Growing Guide
 
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Tulip, Parrot cultivars

Spring-Flowering Bulb

Tulipa sp. parrot cultivars
Liliaceae Family

Parrot Tulips have exotic and unusual showy cup-shaped blooms, with fringed, incised margins and splashes, stripes, and flames of vivid colors. Bold and dynamic, plant them where they will stand out prominently.

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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: 0.75 to 2 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 - Products of horticultural selection.
  • fragrant - Some cultivars are fragrant.
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
�Apricot Parrot�: 1 �� tall plants with apricot blooms feathered with orange-red and marked with green near the petal tips.

�Bird of Paradise�: 2� tall late-blooming plants with orange-margined, bright-red blooms. The insides of the petals are bright red with darker red feathering and yellow bases

�Black Parrot�: 1 �� tall plants with deep purple, almost black, blooms.

�Blue Parrot�: 1� tall, late-blooming plants with purplish-blue blooms, with orange-purple insides.

�Destiny�: 1� tall, late-blooming plants with rosy red blooms with white bases.

�Estella Rijnveld�: 10� to 1� tall late-blooming plants with red blooms flamed with white. Syn.: Tulipa �Gay Presto�.

�Flaming Parrot�: 1 �� tall late-blooming plants with red flamed, pale yellow based golden blooms.

�Orange Favorite�: 1� to 1 �� tall, late-blooming plants with yellow-based orange blooms flamed with green.

�Red Parrot�: 1 �� tall, late-blooming plants with rosy-red blooms.

�Rococo�: 1� tall, late-blooming plants with bright red blooms.

�Salmon Parrot�: 1 �� tall, late-blooming plants with salmon blooms with paler salmon margins.

�Texas Gold�: 10� to 1 �� tall, late-blooming plants with bright yellow blooms with red margins.

�Weber�s Parrot�: 1 �� tall plants with white blooms with violet margins.

�White Parrot�: 1 �� tall, late-blooming plants with pure white blooms.