It’s bulb-planting time, and no bulb planting would be complete without a variety of beautiful tulips! To commemorate this, we’ve asked our staff to pick out their favourite tulips and we’ve listed them here. If you’re looking for something new and unusual or an old standby, there’s something for everyone.

Anna’s Pick: Antoinette

This showy multi-flowering tulip opens yellow-white before taking on a pink blush at the petal fringes. As it matures the petals become salmon-pink with a yellow base. It has narrow gold variegation on the foliage. It can be expected to reach about 45cm in height, and will flower in mid-spring. Multi-flowering tulips produce a minimum of four flowers per stem – they can help fill out an otherwise bare-looking bed quickly!

Bernice’s Pick: Purple Bouquet

Like Antoinette, this is a multi-flowering tulip that will produce at least four flowers on each stalk. Purple Bouquet emerges a solid grape-purple in spring. It looks particularly striking when used to contrast with lighter colours like white, pink, or yellow. It can be expected to reach about 45cm in height, and blooms in mid-spring.

Devin’s Pick: Black Parrot

The Black Parrot tulip has been around for a while, but it is deserving of the longevity! It has ultra-dark purple flowers bordering on black. As a parrot-type tulip, the flower petals are irregularly-fringed for added ornamental appeal. It can be expected to reach about 50cm in height and will bloom in late spring. It is a natural foil for white flowers (White and Black Parrot tulips make quite a splash when used together!).

Irene’s Pick: Exotic Emperor

This is a fosteriana-type Tulip (also known as Emperor-type Tulips). Tulips in this class have positively massive petals and are among the earliest tulips to bloom. Exotic Emperor is no exception, producing large, creamy-white flowers that have a strong fragrance. They can be expected to reach about 40cm in height. They are most effective when planted en masse in large ‘drifts’.

Jenn’s Pick: Flaming Spring Green

This tulip produces white blooms with red ‘flames’ along the bottom of each petal. As a viridiflora tulip, it also has a soft green colour band on the back of each flower petal, creating a unique colour combination quite unlike other tulips. It blooms for a long period of time starting in late spring and can be expected to grow 50cm tall.

Lorrie’s Pick: Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is a double tulip, meaning it has a high petal count and thus a very dense bloom. Amazing Grace has bright pink petals so densely-packed it looks more like a peony than a tulip! It can be expected to grow 45cm tall and will bloom mid-spring. These tulips also have a light fragrance.

Paul’s Pick: Blushing Beauty

Blushing Beauty is a hybrid tulip that produces very large flowers atop taller-than-average stems. It produces blush-pink flowers edged with a soft orange-yellow hue. They can be expected to grow up to 75cm tall and will bloom late in the spring.

Sylvia’s Pick: Estella Rynveld

Another Parrot tulip, this variety has frilled petals that emerge a dappled combination of red, pink, and white where each bloom looks like a candy cane. Like Black Parrot, it has been around for a while, and has stood the test of time! It can be expected to grow up to 55cm tall and blooms late in the spring.

Looking for advice on bulb planting? Check out our All About Bulbs page for great tips!