Tulips: Introduction

Tulips are among the most popular spring flowers of all time, and it's no wonder. They are easy to grow, they come in an incredible variety of colours, heights, and flower shapes, and some are even fragrant. There are now over 3,000 different registered varieties of cultivated tulips.

Every year billions of tulips are cultivated. The majority are grown and exported from Holland. However, millions of tulips are also grown all over the world.

Most tulips are adaptable to many different kinds of climates. The only thing to be careful of is to plant them in fairly well-drained soil. If not, the bulbs may rot before they have a chance to establish a root system. Otherwise, just plant and enjoy.

Most tulips bloom well for only one or two years. Therefore, you will probably want to dig up the bulbs and put in new ones after two years. However, some types of tulips do well for several more years. These are said to perennialize (or naturalize) well.

There are so many different kinds of tulip that the Royal Horticultural Association of Holland has grouped them into a number of official divisions. I've used these divisions as a guideline for the following chart. Click on different parts of the chart to see more details about each category of tulip:

1. Single Early Tulips		2. Double Early Tulips
3. Triumph Tulips		4. Darwin Hybrid Tulips
5. Single Late Tulips		6. Lily-flowered Tulips
7. Fringed Tulips		8. Viridiflora Tulips
9. Rembrandt Tulips		10. Parrot Tulips
11. Double Late Tulips		12. Kaufmanniana Tulips
13. Fosteriana Tulips		14. Griegii Tulips
15. Other Botanical Tulips		16. Multiflowering Tulips