We’re in the final month of the gardening season, and it’s time to think about spring. I want to wander the garden and wistfully caress each bloom and plant, sit on the step and drink it all in. A hard frost could hit any day, ending the garden’s floral display. But with these melancholy feelings, if I let my thoughts wander a bit further, there is also a sense of excitement and anticipation. What will next year bring? Should I plant more bulbs? That’s when Tulipa tarda comes to mind.
Tulipa tarda is commonly known as the late tulip. It is a species of wild tulip that originates in central Asia. Most of our cultivated tulips have been bred from species tulips that hail from that area. Often the natural habitat of species tulips is alpine, growing on mountain slopes or meadows with hot, dry summers and cold winters ... sound familiar? A key difference between Calgary winters and their original habitat is that their winters are wetter, and all that snow is the region’s prime source of annual moisture. Whereas our cold season moisture often comes from snow melt in late winter and early spring. The overlap in conditions does mean that these tulips are worth trying in a Calgary garden.
The first time I noticed Tulipa tarda was in the Calgary Horticultural Society’s garden. The plant’s distinctive 15 cm long blade-shaped leaves formed a ground cover in shady and full sun areas of the garden. The real eye-catcher were the star-like blooms. The six-petalled-blooms have creamy-white tips and bright yellow centres. They rose slightly above the centre of pale, somewhat minty-green leaf clusters. The flowers were about 3 cm across, short-stemmed, and fully open. I had to ask what they were. That’s when I learned about Tulipa tarda.
Like many other tulips, Tulipa tarda are nastic and close their blooms at night and on cloudy days. When I leave for work, their blooms are often closed, forming a pointed teardrop that shows off the attractive, red-tinged back of the petals.
As I saw at the Society’s garden, Tulipa tarda prefer a full sun location, but will grow in part shade. If you want them to naturalise and spread, you need to let them go to seed. You also need to allow the leaves to die back naturally so the plant can re-energize the bulb. Unlike cultivated tulips, species tulips become stronger with time.
Choose a well-drained, sunny location. Following the rule for planting bulbs, they should be planted three times the height of the bulb into the soil or about 10 cm deep. To give their leaves room to spread out, they should be planted about 15 cm apart. Never select a location where water pools. Bulbs can rot in cool weather if the soil is wet. If the bulbs sit in water and the temperature drops below zero, they are at risk of freezing.
While no plant is truly deer resistant, I find that deer usually do not eat these tulips. Rabbits and hares tend not to bother them, either.
In Calgary, they typically bloom in early May, making them a welcome bloom for pollinators, and gardeners, too!
A drought-tolerant, truly perennial naturalising bulb in Calgary, Tulipa tarda was named the Calgary Horticultural Society’s Perennial Bulb of the Year for 2022. It also has been named Netherlands Flower Bulb of the Year 1977 and received a Garden Merit award from the Royal Horticultural Society. Do a little spring thinking yourself and plant Tulipa tarda.
For more information about plants for Calgary gardens, visit calhort.org.