Tulip turkestanica

Tulipa turkestanica is one of the best tulips for an informal, wild or naturalistic look to your garden. Regarded as a leading tulip species for naturalising: just throw a handful of bulbs out over the grass and plant them where they fall. Leave plants in the ground for several years, and they will gradually form a naturalised swathe of early spring colour. Tulipa turkestanica produces attractive grey-green leaves, and beautiful pointy, elegant flowers of ivory white, with a deep yellow and orange base, flushed reddish-green on the outside. Flowers are followed by seedpods that are almost as pretty! Many modern tulip cultivars have just one bloom per stem, but this species is multi-flowered, with as many as 12 blooms per plant!

As you may expect from its name, this tulip was first spotted growing wild in parts of Persia and Asia Minor. However, its native lands actually stretch from the Mediterranean, right across to the Himalayas and the Far East. It likes to grow in a well-drained soil, in full sun.

Tulipa turkestanica is in the Tulip Group 15 (Miscellaneous). It is considered such a good plant that the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) have awarded it a coveted Award of Garden Merit.