Finally, a day where I’m not hungover and it’s not bucketing with rain: result! The tulips are released from their sack and into the damp dark earth.
On such short, dim days why spend the effort (and it is effort; see planting tips below) planting the pale sugary colours, the lemons and washed-out pinks? No, it’s drama, punch and intensity that will make the eye and the heart sing come spring.
There are a couple of tips with tulip planting:
- don’t be afraid of clashes – as long as they’re strong colours, then orange will sing next to pink, maroon with red, creating a carpet of jewel-like intensity
- mix of two or three complimenting or contrasting flower shapes – choose from the wonderful array of cup, bowl, fringed, parrot, lily, slender or star-shaped
- get them in the ground as soon as you buy them – this is almost impossible if you have November party hangovers and it’s raining a lot
- pick sunny spots and if your earth is heavy try adding a bit of gravel into the hole first to avoid the bulbs sitting in water, which they hate
- squeeze them deep enough to deter the squirrels – 10cm is good, 15 better. I use a Japanese hoe, a vicious thing which carves into the ground like a warm pick-axe through margarine, making planting almost a pleasure
- plant loads – try for 15 per metre square in a mixed border
- interplant with a contrasting lower colour – grape hyacinths, wallflowers and forget-me-nots all make great foils for tulips, and help blur the foliage as it fades back in early summer
Here are the colours I’ve gone for this year… not a two-tone or pastel in sight.
