Growing Guide
 
plant thumbnail

Tulip, Darwin cultivars

Spring-Flowering Bulb

Tulipa sp. Darwin cultivars
Liliaceae Family

Darwin Tulips are large and showy, with colorful, squarish, cup-shaped single blooms in vivid colors and color combinations. They may be a single color, or vividly marked with stripes, flames, feathers, or colored margins.

arrow
arrow
arrow
Site Characteristics
Sunlight:
  • full sun

Soil conditions:

  • requires well-drained soil

Hardiness zones:

  • 4 to 7

Special locations:

  • outdoor containers
  • indoors as a houseplant - Can be forced inside for winter bloom.
Plant Traits

Lifecycle: perennial

Ease-of-care: easy

Height: 1.5 to 2.5 feet

Spread: 0.25 to 0.5 feet

Bloom time:

  • mid-spring
  • late spring

Flower color:

  • red
  • orange
  • yellow
  • green
  • indigo
  • violet
  • white
  • pink

Foliage color:

  • light green
  • medium green

Foliage texture: medium

Shape: upright

Shape in flower: flower stalks with flowers as cups

Blooms borne on upright flower stems.

Special Considerations
Special characteristics:
  • non-aggressive
  • non-invasive
  • not native to North America - Product of horticultural selection.
Special uses:
  • cut flowers
Growing Information
How to plant:

Propagate by division or separation - Plant the bulbs 5" beneath the soil surface in the fall. After the leaves have died back following flowering, dig up the bulbs and allow them to mature in a warm, dry location. In the fall, replant large bulbs, and place the smaller bulbs in a starting bed to mature. When enlarged, plant them in the garden.

Maintenance and care:
Remove faded flowers, and do not remove the foliage until it has yellowed and begun to die back (up to 6 weeks).

These tulips do not perform well in Zones 7 to 9. To grow in these Zones, purchase cold-treated bulbs and grow as annuals. A few cultivars are suited to perennial warmer growth.

More growing information: How to Grow Bulbs

Pests:
Slugs and snails
Aphids


Diseases:
Bulb rot
Root rot
Gray mold
Nematodes
Varieties
�Apeldoorn�: 1 �� to 1 �� tall plants with cherry red bloom. The insides of the petals are bright red with black bases ringed with bright yellow.

�Apeldoorn�s Elite�: 1 �� to 1 �� tall plants with bright yellow blooms marked with red feathering and green basal flushing on the outside. The insides of the petals are yellow with black basal markings.

�Bienvenue�: 1 �� tall plants with yellow green based bright red petals with dark pink flames. The insides of the petals are bright yellow with red flames and black basal marks.

�Big Chief�: 2� tall plants with deep pink blooms lightly tinted with green.

�Dawnglow�: 1 �� tall plants with rose-flushed peach blooms, tinted with green at their bases. The inner side of the petals is yellow-orange.

�Elizabeth Arden�: 1� tall plants with peachy pink blooms tinted with violet. The bases are yellow and white.

�Golden Apeldoorn�: 1 �� to 1 �� tall plants with golden blooms, the bases of the insides marked with a basal star pattern in black ringed with green.

�Golden Oxford�: 1� tall plants with yellow blooms. Syn Tulipa �Topic�.

�Golden Parade�: 1 �� tall plants with golden yellow blooms marked with black on the inside bases.

�Gordon Cooper�: 1 �� tall plants with bright red margined red blooms fading to rosy pink with time. The bases are marked with black and yellow. Insides are bright red.

�Gudoshnik�: 1 �� tall plants with golden blooms feathered with orange red and spotted with red. The bases have black markings.

�Hans Mayer�: 1 �� to 1 �� tall plants with yellow blooms flamed with red and flushed with green at their bases. The insides of the petals are golden with red flames and brown bases.

�Ivory Floradale�: 2� tall plants with creamy white blooms tinted with green at their base.

�Jewel of Spring�: 1 �� tall plants with yellow blooms marked with green and black at their bases.

�Ollioules�: 1 �� to 2� tall plants with white blooms heavily flamed with magenta. Good for warmer zones.

�Oxford�: 1� tall yellow based bright red blooms with purple tinting.

�Parade�: 1 �� tall plants with black-based, yellow-margined red blooms.

�Pink Impression�: nearly 2� tall plants with dark rose veined, pink blooms, with red margins and black and yellow-green basal markings. The inner sides of the petals have yellow margins and black bases, and are pale rose flushed with deeper rose.