Dwarf tulip description. Features of the structure and varieties

- one of the first spring flowers. That is why they are so popular. Each grower prefers certain varieties. Many people like large, with large flowers, and this is understandable. But dwarf tulips have their own benefits.

Features of the structure and varieties

Dwarf (another name - pretty) tulip refers to perennial bulbous plants. It belongs to the 15th class of tulips. Its height does not exceed 10 cm. The shape of the bulb is slightly different from other primroses. It is oval, its surface is covered with brown, yellow or orange scales. The diameter of the bulb is small, from 1 to 2 cm. The peculiarity of the structure of the bulb is the fringe of hairs at the top.

Leaves are linear, not numerous, there can be from 3 to 5. They are located near the ground itself, they can even lie on it. At first, up to three small leaves of green color with a silvery sheen appear. If the tulip grows in a sunny place, a red border appears on the leaves. The maximum leaf width is 1 cm. In length, they can grow up to 12 cm.

The flowers are simple, broadly bell-shaped, slightly similar in shape, with pointed petals.

The inner part of the petals is colored with different colors, bright and light, from white to purple. There are red, pink, purple flowers. There are terry varieties. The center of the flower can be in contrast to the main color, yellow, blue with a white border. Some varieties have an asymmetrical flower. The flower stamens of a single bulb often vary in color, from light brown to deep purple. This dwarf tulip differs from other flowers.

The outer side of the petals may differ significantly from the inner side, be gray, white, dark purple or brown. The petals open in the morning, close in the evening. Therefore, the flower in the morning and afternoon is significantly different in color. The outer color of the petals is also different for the petals that turn out to be outside after the flower is rolled up and those that go inside.
The flowering period is two weeks or a month in May or early June, depending on the climatic zone and weather conditions. They usually bloom after snowdrops and crocuses.

Bakery Lilac Wonder.
Flaxleaf Little Princesses.
Alba Coerulea Oculata with a navy blue center and double petal rims.
Odalisque with cherry petals and yellow center.
Lilliput with narrow red petals, black border and blue center.
Dream.
Haven.
Tête-à-tête with double red flowers.
Violacea with purple petals and a yellow-black center.
Persian Pearl is a narrow-leaved variety with purple petals and a purple interior.
Yellow Baby.
Blue Baby is a super dwarf with blue flowers.

Dwarf tulips are propagated by children. When propagated by seeds, varietal traits are not transmitted. But for reproduction of the base variety, which served as the basis for breeding new varieties, this method is suitable. Breeders grow new varieties from seeds, and for ordinary flower growers, reproduction by children is better.

Dwarf tulips, like all bulbs, are planted in late September or early October. Choose a sunny place. You can choose the southern or eastern slope, on which there is no close occurrence of groundwater. It is advisable to arrange a drainage that will protect the bulbs from excess moisture.

The soil should be loose and fertile with a pH of 7.0. Dwarf tulips grow best in sandy loam and loamy soils. To improve the composition of the soil, add sand or clay, peat, humus.

Landing rules:

Each onion is placed in a small well. Its width is up to 6 cm, the distance between plants is 10 cm. The depth of the hole is equal to three sizes of the bulb.
Before planting, they are disinfected for half an hour with a pink solution of potassium permanganate. You cannot stick the onion into the ground, pressing it.
Dwarf tulips are planted in groups of about 10. In the future, they can grow to small lawns.

For the time remaining before frost, the bulb takes root. In late autumn, the site is mulched with a thick (at least 6 cm) layer of peat, compost or leaves.

Dwarf tulips are very hardy. They tolerate drought, wind, temperature fluctuations well. After all, they are accustomed to such growing conditions in the mountains.

Care Tips:

Dwarf tulips begin to grow in April. When the leaves appear above the ground, the plantings of dwarf tulips are carefully examined. Shelter is removed from the areas where there was mulch. They look for plants affected by diseases. If there are any, dig them up. Such inspections are carried out periodically throughout the growing season.
If the weather is dry, there is no rain for a long time, tulips are watered. This is especially important during the period of flower formation.
In the same period, flowers are fed with a complex mineral fertilizer. During flowering, nitrogen fertilizers are not needed, but phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are added. Watered with clean water before and after fertilization.
The soil near the flowers is regularly loosened. This contributes to the saturation of the tulip's root system with oxygen.
After all the flowers have faded, the peduncles are removed at a height of 5 cm. The exception is the case when you need to collect the seeds. Then they wait for the formation and maturation of the bolls. The leaves are cut when they turn yellow.
It is not necessary to dig up the bulbs after flowering. In one place, they can grow and bloom for ten years, growing and forming beautiful groups. But usually I transplant them after 4 years. During this time, the plants grow and require a lot of space.
If you need to transfer some of the flowers to another place, the bulbs are dug out. Near them, by the middle of summer, small formations are formed, called babies. After the leaves turn yellow, they are separated from the mother plant and planted. They begin to bloom the next year.

The harvested bulbs are stored in a cool dry place, for example, in a cellar, until planting. They are pre-dried and placed in boxes so that they have access to air.
Not all varieties of dwarf tulips tolerate winter frosts well. Imported hybrids need to be covered for the winter. Indeed, at temperatures below -17 ° C, their bulbs die without shelter. Therefore, when buying a dwarf tulip of a new variety, you need to find out the wintering conditions.

Dwarf tulips can be affected by fungal diseases. These include rot, gray and sclerocial, trichoderma, rhizoctonia, penicillosis. If the buds are covered with a bloom of mold, and brown spots form on the leaves, these are signs of gray rot. On the defeat of sclerocial rot, the bulbs become covered with white spots. Soon they turn black and then the bulbs rot.

Improper growing conditions contribute to diseases: lack of drainage, too abundant watering.

Treatment - fungicide treatment, drainage installation, soil replacement. Dwarf tulips are affected by viral diseases. This is the variegation of the petals, the August disease (necrotic spot). Affected plants are not treated. They are dug up together with a clod of earth and burned.

Pests of dwarf tulips:

and infect the bulbs. To combat them, they regularly weed and loosen the soil, remove weeds. Traps are laid in the soil, which after a while are checked and removed. In case of severe damage by these pests, chemical insecticides are used.
In winter, the bulbs can be nibbled by mice. To protect against them, dwarf tulip bulbs are planted in special nets. In winter, you need to trample the snow in the area where the bulbs grow.
sucks the juice from the plant and carries viral diseases. To combat it and other insects, you can use an insecticide or plant a trichogramma on the site. It is a biological pest control method.

The use of tulips

The homeland of dwarf tulips is the alpine meadows of South-West Asia. This determines the place of their cultivation in gardens. Dwarf tulips are planted on alpine hills, in potted gardens (they are unpretentious to care for, do not require special care):

In flower beds, they are placed in front of tall flowers.
Dwarf tulips look spectacular on terraces and borders.
Good neighbors for a dwarf tulip can be stonecrops, cereals.
You can plant them in containers, where they will bloom. A drainage layer is laid on the bottom, soil for bulbous plants is poured on top.

Plants are planted in the same way as in a flower bed. Install containers on balconies, verandas. After flowering, the containers can be removed or other plants can be planted nearby, which bloom later. These can be petunias, carnations, gazanias, succulents.

Instead of containers, you can take flowerpots. By planting different varieties, you can achieve continuous flowering of dwarf tulips throughout the month. Dwarf tulips obtained as a result of forcing look very beautiful.

More information can be found in the video:

Scientific classification
Dwarf tulip

International scientific name
Tulipa humilis Herb.

K: Wikipedia: Articles without images (type: unspecified)

Dwarf tulip(lat. Tulipa humilis) is a species of perennial, bulbous, herbaceous plants from the genus Tulip of the Liliaceae family.

Also in Russian-language literature it can be described under the names Tulip low.

Caucasian-Western Asian sporadic species with a limited number of localities and declining numbers on the northern border of the range.

Not included in the IUCN Red List.

Synonyms

According to The Plant List:

Tulipa aucheriana Baker
Tulipa humilis subsp. matinae Zojajifar & Sheidai
Tulipa violacea Boiss. & Buhse

Distribution and ecology

Southwest Asia (southern and southeastern Turkey, Iran), the Caucasus.

Entomophile. Mesophyte, heliophyte, cryptophyte. It grows in the alpine zone in meadows and gravelly places at altitudes from 2400 to 3000 meters above sea level. On the mountain Yatyrgvarta grows on the slope of the southern exposure, the soil is mountain meadow, gravelly.

Blooms in May-June.

Description

Plant height 6-10 cm.

The bulb is 1-2 cm in diameter. Fresh scales are light brown, old ones are yellow-brown, smooth on the inside, with adpressed hairs at the apex.

Stem and pedicel are smooth.

Leaves 2-5, linear, 5-12 cm long and up to 1 cm wide, slightly wavy, almost glabrous, sometimes with purple edging. Move away from the stem at ground level.

There are 1-2 flowers, the color is varied (white, pink, crimson, violet-red). The bases of the petals can be yellow, blue, black. Filaments, anthers, pollen are extremely variable in color.

According to other data: 2 (3) leaves, they are strongly deviating, almost opposite, lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, relatively wide, grooved, glabrous, reaching the top of the flower, crescent-shaped (and the top usually lies below the base), bordered by a purple stripe along edges, ciliate to the base along the edge.

One flower, bell-shaped, with a narrow base (similar to a crocus), pale lilac-pink, occasionally almost purple, with a yellow bottom. The outer tepals are 1.5-2 times narrower than the inner ones, narrowly elliptical, obtuse; internal - obovate-elliptical, with a marigold at the base and also with an elongated tip. On the inside, all tepals are of the same color. Filaments are yellow, narrow, long (up to 1 cm); anthers red, 5 times shorter than filament.

In culture

Hardiness zones (USDA-zones): 4a-8b.

Varieties

‘Alba Coerulea Oculata '(Synonyms: Tulipa violacea var pallida Stapf and Tulipa pulchella‘Alba Coerulea Oculata’). The petals are white with a blue base. 2n = 24.
‘Eastern Star ' Visser Czn., 1975 (Synonyms: Tulipa pulchella Eastern star). Plant height about 10 cm. Petals are purple-pink with a bronze tint on the outside, lemon-yellow at the base. Anthers are yellow.

‘Lilliput ' Visser Czn., 1987. (Synonym: Tulipa pulchella‘Lilliput’). Plant height is about 10 cm. Petals are dark red, black-purple at the base. Anthers are black.
‘Tete a Tete ' J.W.A. van der Wereld & Zn., 2003. Plant height about 10 cm. Petals are dark purple in color. Leaves are relatively many, narrow, green. The stamens are white with a crimson top. The pollen is yellow. ...
‘Persian Pearl ' Visser Czn., 1975 (Synonym: Tulipa pulchella‘Persian Pearl’). The height of the plants is about 10 cm. The petals are cyclamen-purple, the base is yellow.
‘Odalisque ' Visser Czn., 1976 (Synonym: Tulipa pulchella‘Odalisque’). Plant height is about 10 cm. Petals are beet-red with a purple tint, yellow at the base. Anthers are yellow.
‘Violacea '(Synonym: Tulipa violacea Boiss. & Buhse). Plant height is about 10 cm. Petals are purple-pink, yellow and black at the base. 2n = 24.

An excerpt characterizing dwarf tulip

“You already got caught once on a petite fille [girl],” said Dolokhov, who knew about Anatole's marriage. - Look!
- Well, two times is impossible! A? - Anatole said, laughing good-naturedly.

The next day after the theater, the Rostovs did not go anywhere and no one came to them. Marya Dmitrievna was talking about something, hiding from Natasha, with her father. Natasha guessed that they were talking about the old prince and were inventing something, and she was worried and offended by this. She waited every minute for Prince Andrey, and twice that day sent the janitor to Vzdvizhenka to find out if he had arrived. He did not come. It was now more difficult for her than the first days of her arrival. To her impatience and sadness about him was joined by an unpleasant recollection of a meeting with Princess Marya and the old prince, and fear and anxiety, for which she did not know the reason. She kept thinking that either he would never come, or that before he did, something would happen to her. She could not, as before, calmly and continuously, alone with herself, think about him. As soon as she began to think about him, the memory of the old prince, of Princess Marya and of the last performance, and of Kuragin joined the memory of him. She again wondered whether she was to blame, whether her loyalty to Prince Andrey had already been violated, and again she found herself remembering every word, every gesture, every shade of play on the face of this man, who could arouse in her something incomprehensible to her, to the smallest detail. and a terrible feeling. In the eyes of her family, Natasha seemed more lively than usual, but she was far from being as calm and happy as she had been before.
On Sunday morning Marya Dmitrievna invited her guests to Mass in her parish of the Assumption on Mogiltsy.
“I don’t like these fashionable churches,” she said, apparently proud of her free thinking.

Everywhere God is one. Our priest is wonderful, he serves decently, it is so noble, and so is the deacon. Does this make it sacred that concerts are sung in the kliros? I do not like it, one pampering!
Marya Dmitrievna loved Sundays and knew how to celebrate them. Her house was all washed and cleaned on Saturday; people and she did not work, everyone was festively discharged, and everyone was at mass. Food was added to the master's dinner, and people were given vodka and a roast goose or pig. But on nothing in the whole house the holiday was so noticeable as on the broad, stern face of Marya Dmitrievna, who on that day assumed an unchanging expression of solemnity.
When they drank coffee after lunch, in the living room with the covers removed, Marya Dmitrievna was informed that the carriage was ready, and she, with a stern air, dressed in a ceremonial shawl in which she made visits, got up and announced that she was going to Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky to explain to him about Natasha.
After Marya Dmitrievna's departure, a milliner from Madame Shalme came to see the Rostovs, and Natasha, closing the door in the living room next to her, very pleased with the entertainment, began trying on new dresses. While she, putting on a bodice that was still swept on a living thread, and still without sleeves and bending her head, looked in the mirror at how the back was sitting, she heard in the living room the lively sounds of her father's voice and another, female voice, which made her blush.
it was Helene's voice. Before Natasha had time to take off the bodice she was trying on, the door opened and Countess Bezukhaya entered the room, beaming with a good-natured and affectionate smile, in a dark purple velvet dress with a high collar.
- Ah, ma delicieuse! [Oh, my darling!] - she said to Natasha, blushing. - Charmante! [Charming!] No, it doesn't look like anything, my dear count, ”she said to Ilya Andreich, who had come in to pick her up. - How to live in Moscow and not go anywhere? No, I will not leave you alone! This evening m lle Georges is reciting at my place and a few will gather; and if you don’t bring your beauties, who are better than m lle Georges, then I don’t want to know you. There is no husband, he went to Tver, otherwise I would have sent him for you. Be sure to come, by all means, at nine o'clock. - She nodded her head to the familiar milliner, who respectfully sat down to her, and sat down on an armchair near the mirror, picturesquely spreading the folds of her velvet dress. She did not stop chatting good-naturedly and cheerfully, incessantly admiring Natasha's beauty. She reviewed and praised her dresses, and praised her new dress en gaz metallique, [in metallic gauze] which she had received from Paris and advised Natasha to do the same.
“However, everything suits you, my dear,” she said.
A smile of pleasure never left Natasha's face. She felt happy and flourishing under the praises of this dear Countess Bezukhova, who had previously seemed to her such an unapproachable and important lady, and who was now so kind to her. Natasha felt cheerful and she felt almost in love with this such a beautiful and such good-natured woman. Helene, for her part, sincerely admired Natasha and wanted to amuse her. Anatole asked her to set him up with Natasha, and for this she came to the Rostovs. The idea of bringing her brother to Natasha amused her.

Source: wiki-org.ru

Dwarf tulip - a miniature miracle with touching flowers

Tiny wild-growing tulips, which are classified as dwarf tulip, can be found in the highlands of Turkey, Iran and Iraq. In the wild, they always settle on rocky slopes, which determines excellent characteristics for their cultivation in rockeries and rock gardens. Dwarf tulips belong to the subgenus Eriostemones. These are drought-resistant, very easy-to-grow species of plants that will pleasantly surprise you with their beauty and unpretentiousness.

Dwarf tulip ( Tulipa humilis, in our country it is sometimes called a low tulip) is a type of medium-sized tulips that grow only in high mountain conditions. All parts of this plant are surprisingly compact. The maximum plant height is limited to 10 cm. Dwarf tulip bulbs are limited to a maximum size of 1–2 cm in diameter.

The shape of the bulb is ovoid, on the covering golden-yellow-brown scales you can find a few, but original hairs at the top and base, creating a kind of fringe. By it, you can distinguish the bulbs of this plant from other tulips (although usually dwarf tulips do not need such a careful check: they are rarely replaced with other species for sale, they are so special).

In a dwarf tulip, only 3, very rarely - 5 leaves are formed. Unlike most of the larger tulips, the foliage of this species is linear and sometimes practically lies on the ground, separating from the stem already at the very base (in a protected place, the leaves do not lie down).

The leaves are miniature: from 5 to 12 cm in length, they never exceed 1 cm in width, upon close examination, they surprise with a wavy edge and an almost matte, bright green or silvery-green color. In favorable conditions, plants can be decorated with a purple border, there are also some varieties with reddish leaves.

Blooming a tiny tulip is one grace. The flowers might seem rustic, but their sophistication makes up for the lack of pretentiousness. Each bulb sometimes produces 1, less often 2 strong, but thin peduncles. The narrowed base and strongly convex top of the flower slightly resemble crocuses.

The bell-shaped flower, when opened, turns into a bright star-shaped flower with pointed petals and a very bright, wide spot in the pharynx. Usually it is lemon, but there are also dwarf tulips with a blue "bottom" bordered with a white stripe. The inner tepals adorn with a beautiful medium vein, approximately twice as wide as the outer tepals.

The outer side of the flower is whitish or white, with a brownish-purple bloom on the "back" of the petals along the outer edge. A distinctive feature of the flowering of a dwarf tulip is that the stamens, even in the same bulb, under different conditions and under different lighting conditions, can differ in color, be either yellow, or black, or multi-colored. Anthers and filaments also change in daughter plants.

Blooming of dwarf tulips begins in the first days of May (if the spring is warm). It cannot boast of its duration, but even a few weeks give a magical sight. Many varietal plants bloom in late May-June.

Dwarf tulip "Persian Pearl". © Karolina

Dwarf tulip "Alba Coerulea Oculata". © Panayoti Kelaidis

The dwarf tulip, like any other tulip, has many attractive varieties, however, they are far from hundreds, but less than a dozen. It is better to choose them, focusing on decorative characteristics, palette and individual tastes.

Among the varieties, you can find double flowers, almost similar to dahlias, thin-petal forms, varieties with an asymmetric flower structure resembling daylilies (three triangular inner lobes are combined with reed outer ones) and various blue variations in the color of the bottom of the throat.

The best varieties are rightfully ranked as:

"Alba Coerulea Oculata" with a dark blue throat and a double flower, reminiscent of crocuses or miniature daylilies;
"Odalisque" is a cherry-lilac variety with a yellow throat and bright golden stamens;
"Lilliput" is a scarlet-red variety with rather narrow petals, with a black base and a dark blue-violet throat;
"Tete-a-Tete" is a terry scarlet variety, somewhat reminiscent of parrot tulips in miniature;
"Persian Pearl" is a dark lilac-pink variety with a wide lemon "bottom" and very narrow leaves;
Eastern Star is a mauve variety with bronze outer petals and lemon throat;
Violacea is a bright purple cultivar with a yellow-black fawn.

The color palette of dwarf tulips includes both bright and delicate colors. Among them there are white tulips and plants with a light pink tone, crimson, carmine, purple varieties. No other tulips have such a palette of purple: as if they took the colors from the basic palette of acrylic paints.

Dwarf tulip "Tete-a-Tete". © Villu Lükk

Dwarf tulip "Violacea". © Valerie J

In the design of the garden, dwarf tulips are used:

as potted plants;
in complex container compositions for balconies and terraces, stone flower girls;
on alpine slides and rockeries;
in the design of portable rock gardens;
for distillation;
in groups on the lawn;
in flower beds on the terrace;
in the foreground of flower beds.

The best partners for dwarf tulip: ornamental cereals (especially fescue and hare tail), sedum, saxifrage

Conditions required for a dwarf tulip

The rules for the selection of lighting for this type of tulip are no different from the selection of conditions for any other tulips. The dwarf variety prefers sunny, bright areas, warm and protected from drafts and winds.

But the requirements for the soil of the dwarf tulip are somewhat different. It can be planted both on flat areas and on slopes. He loves loose, light soils more than his relatives, and in this regard is a typical plant for decorating rock gardens. Stagnant water or high groundwater levels are unacceptable.

The alpine slides for tiny tulips create ideal conditions, since the drained loose soil eliminates the risk of waterlogging. The higher the nutrient content of the soil, the better. Loam and sandy loam are ideal for dwarf tulip and its varieties, but any other soil can be adjusted by adding peat, organic fertilizers and sand (in sandy soils - clay) when planting. Drainage is desirable. The reaction of the soil should be slightly alkaline or at least neutral (pH - from 7.0 and below).

When grown in containers, either a special substrate for bulbous plants or a universal substrate for potted plants is selected. High drainage is laid at the bottom of the tanks. Dwarf tulip containers should only be placed in well-lit areas.

Dwarf tulip "Odalisque". © Brian

Planting dwarf tulips

The best time to plant dwarf tulips is the last decade of September and the first decade of October.

Dwarf tulips are usually planted in individual pits or small pits - islets sufficient to accommodate a group of 8-10 bulbs. It is best to use the netting method to keep out rodents, but you can also plant directly into the soil. The planting process is standard for all tulips: the bulbs are buried so that from the top of the soil to the bottom there is a distance equal to three times the height of the bulb itself. For such tiny bulbs, the standard planting depth is in pits 4-6 cm deep.The planting distance is about 10 cm.

Before planting, it is advisable to pickle the bulbs in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour (a classic concentration of 0.5% is sufficient). The bulbs are planted immediately after pickling.

In the ground, the bulbs are installed strictly vertically, bottom down, carefully, without pressing.

With the onset of the first frost, planting is necessarily mulched with any available materials, creating a layer of peat, compost, leaves, substrate about 6-8 cm high.

Dwarf tulip care:

Close inspection of plantings in early spring with the excavation of plants with signs of disease.
Top dressing with full mineral fertilizers during snow melting, during budding, and potassium-phosphorus fertilizers at the peak of flowering or immediately after it.
Watering in drought during budding and flowering (under dry conditions, the plant may not bloom, the rest of the time watering is not needed).
Weeding with a slight simultaneous separation of the soil at the very beginning of leaf growth.
Regular inspections of plants during the flowering period for signs of damage.
Removal of peduncles and yellowed foliage.

This type of tulips does not need to be excavated annually (unless you want to propagate them). Dwarf tulips can grow in "colonies", on average they are dug up and divided every 3-5 years, but if they have enough space and flowering does not suffer, then digging can be carried out only as needed, much less often (up to 10 years). After digging, the bulbs are dried, sorted, stored in cool and dark conditions that are standard for tulips.

Wintering a dwarf tulip

This type of tulips is completely winter-hardy; from the second year of cultivation, it does not even need mulching (zone 4a). When buying tulips, it is still better to clarify exactly which maximum negative temperatures the plant can withstand: many imported varieties on the market have frost resistance limited to 18-20 degrees and they require shelter (as opposed to acclimatized varieties and the basic species).

Dwarf tulip (Tulipa humilis). © Villu Lükk

Pest and disease control

It is one of the hardiest tulip species and can only be damaged if growing conditions are severely disturbed in stagnant damp conditions or if stored improperly. With waterlogging, gray, root, soft, white rot is dangerous. If there are signs of damage, it is better to destroy diseased bulbs as soon as possible.

These tulips are often favored by rodents, so it is better to plant them in mesh baskets or take measures to combat rodents in the cold season (placing traps, trampling snow).

Dwarf tulip breeding methods:

Seeds (varieties do not retain their characteristic features, but the basic species can be propagated this way) according to the standard method.
Daughter bulbs, which are simply separated during digging and planted as independent plants.

Source: www.botanichka.ru

Botanical description

Schrenck's tulip (Tulipa schrenkii) is a wild, low bulbous plant that belongs to the genus Tulip of the Liliaceae family. However, many taxonomic analysts still refuse to recognize the Schrenck tulip as a separate species: earlier it was attributed to Tulipa suaveolens, today many identify it with Tulipa gesneriana.

The plant rarely exceeds 40 cm in height. On a leafless stem, there is a large cup-shaped bud, the size of which reaches about 7 cm, with six petals of a rich, colorful color, slightly pointed at the end. The color of the bud can vary from white and yellow to pink and purple.
At the base of the plant there are green, with a blue tint, slightly curled oblong leaves. The perianth consists of 4-6 rounded leaves.

The fruit of the plant is a seed capsule, in which up to 240 seeds can ripen.

The bulb is small, 2.5-3 cm. It has the shape of an egg, covered with a layer of gray-brown scales on top. The onion sinks deep into the ground; during maturation, it forms only one kidney.

In honor of whom is it named

The tulip received its original name in honor of the famous biologist Alexander Ivanovich Shrenk, who in 1873, in one of his trips to Kazakhstan, discovered this new, amazingly beautiful, very fragile and delicate plant.
Alexander Schrenk came from the Tula province, but worked in Germany for many years, so in some sources he is referred to as Alexander Gustav von Schrenck. In the last years of his professional career, he served as a lecturer at the University of the Estonian city of Drept (today Tartu).

Distribution locations

The most comfortable habitats for this plant are considered to be steppe zones, semi-deserts, deserts, rubble trails of small mountains. It grows well on calcareous soils with a sufficient calcium content. It can often be found in saline soils. It takes root remarkably on chalky soils.

With regard to climatic conditions, Schrenck prefers zones where snowy and frosty weather prevails in winter, and warm, sun and low rainfall in summer.
On the territory of the Russian Federation, the flower can be found in the European part of the state, in the zones of steppes, deserts and semi-deserts, as well as in the west of Siberia. In Ukraine, the plant lives in the southern and southeastern regions. The tulip is widespread in the south of the Crimean peninsula, in the northeastern regions of Kazakhstan, in the People's Republic of China and Iran.

Why is it listed in the Red Book

Over the past few decades, this beautiful plant has become endangered. And the reason for this is human activity:

regular plowing of the soil;
grazing livestock on the land where the flower grows;
pollution of soils with harmful chemical emissions resulting from industrial production;
excavation of bulbs for use in the medical field;
cutting flowers for implementation.

Due to such human interference, the number of populations has rapidly decreased, natural selection has slowed down, and the area of plant growth has significantly decreased and continues to decrease.
Environmental authorities are taking measures to prevent the death of the flower:

patrol the plantation during the flowering of the tulip;
carry out explanatory work aimed at understanding the respect for nature;
fine violators.

The flower is under protection in the Naurzum and Kurgaldzhinsky reserves.

Can I plant it at home

According to the legislation, Schrenck's tulip is a rare, unique plant on the verge of extinction, listed in the Red Book. It is forbidden to dig up the bulbs of the plant, which means that it is impossible to plant it in your garden within the framework of the law. Corresponding penalties are provided for violation.

If you nevertheless decide to purchase the bulbs or seeds of a plant for the purpose of planting them, then when carrying out planting work, you need to take into account the following aspects:

the first flowering begins only 6-8 years after the planting of the crop; if the climate conditions are not comfortable, flowering may begin even later;
you can propagate a flower only by seeds;
after the plant has faded, the bulb dies off and only one baby appears in its place, the flowering of which will begin a couple of years after the mother flower.

Growing a Schrenck tulip in a home is impractical, and even illegal. Therefore, it would be better to leave it in the wild and give us and our ancestors the opportunity to admire its beauty for many years.

Source: agronomu.com

Where do tulips grow?

In nature, tulips grow in the Central Asian region, which includes countries such as Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan, India, Nepal and China, as well as Mediterranean countries: Spain and Morocco, Italy and the Netherlands. Tulips are common on the Balkan Peninsula and in the rather harsh nature of the Scandinavian countries. Many species and varieties grow in urban flower beds and personal gardens of the states of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. These flowers easily withstand the climatic conditions of mountainous, desert and steppe regions, dry summers and harsh winters.

Where does the word "tulip" come from?

In European languages, the name of the tulip flower came from the Ottoman-Persian dictionary. The word "tülbend" meant the fabric for the national headdress. Later, this concept began to correspond not only to the material from which it was made, but also to the turban itself, which had an external resemblance to a flower. Probably, the borrowing took place almost simultaneously in the countries of Eastern and Western Europe, therefore the Italian "tulipano", the Polish "tulipan", as well as the German "tulpe" and the Dutch "tulp" that have lost the ending "an" have a common root. The word tulip entered the Russian language as a free reading of the Polish name of the plant.

Tulip - description

Tulips are herbaceous plants with a very short growing season.

The morphological structure of the tulip is distinguished by:

Tulip bulbs that are ovoid or pear-shaped. Above the bulb is covered with covering scales. In the external appearance of the bulb, a flattened bottom and a pointed tip are clearly visible. The size of the tulip bulb, the color and shape of the scales differ depending on the species. Inside it are special scales that supply the plant with nutrients. After the depletion of all reserves, the tulip bulb dies off, and several new ones appear in its place. The lifespan of a bulb in natural conditions does not exceed 2 years.
Tulip root located at the bottom of the bulb. In the young seedling stage, the plant has one main root, which dies off after the first growing season. Subsequently, the tulip grows a new root system every year, consisting of many filamentous roots.
Stolon, which is a kind of underground plant stem. With the help of it, the annual vegetative propagation of tulip bulbs takes place. The stolon serves to burrow the bud of the bulb into the ground, as well as to protect and nourish it.
Fruiting erect tulip stem cylindrical, on which there are from 1 to 9-12 leaves. At the end of the season, the stem dies off. The height of the stem of a tulip depends on the species and variety of plants and can be from 15 to 70 cm.
Tulip leaves, which have an elongated-pointed or elongated-oval shape. They are located directly on the stem, clasping it tightly. Some species have ridged outgrowths on the leaf surface.
Tulip flowers which consist of three inner and three outer petals. Hybrid tulip species may have more petals. Usually, one plant forms one bud, although there are types of tulips, which are characterized by the development of several buds. The shape of the tulip flower can be oval, star-shaped, cupped, double, goblet or fringed, and the color of the tulip can be monochromatic, mixed or two-colored. The color of tulips depends on the combinations in which anthocyanins, carotenoids and flavonols are mixed - natural dyes. In healthy plants, the inflorescences are directed straight up, although in some varieties of tulips there are peduncles of a drooping type.
Tulip fruit, which is a rounded box of triangular shape. Inside it are triangular or ovoid tulip seeds, which, after ripening, fall to the ground and are carried by the wind.

Views

Tulip great - perennial bulbous plant up to 45 centimeters high, with broad leaves of a gray-green color. The flowers are single, wide open, goblet-shaped, up to 14 centimeters in diameter, bright red with a black-purple center. The flowering period begins at the end of April.

Hairy tulip - perennial bulbous plant up to 25 centimeters high, with linear smooth leaves of light green color. The flowers are single, up to 5 centimeters in diameter. Golden yellow tulips. Flowering begins in mid-April and ends in early May.

Kaufman tulip Is a bulbous plant with a stem height of up to 20 centimeters and wide leaves with dark veins. Single flowers up to 8 centimeters in diameter. The outer surface is yellow, the pharynx is crimson-pink. The plant begins to bloom in mid-April, some varieties and hybrids already in early April after the snow melts.

Excellent tulip - perennial bulbous plant up to 30 centimeters high. The leaves are wavy, bent. The flowers are wide open, up to 14 centimeters in diameter, with narrow bright red petals and a yellow throat. The flowering period begins in early May and lasts an average of 10 days.

Turkestan tulip - bulbous plant with cupped flowers up to 3 centimeters in diameter. The outer surface is greenish, the pharynx is yellow. The flowering period begins in April.

Bieberstein tulip - a perennial bulbous plant with thin gray-green stems up to 30 centimeters high. Bieberstein tulip bud drooping. The flower is wide open, star-shaped, golden yellow or white. Blossoming in April - May. This type of tulips can be left without digging for several years.

Greig's tulip - a plant up to 40 centimeters high. Flowers are single, large, bright, goblet. Bloom in late April - early May.

Foster's tulip - plants up to 30 centimeters high. Foster's tulip leaves are wide, slightly wavy along the edge. The flowers are large (up to 14 centimeters in diameter), single, of various colors. It is used in the design of rock gardens. Flowering in late April - early May.

Tulip Gesner - small plants, height 15-30 centimeters. Single flower, red or yellow.

Dwarf tulip - Plants up to 10 centimeters high. There are 2 to 4 leaves, usually 1-2 flowers. The color of the flowers is white, pink, lilac. Dwarf tulips are commonly used in rock gardens.

Tulip Lipsky - bulbous plant 6-10 centimeters high. Leaves are deflected, bordered along the edge with a reddish stripe. A single flower with a color ranging from light pink to purple. Blossoming in May-June.

- a plant up to 40 centimeters high. The leaves are curly, bent, widely spaced. The flower is single, wide-chained, more often red, although varieties with various colors are found.

Hybrid tulip - the combined name of more than 2.5 thousand varieties obtained as a result of crossing several species.

In floriculture, the classification of tulips is also adopted by the timing of flowering according to the shape and color of flowers. According to the international register, all varieties and types of tulips are divided into 4 groups, which, in turn, include 15 classes.

Early blooming tulips

Simple early tulips - fairly short, hardy tulips, resistant to adverse weather conditions. The color of the flowers is most often red or yellow. Early tulips bloom at the end of April.

Terry tulips early - low (up to 30 centimeters in height) tulips with large, up to 8 centimeters in diameter, bright double flowers.

Mid-flowering tulips

Triumph tulips - Plants up to 70 centimeters high with large goblet flowers of various colors - from white to purple.

Darwin hybrids - very tall flowers, up to 80 centimeters high. The flowers are large, goblet, red or bicolor. Frost resistant.

Late blooming tulips

Tulips simple late - powerful plants up to 70-75 centimeters high. Flowers with a square base, petals are blunt. The color of flowers can be white, black, pink, purple, there are two-color varieties. The class of simple late tulips also includes multi-flowered tulips (spray tulips) - bouquets of flowers bearing up to 5 flowers on one peduncle. Late tulip blooms in the second half of May.

Lilac tulips - plants up to 60 centimeters high. The flowers are graceful and elongated, resembling lilies. The petals are narrow, pointed, bent outward. Lily tulips bloom from mid-May.

Fringed tulips - Plants of the most varied heights and colors. Fringed tulips are distinguished by the presence of a needle-like fringe along the edge of the petals.

Green tulips - usually of medium to tall stature, with narrow leaves. A distinctive feature of green tulips is green strokes, spots or stripes on the outside of the petal, which, as a rule, looks very impressive against a bright yellow, red, pink or white background. Bloom in the second half of May.

Rembrandt tulips - Plants of various heights with variegated goblet-shaped flowers. Strokes, spots, stripes on a red, white or yellow background make these variegated tulips very effective.

Parrot tulips - Plants of various heights and colors, characterized by a very exotic flower shape. The rugged, wavy, 'disheveled' petals of this class of tulips resemble a crumpled tropical bird. The flowers can also be of enormous size.

Terry tulips late , orpeony tulips- are distinguished by very large, bright double flowers of various colors. Not resistant to rain and wind.

Wild species of tulips, their varieties and their hybrids (botanical tulips)

Kaufman tulips, varieties and hybrids;
Foster's tulips, varieties and hybrids;
Greig's tulips, varieties and hybrids;

Tulip care: watering and feeding flowers

A well-drained neutral or slightly alkaline soil with a high nutrient content is suitable for growing tulip flowers. The plant prefers sunny and sheltered places from the wind. In one place without transplanting it grows well for 3-4 years, but it is recommended to plant it in a new place every year.

Tulip bulbs must be examined before planting and damaged planting material must be discarded. The fact is that the risk of disease in scratched bulbs is too high to be planted next to healthy ones. The planting material remaining after inspection should be soaked in a 0.1% decis solution for about 15-20 minutes.

Watering tulips should be done regularly and abundantly, provided that the weather is warm. Watering is stopped 3 weeks after the end of flowering. The soil between the plants is loosened and weeded.

The first dressing of tulips is carried out after the emergence of shoots (1 tbsp. L. Urea per 1 m2. The second time the soil is fertilized before the appearance of buds. The third dressing of tulips is necessary during the period of active formation of buds. The fourth is at the beginning of flowering. When caring for tulip flowers from fertilizers use superphosphate, potassium sulfate and special fertilizers for flower plants.

Another tip for growing tulips: for the winter, the site is mulched, and in the spring the mulch is removed. The bulbs can also be dug up and stored in a cool, dark place. Tulips are propagated by bulbs. They are planted in the fall in holes at a depth of 3 times the height of the bulbs. The distance between them is made by 15-20 cm. They are sprinkled with earth on top and slightly trampled. The soil is dug up and leveled 10 days before the work is carried out, and when planting, wood ash, humus, nitrophosphate are introduced into it.

Tulips are affected by penicillosis, fusarium, bulbous and tulip sclerotiniasis, bacterial rot, gray mold, variegation. The most dangerous pest for them is the bulb mite.

When digging and planting, it is important to feel the tulip bulbs, trying to squeeze them lightly in the palm of your hand. Soft fingers that sag under pressure should be discarded and destroyed, as they can be affected by disease.

Medicinal properties

The medicinal properties of tulip flowers, like those of other parts, have not been sufficiently studied to date. It is known that tulips contain fiber, sugar, starch. Traditional medicine uses this plant to treat heart disease.

In cosmetology they use tulip oil, which you can cook at home. To do this, pour the crushed petals of the plant with olive oil and leave for 14 days. This remedy is great for treating rashes, the skin of the face after applying the oil becomes soft and velvety.

Cooking use

In the culinary arts of many countries, tulip flowers are a real delicacy. The flower trend in the world of culinary originates from England. In the country of foggy Albion, since the 16th century, cookbooks have hidden recipes for flower syrups, salads, tinctures and even candied petals. Sweet petals are the most popular in France today.

Exotic tulip dishes can be enjoyed in Dutch restaurants. Tulips are appreciated not only as a dessert, but also as a wonderful hot dish, which is obtained by frying their petals in batter. Tulips go well with fish and meat dishes.

One of the restaurants in Vancouver has prepared a real "tulip menu". In spring in this restaurant you can taste asparagus and feta cheese with fried tulips or salad from the shoots of this plant, the "Emperor" variety. The restaurant also prepares charcoal fish with a warm salad with tulip flowers and sauce. The buds of these flowers in the sauce taste like Brussels sprouts. For dessert, the restaurant offers a deliciously delicious cake with flower petals. The combination of tulips, whipped cream and lemon will leave no one indifferent.

At home, you can cook an amazingly delicious dish called " tulip petals in batter". For this dish you will need 3 large red flowers, 150 grams of flour, half a glass of white wine and the same amount of olive oil, a chicken egg, 5 grams of yeast. The flour is diluted with wine, then yeast and yolk are added to the mixture, a little water is poured in. The mixture is thoroughly mixed and left to ferment for half an hour. The whipped protein is added to the resulting dough, the petals are dipped first in the dough, and then fried in boiling oil until golden brown. After frying, the petals should be dried on a napkin. The dish is served hot.

Tulip bulbs are also edible, they are baked in a fire, they taste like potatoes, only they have a sweet aftertaste.

The green leaves of the plant are great for making vitamin salad. Young leaves are cut into strips and mixed with chopped green onions, 1 tablespoon of vinegar is added to the salad. The salad is left for one hour in order to get rid of excessive bitterness, then the vinegar is decanted and the salad is seasoned with olive oil.

Tulip flowers benefits and treatments

The benefits of tulips are well known in Chinese medicine. Edible plant varieties used in dermatology for the treatment of skin pustules and dermatitis, with these diseases, the flower is consumed inside. In folk medicine, the plant is used knowing about its tonic properties. Chinese healers recommend using this plant for diarrhea, tumors, and poisoning.

Harm of tulip flowers and contraindications

A tulip can harm the body with uncontrolled use. It should be noted that there is a plant of the lily family called "Gunther's tulip". This species is very toxic and its use can be life-threatening.

Video

Tulips are the favorite spring bulbs.

In many respects, they owe their popularity and status of an "inviolable" plant to a very large assortment. There are hundreds of tulip species and thousands of varieties.

Tulip dwarf Tulipa humilis

And if all attention is traditionally distracted by bright and beautiful varietal hybrids, then species are not so popular.

But they have something to boast about. At least - unpretentiousness, endurance and lack of need for annual digging. One such underestimated natural species is the charming dwarf tulip.

The touching crumbs are made for a potted garden and alpine slides.

Dwarf tulip Helena

Tiny wild-growing tulips, which are classified as dwarf tulip, can be found in the highlands of Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

In the wild, they always settle on rocky slopes, which determines excellent characteristics for their cultivation in rockeries and rock gardens. Dwarf tulips belong to the subgenus Eriostemones.

These are drought-resistant, very easy-to-grow species of plants that will pleasantly surprise you with their beauty and unpretentiousness.

(Tulipa humilis, in our country it is sometimes called a low tulip) is a type of medium-sized tulips that grow only in high mountain conditions. All parts of this plant are surprisingly compact. The maximum plant height is limited to 10 cm.

Dwarf tulip bulbs are limited to a maximum size of 1–2 cm in diameter. The shape of the bulb is ovoid, on the covering golden-yellow-brown scales you can find a few, but original hairs at the top and base, creating a kind of fringe.

Dwarf tulip "Persian Pearl".

By it, you can distinguish the bulbs of this plant from other tulips (although usually dwarf tulips do not need such a careful check: they are rarely replaced with other species for sale, they are so special).

The leaves are miniature: from 5 to 12 cm in length, they never exceed 1 cm in width, upon close examination, they surprise with a wavy edge and an almost matte, bright green or silvery-green color.

In favorable conditions, plants can be decorated with a purple border, there are also some varieties with reddish leaves.

The narrowed base and strongly convex top of the flower slightly resemble crocuses. The bell-shaped flower, when opened, turns into a bright star-shaped flower with pointed petals and a very bright, wide spot in the pharynx.

Usually it is lemon, but there are also dwarf tulips with a blue "bottom" bordered with a white stripe. The inner tepals adorn with a beautiful medium vein, approximately twice as wide as the outer tepals.

The outer side of the flower is whitish or white, with a brownish-purple bloom on the "back" of the petals along the outer edge.

Dwarf tulip "Alba Coerulea Oculata"

A distinctive feature of the flowering of a dwarf tulip is that the stamens, even in the same bulb, under different conditions and under different lighting conditions, can differ in color, be either yellow, or black, or multi-colored. Anthers and filaments also change in daughter plants.

Blooming of dwarf tulips begins in the first days of May (if the spring is warm).

It cannot boast of its duration, but even a few weeks give a magical sight. Many varietal plants bloom in late May-June.

Dwarf tulip "Liliput"

Dwarf tulip "Tete-a-Tete"

Dwarf tulip "Violacea"

The best varieties are rightfully ranked as:

"Alba Coerulea Oculata" with a dark blue throat and a double flower, reminiscent of crocuses or miniature daylilies;
"Odalisque" is a cherry-lilac variety with a yellow throat and bright golden stamens;
"Lilliput" is a scarlet-red variety with rather narrow petals, with a black base and a dark blue-violet throat;
"Tete-a-Tete" is a terry scarlet variety, somewhat reminiscent of parrot tulips in miniature;
"Persian Pearl" is a dark lilac-pink variety with a wide lemon "bottom" and very narrow leaves;
Eastern Star is a mauve variety with bronze outer petals and lemon throat;
Violacea is a bright purple cultivar with a yellow-black fawn.

Dwarf tulip "Eastern Star"

I use dwarf tulips in the decoration of the garden

as potted plants;
in complex container compositions for balconies and terraces, stone flower girls;
on alpine slides and rockeries;
in the design of portable rock gardens;
for distillation;
in groups on the lawn;
in flower beds on the terrace;
in the foreground of flower beds.

The best partners for dwarf tulip: ornamental cereals (especially fescue and hare tail), sedum, saxifrage

Conditions required for a dwarf tulip

But the requirements for the soil of the dwarf tulip are somewhat different. It can be planted both on flat areas and on slopes.

He loves loose, light soils more than his relatives, and in this regard is a typical plant for decorating rock gardens.

Stagnant water or high groundwater levels are unacceptable.

The alpine slides for tiny tulips create ideal conditions, since the drained loose soil eliminates the risk of waterlogging. The higher the nutrient content of the soil, the better.

Loam and sandy loam are ideal for dwarf tulip and its varieties, but any other soil can be adjusted by adding peat, organic fertilizers and sand (in sandy soils - clay) when planting.

Drainage is desirable. The reaction of the soil should be slightly alkaline or at least neutral (pH - from 7.0 and below).

When grown in containers, either a special substrate for bulbous plants or a universal substrate for potted plants is selected.

High drainage is laid at the bottom of the tanks.

Dwarf tulip containers should only be placed in well-lit areas.

Dwarf tulip "Odalisque"

When and how to plant dwarf tulips

The best time to plant dwarf tulips is the last decade of September and the first decade of October.

The planting process is standard for all tulips: the bulbs are buried so that from the top of the soil to the bottom there is a distance equal to three times the height of the bulb itself. For such tiny bulbs, the standard planting depth is in pits 4-6 cm deep.The planting distance is about 10 cm.

In the ground, the bulbs are installed strictly vertically, bottom down, carefully, without pressing.

With the onset of the first frost, planting is necessarily mulched with any available materials, creating a layer of peat, compost, leaves, substrate about 6-8 cm high.

Dwarf tulip care:

Close inspection of plantings in early spring with the excavation of plants with signs of disease.
Top dressing with full mineral fertilizers during snow melting, during budding, and potassium-phosphorus fertilizers at the peak of flowering or immediately after it.
Watering in drought during budding and flowering (under dry conditions, the plant may not bloom, the rest of the time watering is not needed).
Weeding with a slight simultaneous separation of the soil at the very beginning of leaf growth.
Regular inspections of plants during the flowering period for signs of damage.
Removal of peduncles and yellowed foliage.

This type of tulips does not need to be excavated annually (unless you want to propagate them).

Dwarf tulips can grow in "colonies", on average they are dug up and divided every 3-5 years, but if they have enough space and flowering does not suffer, then digging can be carried out only as needed, much less often (up to 10 years). After digging, the bulbs are dried, sorted, stored in cool and dark conditions that are standard for tulips.

Wintering a dwarf tulip

Dwarf tulip (Tulipa humilis)

Pests and diseases

Rodents love these tulips, so it is better to plant them in mesh baskets or take measures to combat rodents in the cold season (placing traps, trampling snow).

Tulipa pulchella Heaven

Dwarf tulip breeding methods:

Seeds (varieties do not retain their characteristic features, but the basic species can be propagated this way) according to the standard method.
Daughter bulbs, which are simply separated during digging and planted as independent plants.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Family: liliaceae (Liliaceae).

Homeland: Asia and Central Europe.

The form: herbaceous plant.

Description

Tulip is the name of a genus of perennial herbaceous bulbous plants. The genus contains about 140 species. Tulip is a bulbous plant with few (from 2 to 6) elongated lanceolate leaves, smooth or wrinkled. The stem is 6-60 cm high, depending on the species, and ends with one flower. The color of the flowers is varied. The flowers are simple or double. Tulips bloom, usually in May-June.

(T. ingens) is a perennial bulbous plant up to 45 centimeters high, with broad bluish-green leaves. The flowers are single, wide open, goblet-shaped, up to 14 centimeters in diameter, bright red with a black-purple center. The flowering period begins at the end of April.

(T. dasystemon) is a perennial bulbous plant up to 25 centimeters high, with linear smooth light green leaves. The flowers are single, up to 5 centimeters in diameter. Golden yellow tulips. Flowering begins in mid-April and ends in early May.

(T. kaufmanniana) is a bulbous plant with a stem height of up to 20 centimeters and wide leaves with dark veins. Single flowers up to 8 centimeters in diameter. The outer surface is yellow, the pharynx is crimson-pink. The plant begins to bloom in mid-April, some varieties and hybrids already in early April after the snow melts.

Excellent tulip (T. subpraestans) is a perennial bulbous plant up to 30 centimeters high. The leaves are wavy, bent. The flowers are wide open, up to 14 centimeters in diameter, with narrow bright red petals and a yellow throat. The flowering period begins in early May and lasts an average of 10 days.

Turkestan tulip (T. turkestanica) is a bulbous plant with cupped flowers up to 3 centimeters in diameter. The outer surface is greenish, the pharynx is yellow. The flowering period begins in April.

(T. biebersteiniana) is a perennial bulbous plant with thin gray-green stems up to 30 centimeters high. Bieberstein tulip bud drooping. The flower is wide open, star-shaped, golden yellow or white. Blossoming in April - May. This type of tulips can be left without digging for several years.

Greig's tulip (T. greigii) is a plant up to 40 centimeters high. Flowers are single, large, bright, goblet. Bloom in late April - early May.

Foster's tulip (T. fosteriana) - plants up to 30 centimeters high. Foster's tulip leaves are wide, slightly wavy along the edge. The flowers are large (up to 14 centimeters in diameter), single, of various colors. It is used in the design of rock gardens. Flowering in late April - early May.

Tulip Gesner (T. gesneriana) - small plants, height 15-30 centimeters. Single flower, red or yellow.

Dwarf tulip (T. humilis) - plants up to 10 centimeters high. There are 2 to 4 leaves, usually 1-2 flowers. The color of the flowers is white, pink, lilac. Dwarf tulips are commonly used in rock gardens.

Tulip Lipsky (T. lipskyi) is a bulbous plant with a height of 6-10 centimeters. Leaves are deflected, bordered along the edge with a reddish stripe. A single flower with a color ranging from light pink to purple. Blossoming in May-June.

(T. schrenkii) - a plant up to 40 centimeters high. The leaves are curly, bent, widely spaced. The flower is single, wide-chained, more often red, although varieties with various colors are found.

Hybrid tulip (T. hybrida) is the combined name of more than 2.5 thousand varieties obtained by crossing several species.

1. Early flowering tulips

Simple early tulips - fairly short, hardy tulips, resistant to adverse weather conditions. The color of the flowers is most often red or yellow. Early tulips bloom at the end of April.

Terry tulips early - low (up to 30 centimeters in height) tulips with large, up to 8 centimeters in diameter, bright double flowers.

2. Mid-blooming tulips

Triumph tulips - Plants up to 70 centimeters high with large goblet flowers of various colors - from white to purple.

Darwin hybrids - very tall flowers, up to 80 centimeters high. The flowers are large, goblet, red or bicolor. Frost resistant.

3. Late flowering tulips

Tulips simple late - powerful plants up to 70-75 centimeters high. Flowers with a square base, petals are blunt. The color of flowers can be white, black, pink, purple, there are two-color varieties. The class of simple late tulips also includes multi-flowered tulips (spray tulips) - bouquets of flowers bearing up to 5 flowers on one peduncle. Late tulip blooms in the second half of May.

Lilac tulips - plants up to 60 centimeters high. The flowers are graceful and elongated, resembling lilies. The petals are narrow, pointed, bent outward. Lily tulips bloom from mid-May.

Fringed tulips - Plants of the most varied heights and colors. Fringed tulips are distinguished by the presence of a needle-like fringe along the edge of the petals.

Green tulips - usually of medium to tall stature, with narrow leaves. A distinctive feature of green tulips is green strokes, spots or stripes on the outside of the petal, which, as a rule, looks very impressive against a bright yellow, red, pink or white background. Bloom in the second half of May.

Rembrandt tulips - Plants of various heights with variegated goblet-shaped flowers. Strokes, spots, stripes on a red, white or yellow background make these variegated tulips very effective.

Parrot tulips - Plants of various heights and colors, characterized by a very exotic flower shape. The rugged, wavy, 'disheveled' petals of this class of tulips resemble a crumpled tropical bird. The flowers can also be of enormous size.

Terry tulips late , or peony tulips - are distinguished by very large, bright double flowers of various colors. Not resistant to rain and wind.

4. Wild species of tulips, their varieties and their hybrids (botanical tulips):

Kaufman tulips, varieties and hybrids;

Foster's tulips, varieties and hybrids;

Greig's tulips, varieties and hybrids;

other species, including wild tulips and their varieties and hybrids.

Growing conditions

Tulip is a flower that grows well in open sunny areas, sheltered from the wind. Soils for tulips are preferable fertile, loose, loamy or sandy loam, with or slightly alkaline reaction. In general, tulips in cultivation are quite undemanding, they can adapt to almost any conditions, however, if agricultural technology is not followed, they can become smaller and degenerate.

Application

Tulips flowers are grown in group plantings, on, under trees, as well as in containers, flowerpots,. A huge variety of tulip varieties, shapes and colors allows you to create a wide variety of compositions. And by choosing the varieties of tulips according to the flowering time, you can achieve the fact that they will continuously replace each other from April to June. Tulips in spring are able to bloom the garden with the brightest colors long before the appearance of most other flowering plants. Good partners for tulips are, and other spring plants. Tulips are also suitable for forcing. Cut tulips stand in a vase for a very long time.

Care

As soon as tulips begin to sprout in spring, they must be carefully examined. Sick plants, with slow growth, signs of disease, should be immediately dug up and destroyed in order to avoid the spread of diseases. About three times during the growing season, it is advisable to feed tulips in the garden with water-soluble mineral fertilizers. Watering is necessary regularly, but in moderation. Tulip is a plant that does not tolerate stagnant water. Regular weeding and loosening of the soil are required. After flowering, tulip care is practically stopped.

Tulip bulbs are usually dug up after the ground part of the plant has died and stored until next spring in a cool dry place. There are tulip species that do not need to be dug up annually.

You can learn more about how to grow tulips, as well as how to care for tulips, from the special.

Reproduction

Garden forms of tulips are propagated, as a rule, by daughter bulbs. Tulips are planted before winter, in September. Seed propagation of tulips is usually used only for breeding new varieties when breeding tulips or when propagating wild species.

Diseases and pests

The main reason for the disease is the wrong cultivation of tulips. Tulips are often affected by fungal diseases - these are various types of rot, rhizoctonia, trichoderma, penicellosis. Preventive measures - good drainage, fresh soil, fungicide treatment is possible. Viral diseases of tulips - variegation, August disease. Infected plants are destroyed along with the clod of earth where they grew. Pests of tulips - onion mites, aphids, onion hoverflies, wireworms, bears. Aphids, in addition, can be a carrier of diseases. Usually, aphids are sprayed with pesticide preparations. To combat pests that damage the bulbs, systematic weeding and loosening of the soil are carried out.

Popular varieties

Early tulip varieties

'Beauty of Apeldoorn'- a plant with a height of about 55 centimeters. Yellow-gold tulip, densely double flowers, rounded petals, outer petals with green strokes. The 'Beauty of Apeldoorn' tulip blooms in April.

‘Abba’- scarlet red tulip with green stripes on the outer petals. The 'Abba' tulip blooms in the second half of April.

'Monte Carlo'- yellow tulips 25-35 centimeters high. The 'Monte Carlo' tulip blooms in the second half of April.

Triumph tulip varieties

Tulip varieties of simple late

‘Shirley’- a graceful white tulip with lilac strokes along the upper edge of the petal. The height of the 'Shirley' tulip is up to 50 centimeters. Blooming in May.

'Toronto'- pink-yellow-orange tulips in burgundy veins. Tulip leaves 'Toronto' (white-bordered).

‘Menton’- pink tulips. The height of the 'Menton' tulip is up to 60 centimeters.

‘Picche’- a tulip of an unusual shape, with the edges of the petals bent outward. The color of the flowers of the 'Picche' tulip is lilac-pink.

Terry tulip variety late ‘Ice Cream’- the flower of this tulip is shaped like a glass of ice cream. The short outer petals of the 'Ice Cream' tulip are pale pink with green touches. The dense and longer inner petals are snow-white, forming a foamy 'cap'.

Green tulip variety ‘China Town’- a spectacular tulip with curved pale pink petals in light green stripes. Tulip leaves ‘China Town’ with white edging around the edge.

Tulips are the favorite spring bulbs.

In many respects, they owe their popularity and status of an "inviolable" plant to a very large assortment. There are hundreds of tulip species and thousands of varieties.

Tulip dwarf Tulipa humilis

And if all attention is traditionally distracted by bright and beautiful varietal hybrids, then species are not so popular.

But they have something to boast about. At least - unpretentiousness, endurance and lack of need for annual digging. One such underestimated natural species is the charming dwarf tulip.

The touching crumbs are made for a potted garden and alpine slides.

Dwarf tulip Helena

Tiny wild-growing tulips, which are classified as dwarf tulip, can be found in the highlands of Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

In the wild, they always settle on rocky slopes, which determines excellent characteristics for their cultivation in rockeries and rock gardens. Dwarf tulips belong to the subgenus Eriostemones.

These are drought-resistant, very easy-to-grow species of plants that will pleasantly surprise you with their beauty and unpretentiousness.

Dwarf tulip "Persian Pearl".

The leaves are miniature: from 5 to 12 cm in length, they never exceed 1 cm in width, upon close examination, they surprise with a wavy edge and an almost matte, bright green or silvery-green color.

In favorable conditions, plants can be decorated with a purple border, there are also some varieties with reddish leaves.

The outer side of the flower is whitish or white, with a brownish-purple bloom on the "back" of the petals along the outer edge.

Dwarf tulip "Alba Coerulea Oculata"

Blooming of dwarf tulips begins in the first days of May (if the spring is warm).

It cannot boast of its duration, but even a few weeks give a magical sight. Many varietal plants bloom in late May-June.

Dwarf tulip "Liliput"

Dwarf tulip "Tete-a-Tete"

Dwarf tulip "Violacea"

The best varieties are rightfully ranked as:

"Alba Coerulea Oculata" with a dark blue throat and a double flower, reminiscent of crocuses or miniature daylilies;
"Odalisque" is a cherry-lilac variety with a yellow throat and bright golden stamens;
"Lilliput" is a scarlet-red variety with rather narrow petals, with a black base and a dark blue-violet throat;
"Tete-a-Tete" is a terry scarlet variety, somewhat reminiscent of parrot tulips in miniature;
"Persian Pearl" is a dark lilac-pink variety with a wide lemon "bottom" and very narrow leaves;
Eastern Star is a mauve variety with bronze outer petals and lemon throat;
Violacea is a bright purple cultivar with a yellow-black fawn.

Dwarf tulip "Eastern Star"

I use dwarf tulips in the decoration of the garden

as potted plants;
in complex container compositions for balconies and terraces, stone flower girls;
on alpine slides and rockeries;
in the design of portable rock gardens;
for distillation;
in groups on the lawn;
in flower beds on the terrace;
in the foreground of flower beds.

The best partners for dwarf tulip: ornamental cereals (especially fescue and hare tail), sedum, saxifrage

Conditions required for a dwarf tulip

But the requirements for the soil of the dwarf tulip are somewhat different. It can be planted both on flat areas and on slopes.

He loves loose, light soils more than his relatives, and in this regard is a typical plant for decorating rock gardens.

Stagnant water or high groundwater levels are unacceptable.

The alpine slides for tiny tulips create ideal conditions, since the drained loose soil eliminates the risk of waterlogging. The higher the nutrient content of the soil, the better.

Loam and sandy loam are ideal for dwarf tulip and its varieties, but any other soil can be adjusted by adding peat, organic fertilizers and sand (in sandy soils - clay) when planting.

Drainage is desirable. The reaction of the soil should be slightly alkaline or at least neutral (pH - from 7.0 and below).

When grown in containers, either a special substrate for bulbous plants or a universal substrate for potted plants is selected.

High drainage is laid at the bottom of the tanks.

Dwarf tulip containers should only be placed in well-lit areas.

Dwarf tulip "Odalisque"

When and how to plant dwarf tulips

The best time to plant dwarf tulips is the last decade of September and the first decade of October.

In the ground, the bulbs are installed strictly vertically, bottom down, carefully, without pressing.

With the onset of the first frost, planting is necessarily mulched with any available materials, creating a layer of peat, compost, leaves, substrate about 6-8 cm high.

Dwarf tulip care:

Close inspection of plantings in early spring with the excavation of plants with signs of disease.
Top dressing with full mineral fertilizers during snow melting, during budding, and potassium-phosphorus fertilizers at the peak of flowering or immediately after it.
Watering in drought during budding and flowering (under dry conditions, the plant may not bloom, the rest of the time watering is not needed).
Weeding with a slight simultaneous separation of the soil at the very beginning of leaf growth.
Regular inspections of plants during the flowering period for signs of damage.
Removal of peduncles and yellowed foliage.

This type of tulips does not need to be excavated annually (unless you want to propagate them).