Some people claim that tulips are garish, vulgar flowers (I know; they are philistines the lot of them!), but that HAS to be out of ignorance. Not only are there lots of delicately shaped lily tulips, and of course the botanical tulips with their spear-like petals, but there are also tulips like this:
Potted tulips, with flâneur index finger for scale
I DARE anybody to call these tiny flowers garish or vulgar… They were in one of the pots in the courtyard when we bought this place, and since they would just disappear in the garden proper I’ve left them there, but I absolutely adore them.
Normally I’m a size-queen when it comes to flowers; the bigger the better! But sometimes a small, delicate flower just steals my heart like this tulip has done. I’ve seen snowdrops larger than this flower! (Heck, I’ve seen snowflakes larger than this flower!)
They’re right now in a pot with some strange, perennial weed-like plant (that has lovely yellow flowers in summer), so I’m considering moving the tulips to a pot of their own once the bloom is spent; they are so easily overlooked, yet I think they deserve special notice, both because they are pretty in themselves and because the prove just how different a tulip can be from a tulip, so to say.
You can get large, double, multi-coloured tulips if you want to, but if that’s not your style then don’t forget that tulips are so much more than that. If you look around, there’s bound to be a tulip you’ll love…
I like tulips and glad you do too. The tiny one is very delicate looking, and I agree it is a keeper.
What’s not to like about tulips? I think they’re wonderful in all their forms, but especially the simple, effortlessly elegant cultivars that retain that “wildflower look”.
I have this same delicate tulip just off my patio do I can be sure to see it each spring…it is the loveliest little flower…just for a fairy I think!
It really is easily overlooked… But I like it when gardens have little surprises like this so it’s not all about the big show pieces; it makes you wonder what else might be hiding out there, secreting away a little piece of beauty.
Tulips for a fairy – love that! Cute little bloom.
It’s that sort of thing that puts a smile on my face even though the forsythia needs cutting back and the lawn needs mowing.
How right you are, its not all about the big bold blowzy plants. Mind you it did take me a long time to figure this out.
I do want big and bold and so on, but one thing doesn’t preclude the other; the variety between big statement pieces and the smaller, subtler gems that can only be appreciated by kneeling down and having a closer look is – to me – part of what gives a garden character.
I love tulips. Most of them struggle on my wet, heavy soil though. This tiny one is a delight and so lovely to have it in a pot where you can get up close and appreciate it.
It would be completely lost on its own out in the garden, I think; even in a pot in the courtyard it is quite easy to miss it – and certainly to forget it even exists!