April in the Garden: Tulips

Tulips were without a doubt the star of my cutting garden in April, and my new favourite Spring flower to grow.

Read on for the many reasons I love tulips as a cut flower, and my top tips on growing them for the vase.

Tulips ‘Silk Road’ and ‘Apricot Beauty’

Why grow tulips for cutting?

Tulips arrive early in the British flower season, at a time when the sight of flowers in our gardens is pure magic after the long winter. They are an excellent focal flower in arrangements (especially if you choose specialty double or parrot varieties) but they also work really well in a bunch on their own, which is a great thing early in the season when there isn’t yet an abundance of different flowers for mixed bunches.

One of the best things about growing tulips to cut, particularly if like me you live in London, is that they can be grown extremely close together. This means you can produce an abundance of beautiful blooms in only a very small space. They also do really well in pots, so can work for you even if you only have a balcony or front garden to grow in.

Choosing your tulips

Bulbs are available to pre-order from late Spring, and are sold right through until planting time in the Autumn. If you want to try some of the more special varieties, like the very popular ‘La Belle Epoque’ it’s a good idea to pre-order before they sell out. J Parker, Sarah Raven, Farmer Gracy and Peter Nyssen are all reputable suppliers of tulip bulbs at varying price points. Peter Nyssen are a great choice if you are concerned with sustainability, as their bulbs are grown without pesticides (which is great news for pollinators).

Make sure you order a mix of early and late flowering bulbs for a succession of flowers throughout April and into May. Each tulip variety will bloom all at once over the course of a few days to a week, so it’s worth choosing as many different varieties as you can to bring a mix of different colours and shapes to your garden and your vases.

Unless you are able to grow hundreds of bulbs, choose your varieties in a cohesive colour palette. It’s hard to predict which tulips will be in bloom together, so choosing colours you know will all complement each other will make it easier to create beautiful arrangements.

Planting your tulips

Plant your tulips out when the weather cools in late October or November. If growing in the ground it’s best to allocate a patch of ground or a raised bed to your tulips - dig a wide trench around 6 inches deep and scatter with horticultural grit to increase drainage. If growing in pots fill the pot with compost to the same depth.

When growing for cutting, your bulbs can be spaced very close together but not touching - think eggs in an egg carton. You’ll be surprised at how many you can fit in a small space when they are planted this way, I grew hundreds in a 1x2 metre bed. Place them in egg carton formation and then cover over with soil.

They will grow happily underground and begin to break the surface of the soil in late winter. There is usually no need to water them over the winter - the great British weather does that job for us! As the weather gets a little warmer and dryer in February I usually start monitoring the moisture in the soil and water them if needed, especially the ones in pots. If tulips don’t get sufficient water as they are growing they can turn out quite short stemmed.

‘Chato’, ‘La Belle Epoque’ and ‘Silk Road’

Harvesting your tulips

Professional flower growers usually harvest their tulips by pulling them up and discarding the bulb, as this increases their stem length and means the growing space can be repurposed for a different crop once the tulips are over. Many tulips don’t return for a second year (or return much smaller) especially if their leaves are removed during harvesting, as the leaves are needed to help the bulb refuel after the flower blooms.

If you are just growing for yourself, you probably won’t need such long stems, so you can decide whether you pull up the bulb, or leave it for next year (ideally with the bottom leaves intact) in hopes it will return.

For the longest vase life, harvest the tulip when the bloom has coloured up but not yet opened. Tulips picked when open are still beautiful but will age more quickly in the vase.

If picked at the right stage, your tulips can last up to 10 days in your arrangements - their shape and colours often become softer and more open, but they remain just as lovely until the petals drop.

Favourite varieties for cutting

It is almost impossible for me to narrow it down to a handful of favourites, but these are the varieties I used and loved the most this year:

La Belle Epoque - A beautiful early double variety in caramel tones. It is short stemmed compared to many tulips but still very lovely.

Chato - Another early double variety in a rich shade of pink.

Silk Road - My absolute favourite from this year, with scented semi-double cupped blooms in a pale lemon shade with some pink markings. Really special.

Copper Image - A gorgeous double late variety in, as the name suggests, an unusual coppery colour that pairs well with so many other shades.

Blue Diamond - A double in a really versatile shade of purple, which fades beautifully as the bloom matures.

Charming Lady - Absolutely stunning peachy tones for this very rose-like double late variety.

Angelique - Another rose imitator, this tulip is the perfect shade of pale pink. I found it quite short stemmed but definitely still worth growing - it’s beautiful.

(L-R) ‘La Belle Epoque’, ‘Charming Lady’, ‘Copper Image’

If you have any questions about growing tulips as a cut flower you can find me on Instagram @floralkind. My homegrown tulips will be available again in April 2023, but there’s lots of other lovely seasonal flowers available in the Flower Shop.