Sweetly Scented Tulips

A fragrant few are pleasing to see and to smell

There ’s a word for the happy and all - too - rare phenomenon of unexpectedly finding something delightful : serendipity . It hold perfectly to a discovery I made one sunny May break of day a few years back . I was on my knee in the garden , reveling in the delight of digging in the loamy earthly concern after a long Vermont wintertime . As I was putter around around , I noticed a wonderfully subtle , fruity sweetness . Its source was a mystery , but the scent was so tempt I check to track it down . I in conclusion found it in , of all places , the assailable bloom of a tulip . I never knew there was any such affair as a sweet - smell tulip , but the cogent evidence was right under my nose . Not only was the flower temptingly fragrant , but its peachy - pinkish color was striking and its form only exquisite . Serendipity indeed .

That ’s how I found ‘ Apricot Beauty ’ , my “ first ” fragrant tulip . That discovery tag the beginning of an ongoing , delightful search that has conduce me to a musical score or so of sweetly scented tulips .

A few fragrant favorites

As a gardener by both profession and Passion of Christ , I plant about 10,000 tulip a year , so I ’ve experimented with all variety of metal money and hybrids . There are G of miscellany , with an almost infinite raiment of colors , but very few are fragrant . Of the 100 or so cultivar I plant each outflow , only five or six have any perfume at all . Tulips straddle from the small , hardy species tulip often used in careen gardens , to the tall , majestic Darwin cross that are the backbone of the recurrent boundary line in spring . But of all the tulip ’s rattling character , the most special one , to me , is fragrance . And though there are a few fragrant species tulips , I ’ve focus on seeking out sweet - smelling loan-blend and cultivars .

I ’ve planted new ‘ Apricot Beauty ’ medulla oblongata every autumn since I first come upon them . This cultivar excels in the garden and make a superb undercut flower . One vase of ‘ Apricot Beauty ’ will perfume a whole room . For winter blooming , I also pot a few bulbs up every year for indoor forcing .

Like ‘ Apricot Beauty ’ , most fragrant tulip cultivars are ahead of time - blooming varieties . I imagine they are Mother Nature ’s way of tempting sleepy bees to inflame from winter ’s sleep . These former , fragrant tulip include both single- and double - flowered types . Some of my pet singles let in ‘ Generaal de Wet ’ , a wonderful , quietly blushed orangish tulip ; ‘ Prinses Irene ’ ( often sell as ‘ Princess Irene ’ ) , another sweet - smell orangish flower ; and ‘ Couleur Cardinal ’ , a beautiful , dismal - red bloom with a purplish blush and a light , odorous odour .

Some of the other , double - bloom tulip not only are fragrant but also brag flowers as fulsome as any paeony . Of these , I like the lily-livered ‘ Mr. van der Hoef ’ ; ‘ Electra ’ , a pinkish - red mantrap ; and ‘ Schoonoord ’ , a adorable pure T. H. White .

I ’ve also discovered a few fragrant tulip that appear a short after in the season — a few midseason Darwin hybrid tulip caught my care this past yr , when I discovered two new varieties to add to my list of fragrant favorites . ‘ Silverstream ’ is a pallid , cream color with a hunky-dory , sweet-smelling scent and leave-taking edged with pink . ‘ Holland ’s Glory ’ is another standout ; it sports huge , orange - red blossoms on strong , 2 - foundation - marvelous stems . Darwin hybrids are the tulip that are most likely to refund for several years to bloom again in your garden .

Place fragrant tulips near a door

you’re able to utilize fragrant tulips to advantage indoors and out . I like to plant them near garden benches and along paths so their fragrance can be delight during leisure time in the garden . If you have a planting bed near a windowpane or threshold , you may bring their fragrance inside just by opening the window and allowing the zephyr to transmit it in . A more obvious path to make for the sweet smells of tulip at heart is to cut their flowers and put them in a vase . you may contract a few flush from your beds , but do n’t take so many that you ’ll detract from the display . Or if you have enough space , set a whole bottom just for geld .

A great way to bring fragrant tulips indoors is to impel them for wintertime bloom . Among the most fragrant and easily - forced tulip are ‘ Bellona ’ , a white-livered , exclusive other tulip , and , my favorite , ‘ Apricot Beauty ’ . There ’s something magical about take a pot of sweet - smelling tulips on the living - room board as you watch out the snow fall outside .

Plant deep in well-drained soil

Many hybrids and cultivar are not reliably perennial , so you ca n’t count on blooms twelvemonth after year from the same bulb . That ’s why scads of gardeners treat tulip like annuals and pull them out of the ground once they ’ve fetch up flower . They bump it easier to found newfangled lightbulb each fall than to watch a planting decline over the year . Some varieties are a little more tenacious . I ’ve found Darwin hybrids to be the most reliably recurrent — apart from species tulips , most of which are n’t fragrant . With idealistic condition , some Darwins may flower every spring for five or six year . Most intercrossed tulips , however , are comparatively curtly - lived no matter what the conditions .

Whatever type you ’re planting , a few simple steps will increase the chance of repeat flower in the years to come . First of all , the cooler and drier the bulbs are in summer , the better they will do . Planting fairly deep — with at least 8 inches from the grease level to the top of the bulb — will get the bulbs down to cooler soil . Make indisputable the land you plant them in is well - drained ; tulip bulbs do n’t like pie-eyed foot .

you may also keep bulbs cool in summer by overplanting them with turgid - result perennials . In sunny region I use peonies ( Paeoniaspp . ) and columbine meadow rue ( Thalictrum aquilegiifolium ) , and in semi - shade , genus Hosta . A bonus of using large - pass on companions is that their issue foliage avail obliterate the fade greenery of the tulips .

Fragrant tulips

Tulipahybrids and cultivar

In addition to a home in cool , well - drained soil , tulip bulb profit from a fall feeding . I circularise a plant food high in ivory meal on the grunge after the bulbs have been planted . Then I use a cultivator to work it into the top few inches of soil . decent moisture is also important , particularly for newly planted bulb . If you do n’t get at least an inch or so of rain within a week of planting , irrigate the bulb in well . They should have at least an inch of water to give them a respectable outset . Remember , declivity - found bulbs place their ancestor during the wintertime and call for enough moisture to get well - ground ; otherwise they wo n’t give a unspoiled showing in the spring . A menses of cold during wintertime is essential for tulips . Tulip bulbs want three to four month of cold quiescency , at 45 ° F or less , so as to blossom . In the Deep South , tulip incandescent lamp may need wintertime infrigidation . They are generally deliberate audacious to USDA Hardiness Zone 3 .

I always think of tulip bulb as buried treasure , and I seem forward to harvest the rewards of their fragrance and flowers at the starting time of the gardening time of year .

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‘Apricot Beauty’ can perfume a whole room. It excels in the garden or in a vase and is easy to force for indoor blooms.

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‘Apricot Beauty’ can perfume a whole room. It excels in the garden or in a vase and is easy to force for indoor blooms.

Tulip cultivars with fragrant flowers.This list of sweet-smelling tulip cultivars was developed by Brent Heath of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. Fragrant tulips, he says, often taste good too. He suggests using their flower petals to decorate spring salads.