Our guide to tulip varieties
7th Feb 2025
Our Guide to Tulip Varieties
Tulips are a timeless symbol of spring, beloved for their vivid hues and graceful shapes. With countless varieties, there's a perfect tulip for every garden and floral arrangement.
Here’s our guide to a few popular tulip varieties…
Single early tulips & Double early tulips
Single
Usually are one of the first to flower, often at the same time as daffodils. Because they open during the cooler weather, their flowers usually last longer than later-blooming tulips. Though they are a typical cup shape, they’ll open wider if planted in the full sun.
Double
Sturdy, reliable and long-lasting, these tulips are naturally prepared for the unpredictable British weather. Though they have short stems, they will open wide in the full sun.
Triumph tulips
This is the largest group of tulips, and the one with the widest variety of colours. Long-lasting and hardy, they appear in the middle of spring.
Single & Double late tulips
Single late tulips
These late-blooming tulips appear in the early summer, and are among the most versatile on the market. They have large flowerheads, and their petals are often slightly pointed.
Double late tulips
Late to flower, this tulip appears towards the end of spring. Because of their large, silky, bowl-shaped flowerheads, they are also called ‘peony tulips’.
Darwin hybrid tulips
Blooming later in the season, these are taller than many other tulips, and are perennial, which means they can come back in future years provided the bulbs are well cared for. To encourage them to bloom for more than one year, plant them in a sunny spot, and ensure
soil is well-drained. Once the flowers have blooming, make sure to deadhead, and always let leaves slowly fade from green to yellow to help store energy for next year’s flowers.
Lily flowered tulips
With a unique fluted shape that flares at the top, this tulip flowers later in the season. They’re beloved for their elegant appearance and long stems
Fringed tulips
Similar to Lily flower tulips, this variety has a very delicate, lace-like edge. Also called ‘parrot tulips’.
Viridifolia tulips & Rembrandt tulips
Viridifolia tulips
Recognisable from the green streaks or ‘flames’ on their petals, the Viridifolia blooms during late spring. Their blooms are trumpet-shaped.
Rembrandt tulips
These bi-coloured tulips feature feather strokes of a secondary shade. Named for Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn.
Fosteriana tulips & Kaufmanniana tulips
Fosteriana tulips
Native to the Pamir Mountains and nearby areas of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, this early-flowering variety has flat, open blooms. Also called ‘Emperor tulips’.
Kaufmanniana tulips
This tulip is native to Central Asia, and its name references Konstantin von Kaufman, first Governor-General of Russian Turkestan where the tulip was found. Its six petals open out into a star shape similar to water lilies, earning it the nickname ‘water lily tulip’.