From Bluestone Perennials in fall 2018 - Cafe Noir and Island in the Sun (40 bulbs)
From High Country Gardens in fall 2020 - Tequila Sunrise (10 bulbs)
30 are 'Island in the Sun' mixed warm oranges and pinks, with a few lovely whites, and 10 are a dark wine-purple 'Cafe Noir'. The spot along the garage wall is protected and warm. I amended the soil quote a bit, as it was just hardpan and sand up against the garage.
In 2020 I added 10 more from High Country Gardens, called Tequila Sunrise. I thought they would be brighter, warmer colors, mostly coral and yellow and apricot. But they were more candy colored.
The flowering in 2021 wasn't as big and showy as 2020 at all, and I liked the deeper oranges and purples punctuated with white better.
From High Country Gardens in fall 2020 - Tequila Sunrise (10 bulbs)
Expectations:
I wanted a line of sturdy tulips in multi colors to brighten the wall of the garage in April. They pop up through the bare branches of the late to emerge sumacs before those shrubs leaf out, then the declining tulip foliage is hidden by the leafed-out sumacs later in spring.
Cafe Noir is dark wine and a later bloomer. Multi colored Islands in the Sun is slightly earlier.
Experiences:
The bulbs all got torn up when the irrigation lines went in in fall 2021. Surprisingly, most came back, scattered in different spots but still along the garage wall.
They are in deep shade from the garage wall most of the day, and then get hot afternoon sun late in the day. The plan to have them come up before the fragrant sumacs fronting them leaf out has worked beautifully. And after the tulips go by the new foliage of the sumacs comes out and hides the declining tulip foliage.
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| May 2, 2019 |
Dark wine 'Cafe Noir' is a late bloomer, and the 'Island in the Sun' tulips are earlier, but in 2019 they all came out together the third week of April and all went by at the same time by Mother's Day.
30 are 'Island in the Sun' mixed warm oranges and pinks, with a few lovely whites, and 10 are a dark wine-purple 'Cafe Noir'. The spot along the garage wall is protected and warm. I amended the soil quote a bit, as it was just hardpan and sand up against the garage.
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| Tequila Sunrise - progression from April 23 - April 27, 2021 Some open yellow, then turn coppery orange and gold. |
The yellow ones bud out in a bright lemon yellow, then quickly turn gold, and then orange, which is interesting.
Tequila Sunrise wasn't as rich looking as the Cafe Noir and Island in the Sun colors from before, and they have a lot of candy pink and cherry red. They came out a week or more before the Cafe Noir and Island in the Sun.
After all the disruption from irrigation lines in fall 2021, the following springs in 2022 and 2023 were nice, but not showy. But it was surprising to see what did survive.
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| 2023 |