spring displays with a long flowering period, so I try to use species in a sequence of flowering periods. Tulips especially go well with crocuses, Scilla, Muscari, delicate daffodils such as N. ‘Lemon Drops’, ‘Thalia’, ‘Sailboat’ and ‘Geranium’, and early ornamental onions such as Allium nigrum. Besides that we’ll be planting pansies, wallflowers, Bellis, Brunnera, Aquilegia, Lunaria, Hesperis and early ornamental grasses such as Milium effusum ‘Aureum’.”

Arundel Castle
The mix of bulbs and bedding plants includes hyacinths, narcissi, Myosotis, Scilla, Muscari, crown imperials, camassias, Fritillaria meleagris and wallflowers.

Forde Abbey
Tulips are used in conjunction with wallflowers, daffodils, honeysuckle, Euphorbia, Hesperis and woad.

RHS Garden Wisley
Curator Matthew Pottage uses camassias heavily for spring displays (planted through lawns) and these are left as perennial. “We’ve done a similar thing with Leucojum aestivum ‘Bridesmaid’, crocuses, narcissi and alliums.”

Hever Castle
“Our first Spring Celebration event will follow the snowdrops and daffodils, and trumpet the tulips, hyacinths and blossom that will be out across the estate,” says head gardener Neil Miller. In the entirely blue Blue Corner, there will be hundreds of ‘King of the Blues’ hyacinths.

Rachel Siegfried
“I always focus on narcissi, anemones and Ranunculus for spring,” says cut flower grower Rachel. “ The anemones and Ranunculus produce more than one flower per bulb over four to six weeks.”