Karen did a great job mixing early-blooming Red Emperors (the wide open blooms) and other tulips for a bed under some small trees. And her group of the ones she calls the “peachy ones” beside the home’s front steps is a wonderful planting of a very popular late tulip: Apricot Beauty. It shows clearly how a few tulips alone, planted close together, can light up an area all by themselves in spring.

Dear American Meadows:

I LOVE MY TULIPS! They make me happy every time I walk in my kitchen. I strategically planted them so they are viewed outside my window!

I absolutely love them and they make an awesome display! (Everyone thinks so.) I put all the red, pink and purple ones together mixed randomly. Then I put the light pink ones where my rose bushes are--so I have to go to the yard to see those. I wish I had grouped those a little thicker, but that's OK. They still look awesome.

Then… I have all the peachy ones in the front yard and they are coming up--no blooms yet, (photo shows later bloom) but they are getting ready. They look so good! I am so excited.

I wish I could have a whole field of tulips around my house they're so cool.

Karen Tabaka
St. Louis 

Thanks, Karen, for sharing your great photos! They're great examples of several things many gardeners never learn about tulips.

1. Plant them close together.  In both photos, you can clearly see how good they look as a mass.  If they were spaced out, the whole display would be weak.

2. Mix them up. The top photo shows several tulip varieties together with lovely color combinations.  And they're not just different colors. The large red ones are Red Emperors, which bloom early.  In the photo, you can see that they are "older" already than the purple and pink companions.  Mixing early, mid, and late-season bloom tulips gives you weeks of great bloom.

3. They even work well all alone. Both these tulip beds are holding their own for a great spring display--no other plants around them, no shrubs, nothing--just the tulips.  If you plant yours close together, you'll have this advantage. The best example is the lower photo.  Imagine how blank Karen's entrance would look without them!  And there they are...those are called Apricot Beauty, by the way... greeting everyone with wonderful spring bloom.  In this case, Karen even matched the tulip color to the handsome stonework around her front door!  Tulips can work magic like this at your house, too.