Landscape

Rivers of color

Tulips create a glorious color show by themself and quickly dress up any property for the spring. A good trick to amplify their effect and extend the bloom time, is to combine them with cool season annuals. Here are some hints to create harmonious combinations.

Any well drained area especially on slopes, along laws, fences or walls with protection from the wind, are perfect sites to create rivers of early spring color. Plant tulips in meandering bands of contrasting and gradually merging colors, or use one of the Prestige Blends, in combination with bands of annuals following the same pattern. The most beautiful effect is achieved when the tulips include a range of early and late-flowering cultivars and their main color is supplemented by complementary tints and shades of annuals.

Dark tulips are sumptuous but often disappear into the background when planted in massed groups. When woven through cooler tinted tulips and annuals, their dark goblets take on a new luminosity. We love to spice our Prestige Blends with; Pallada, Abu Hassan, Havran and Purple Lady.

Use your basic color scheme or one of the Prestige Blends to form running threads and then add some of these show-stoppers. Versatile varieties such as the vibrant pinks 'Don Quichotte' and 'Renown', 'Blue Heron' (a fringed violet-blue), double 'Blue Diamond', or the sensational dark stemmed beet root purple 'Recreado' can be used to extend the bloom time of most dark toned plantings.

If the main color were pink, use tints running towards the pinkish white shades to cool your design. Cultivars that also extend the bloom time of your design in this color range include ''Meissner Porzelann', ‘Ollioules’, 'Pink Lady',‘Pink Diamond’, ‘Maureen' and ‘Angelique'.

Plant tulips, from October till December when ground stats to freeze up, in extended teardrop-shapes of various lengths that closely resemble drips of water and paint. The best effect is obtained with tulip densities of 30 to 45 bulbs per square yard, resulting in color flushes of at least 15 blooms per square yard at the time. The area can be over planted in the fall with pansies in meandering bands of various lengths and widths. With some care, the annuals also can be added in the spring as soon as the first shoots emerge and the contours of the planted tulip bulbs become visible.