Tulips & Companions
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: Tulips & Companions
- From: A* L*
- Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 12:05:47 -0800
Good topic! ...and a way to anticipate Spring. My favorite tulip
combinations include:
In two parkway beds under maple trees, clumps of salmon pink tulips with
yellow and white daffodils, blue muscari, and lots of large hostas of
various kinds. The spring show is great and the hosta leaves add a
sense of anticipation and help mask all that ratty foliage when the bulb
flowers fade away. Fill-in plants include some daylily clumps at the
sunny ends, and patches of fall-blooming woodland asters, which do great
in dry shade, which is what these beds turn into during the summer.
Under a kousa dogwood, more clumps of green & white varieg. hosta, with
pale pink & purple tulips, masses of white Greek windflower (anemones)
and electric blue scilla siberica. Also in this bed, which gets some
midday sun but not a lot, are clumps of pink astilbe and geraniums, the
foliage of which also helps hide the bulb foliage die-down. For later
interest, there are tall Japanese anemones in white and deep rose. An
inkberry shrub in this bed is evergreen (right now, it's ever-white,
since it's under 4 feet of snow).
Actually, I stick a few tulips here and there almost everywhere, in
various perennial beds (sometimes even in the veggie bed). I like the
tall May blooming kinds that bloom when a lot of perennial foliage is
beginning to look good -- daylilies, shrubby clematis, lilies, phlox,
hardy geraniums, etc. I put the tulips toward the back of the bed so
the fading leaves are not up front -- deep pink tall May tulips (along
with white) look great in this situation. That tall somber-purple
fritallaria (persica?) also adds drama to tulips & other spring
bloomers. I also love the Actaea narcissus that bloom late -- the
fragrance is heavenly! Of course, I manage to accidentally dig up a few
bulbs every year in this mixed planting while I'm moving perennials, so
a few replacements are called for -- like 100-200 bulbs every other year
or so! Nothing to compare with you all who have the space for 1000-plus
bulbs.
Anne -- Chicago
The icicles are melting today, but the snow piles are still
hip-high...
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