I stopped by Client #1's on the way home today for another look at the purple tulips. I wanted to double check the interior base of the flowers to see if my ID from the catalogs was correct. The description sounded right. The name sounded familiar, like something I had ordered in the past.
This is definitely 'Negrita'. It is a Triumph tulip, "a cross between Darwin and Early Tulips that sports strong stems and
large, shapely blooms which are as equally successful in the garden as
in the greenhouse. Blooming in late April, Triumph Tulips are somewhat
daintier than Darwin Hybrids with exquisite pastel-colored sheens."
"This deep purple tulip has beetroot-purple veins, a glistening sheen and a blue-grey base."
After I picked the most likely candidate from the catalogs, I image searched it and found this interior base in several pictures. It is what I remembered seeing the first time. I just wanted to double check and be sure. All the masses of purple tulips had this same base. 'Negrita' is a winner.
So why are these tulips blooming year after year, I remember them from the past several years, and obviously multiplying? I plant in groups, but not of 40 or 50 in such a small space. Trust me, they have been ignored and given no special treatment. They must have some vigor that most tulips lack.
They haven't been eaten by the varmints, but I have no doubt if the varmints found them they would indeed get eaten. Tulips are tasty bulbs. I don't really know how to account for that that. It could be we just had a plague year of voles and got spooked from that.
Oh the vagaries. Client #1 is having a pretty good tulip show and I have not planted any tulips there for three years at least. Even the remnant tulips are blooming well this year. And trust me, they have all been ignored and given no special treatment. I don't even fertilize this garden. It gets mulched every other year and I make use of the leaf litter and that is it.
Among all those tulips over all these years it is 'Negrita' that stands out.
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5 comments:
Great pics of Negrita tulips. Will definitely look for them when ready to add tulip bulbs to my space.
re: the Haywood MG tour in June: will there be a true "woodland garden" featured?
Forgot to ask....Are you familiar with the Corneille Bryan Native Garden in Lake Junaluska? (It's off N.Lakeshore Drive on Stuart Circle.)
Another plant to add to the wish list for fall. I have a sunny bed crying for early spring color...and that purple will look stunning next to the newly sided house (cypress green with merlot trim).
Great pics. Love those tulips.
Danna my mom's and my gardens are true woodland gardens with the sunny utility meadow between us. Half of my garden sits in the sun of the utility easement though. Yes I have been to the native plant garden in Lake Junaluska many times. April is the best time to go. So many of the native woodland plants bloom then.
Carol if what I am seeing is true, 'Negrita' should be a good returning bulb as long as the varmints don't find the bulbs and eat them.
Lola the tulips sure are nice, but one good bulb in the bunch doesn't unspoil the barrel.
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