Tulip Grand Perfection

Tulip Grand Perfection – is quite a title to live up to. Rembrandt tulips are mid to late flowering bulbs appearing in late April into May. They are a single flowering tulip on long stems. Tulip Grand Perfection is an outwardly reflexed petal, as opposed to some of the more oval flowers in this group, which makes it stand out. Tulip Grand Perfections flower has a faded yellow base colour, but is dramatically flamed in magenta red. These tulip bulbs have never failed to put on a good performance. You’ll be impressed by the unique red markings and elegant shape. Whether they’re to your taste or not, Tulip Grand Perfection are certainly heading towards a perfect flower.

Plant Tulip Grand Perfection in a group so you can compare their flames. You can fit a pack of 10 tulip bulbs into a mid-size planter. Or add them into matching colours of either light yellow or red to emphasise the flames. You can plant these amongst lily flowering or single late tulips.

What are Rembrandt Tulips?

Rembrandt tulips are usually white or yellow with streaks of colour rising up from the base of the flower. These are well defined stripes with a larger stripe in the centre of the petal and smaller stripes leading off from the side. This creates a wonderful flame effect. Rembrandt tulip bulbs are a replication of the early 16^th century Dutch tulips. They inspired so many paintings of the time. There is undoubtedly an air of classical brilliance to these flamed tulip flowers.

When do I plant Tulips?

Tulip bulbs will be shipped to you from the middle of September once we have received the bulbs. The optimum time to plant tulips is in Autumn, when the soil has cooled down from October to December, but you can plant as late as January. To get the best results, plant them in moist soil during autumn, this will activate the growth of the roots before winter. Tulip bulbs need a spell of 6 weeks of cold weather to activate them into flowering in spring.

How do I plant Tulip bulbs?

Tulip bulbs start with a good source of moisture and nutrients stored within the bulb, so you don’t need to feed, soak, or prepare them in any way.

The sun will make the tulip flowers open very wide, but they close again overnight. They can be planted in full sun to see the full effect of them opening up or in semi shade to prolong the flowering time, with well-drained slightly acidic or neutral soil. Taller varieties should be sheltered from strong winds to avoid damage.

Plant tulip bulbs 10-15cm deep in well-draining soil. Place 5-10cm apart to stop the roots competing and the foliage getting cramped. It doesn’t matter if the bulbs fall to their side as they can still grow without hinderance. Tulip bulbs produce a lot of roots that don’t like to sit in water, but once they start growing make sure they don’t dry out. If planting in pots, make sure they have good drainage and lots of room for the roots to develop. Pots can dry out quite quickly so a loam soil is often best.

How do I store tulip bulbs?

Once your Tulips are finished, you can deadhead them but do not remove the leaves, the bulbs need these to gather and store the energy needed to flower again the following year.

Tulip bulbs can be kept in the ground all year round, but you may find that they don’t put on as much of a display as the previous year.

Once the foliage has yellowed and died back, it can be removed, then carefully dig the tulip bulbs up. Clean the soil off and let the bulbs dry. Discard any damaged ones. Store tulip bulbs in nets or paper bags, but make sure you label them. Keep in a cool dark place ready to replant in the Autumn. You can read more about why and how you should lift tulip bulbs.