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Spring Flowers For Colour Lovers

Posted By Andrew McIndoe @ 8:00 on September 10th 2012
Category: Blog

Inspired by Floriade and Keukenhof

I paid a visit to the Floriade in Holland last spring.  This event takes place every ten years; it’s a showcase and celebration of the Dutch horticultural industry.  This year’ Floriade is just outside Venlo, near the German border, and the focus is on food production and environment.  However it still had some wonderful displays of spring flowers, (especially tulips) one of the main things colour lovers visit Holland for. The last Floriade was near Amsterdam and featured more traditional mass displays of spring flowers such as tulips, hyacinths, narcissi and muscari.  Although the mass spectacle of colour was absent this year, I was particularly taken with the creative mixed plantings and colour blends; almost pictorial meadows of mixed spring flowers. I would have loved to visit a few weeks later to see how the Floriade’s colour blends progressed with the season.

On the same trip I managed a visit to the Keukenhof. This is the shop window of the Dutch bulb industry.  I managed to get my timing just right: sunshine and the colour at its peak.  The Keukenhof is always a feast for colour lovers and I found delicious blends of colour, and plenty of varieties of spring flowers – old and new destined to become firm favourites.

The first tulip I ever bought was a single bulb of ‘Queen of Night’. For some extraordinary reason I grew it in a hyacinth glass on the windowsill of our dining room. The room certainly wasn’t too warm; it was often colder than the garden.  The tulip grew to a considerable height and had to be supported against the curtains.  When the bloom opened I thought it was the most wonderful thing, and I must admit that I’ve been addicted to dark tulips ever since.

One of the classic combinations of spring flowers for colour lovers is the dark, delicious Tulipa ‘Queen of Night’ with the single white ‘Maureen’; the nearest thing to black and white in the tulip world.  I use this as the basis for an extended purple and white palette using various shades of purple, mauve and white to create some lovely schemes.  I add white narcissi and purple and white hyacinths to contribute different flower forms.  I found similar schemes at the Keukenhof: clearly my planting is more influential than I thought!

Spring Flowers VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Last year I planted a client’s very large pots with layers of purple and white flowerbulbs selected to create a long flowering season. The Keukenhof uses planting in layers extensively to keep the beds and containers in flower for several weeks.  You plant the later varieties deeper and the earliest nearer the surface (but at least 3 times the depth of the bulbs).  ‘Queen of Night’ and ‘Maureen’ were planted in the lowest layer, to perform at the end of the season.  The pure white Narcissus ‘Thalia’ and sleek red-purple ‘Negrita’ bloomed first. As soon as these two burst into flower the client decided that she had to have an “all purple and white” scheme this coming spring.

I have to say there is something about these colours together which just works.  I’ll definitely include Tulip ‘Zurel’, ‘Rem’s Favourite’ or ‘Blueberry Ripple’.  These are all very similar: single white tulips flamed purple from the base of the blooms.  I’ll also use ‘Shirley’, a delicate single tulip with poppy-like blooms white edged with mauve, flushing mauve as the blooms age.  I will also use other dark purple-black tulips: ‘Havran’, ‘Black Hero’ and ‘Café Noir’.  I’ve never grown it but some gardeners are keen on ‘Paul Scherer’.  I can’t resist a few white lily flowering Tulipa ‘White Triumphator’ too.

Content By Andrew McIndoe

4 responses to Spring Flowers For Colour Lovers

1. Duncan Heather says:

   September 10, 2012 12:18 pm

   Great Blog Andy

   So many people don’t realise you need to plan your Spring bulbs now and not wait till February/March when its too late

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   • Andrew McIndoe says:

     September 10, 2012 3:18 pm

     Hi Duncan That’s right you really do need to think about it now. I think because we are so used to buying plants when they are doing their thing we think that way about everything in the garden. Of course you can buy many flowerbulbs partly grown in pots to fill those gaps – but the results aren’t quite the same and its never as exciting as planting now with the promise of things to come.

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2. Claire Dumbreck says:

   September 11, 2012 9:46 am

   Hi Andy,

   I have never actually planted tulips before – can you tell me if they come up every year? Or will I need to replant them?

   Thanks

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   • Andrew McIndoe says:

     September 11, 2012 12:23 pm

     Hi Claire Thanks for your question – its one that many people ask! If you are on well drained soil in a reasonably mild area many tulips will come back year after year: go for single early, Darwin or Triumph varieties or lily-flowering. These seem to be the most robust. Species such as Tulipa sylvestris and Tulipa bakeri are usually long term garden plants too. If you are on damp heavy soil few tulips survive for more than a year or two; they are natives of the Eastern Mediterranean so are used to warmer drier conditions. I never grow tulips in pots for more than a season – sometimes I plant them out in the open ground after flowering. The most important thing is that you plant them late autumn or early winter and deep enough- at least 3 times the dept of the bulb. Check out my flowerbulbs course on this site – Think you’d like it. Andy

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