After the daffodils and hyacinths have completed their performance the tulips take center stage in the front sidewalk garden. This time of year the front sidewalk garden is full of two kinds of tulips ‘Negrita’ and ‘Shirley’. These were both impulse purchases at a box store in the fall of 2007 and have really gone beyond my expectations. I planted them en mass to try to achieve a wave of color in the spring.
‘Negrita’ is a dark purple colored tulip. I’m partial to purples and blues in the garden so ‘Negrita’ was a natural fit.
‘Shirley’ is an interesting tulip because of her petal colors. The mature petals are the white and purple colors they were supposed to be but the young petals began as yellow. This surprised me the first time they came up and I thought the box the tulips were in was mislabeled.
‘Shirley’s yellow tint will gradually change to white.
Here in the front sidewalk garden both kinds of tulips are combined greeting guests as they come by.
I think we will expand our tulips into some other areas this fall. Maybe some reds and yellows. When something goes right you should do it again!
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It looks great Dave! I have to agree, they have been wonderful this year.
Now that’s a way to greet your friends there!
Yes, they debuted quite well! Since it’s our first year at our home, it’s all I can do to NOT plant a bunch of stuff. But the payoff should be great – there is alot of stuff coming up. I don’t know what any of it is yet, lol. But I can’t wait to see. I’ll posting gardening pics tomorrow.
Looks just gorgeous, Dave! What a way to welcome spring!
I just love tulips! Especially when the colors are all mixed up like that. Not only is it nice for your guests, you get to see them every day too!!
They do look good Dave! Do you treat them as annuals and take them out after bloom is over? I am trying to decide if I will transplant them to another spot and plant more this fall. Sounds wasteful and not sustainable…but they are messy once the bloom is gone! I can tolerate a lot of mess, so you know this must bother me! gail
Gail,
I left my leaves up until they almost browned last year and they came back up. Ideally they would get hidden by something else so they wouldn’t look so bad. They need the sunlight to come back but you could plant them as annuals and hope for returns!
Wonderful color combination Dave! I think the tulips probably enjoyed all the snow everyone got this winter. I’ve always had more luck with them in the winters we had some accumulations. 🙂