The ballerina types can certainly be more perennial than some others @Jellyfire, but it can be hit and miss, because it comes down to conditions, as with many plants. If I have pots of tulips, they get planted out afterwards, and it's pot luck if there's any in future years. The Apeldoorns don't last that long here either, but they're generally considered to be more perennial than many of the cultivated types. I don't like them, but they were already in this garden, so I wasn't disappointed that they died off. It's very difficult to give tulips the right conditions here, and the species ones are much more reliable for me, so I grow more of them. All in raised beds or pots to help with drainage as they still need that.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My mum always buys new tulips every year and gives me them old ones. I let them die down and plant them out in the autumn and this year they have given a far better display than the new ones she's bought. A few, like the waterlily type, she bought did nothing last year for her but have been amazing here. It seems a shame to throw any bulb away which is why my lawn is mostly daffodils and the borders a colourful patchwork of tulips now.
I was in Keukenhof last week (Holland's big botanical gardens featuring millions of tulips) and I was inspired by how they used a lot of blue underplanting (usually muscari, scilla or pushkinia) beneath hot-coloured tulips, like you've done, it really sets them off well. I've seen at Dixter they use forget-me-nots in exactly the same way in the Long Border and it makes the tulips really pop.
I'm selective about which parts of my lawn I plant bulbs in, as of course you shouldn't mow for 6 weeks after the flowers have gone over (which for tulips usually means no-mow until June and quite a scraggly effect). Because of this I only plant bulbs in a few patches of my main lawn, and in the meadow area that I don't mow anyway until summer is over. But I do want to plant a lot more tulips in my beds to bridge that period between the snowdrops/daffs going over and the perennials/annuals kicking in.
Posts
It's very difficult to give tulips the right conditions here, and the species ones are much more reliable for me, so I grow more of them. All in raised beds or pots to help with drainage as they still need that.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
It seems a shame to throw any bulb away which is why my lawn is mostly daffodils and the borders a colourful patchwork of tulips now.
I was in Keukenhof last week (Holland's big botanical gardens featuring millions of tulips) and I was inspired by how they used a lot of blue underplanting (usually muscari, scilla or pushkinia) beneath hot-coloured tulips, like you've done, it really sets them off well. I've seen at Dixter they use forget-me-nots in exactly the same way in the Long Border and it makes the tulips really pop.
I'm selective about which parts of my lawn I plant bulbs in, as of course you shouldn't mow for 6 weeks after the flowers have gone over (which for tulips usually means no-mow until June and quite a scraggly effect). Because of this I only plant bulbs in a few patches of my main lawn, and in the meadow area that I don't mow anyway until summer is over. But I do want to plant a lot more tulips in my beds to bridge that period between the snowdrops/daffs going over and the perennials/annuals kicking in.