MAY FLOWERING TULIPS 
HAT endless varieties there are of May flowering Tulips, Culture 
and what a delight they bring one every year! How of May 
much too the gardens miss that do not grow them! Tulips 
The reason of my own love for them, perhaps, is that they do well 
here, rather appreciating than objecting to lime, and benefiting 
from the dryness of our soil. Coming from Southern Europe, or 
the hotter East, the bulbs need warmth to dry them thoroughly, 
and thus enable them to stand the winter. In cold soils they 
must be lifted every year when their leaves have died; they 
should then be dried in the sun and stored till autumn. 
Most of the Darwin and Cottage varieties are far easier 
of management in this respect than the earlier kinds, and can 
be left in the ground till they have increased so much that they 
need division. Deep planting is a secret of success; they like 
well to be one foot underground, and no manure should be 
allowed near the bulbs. 
Most of the May Tulips grown are florists’ varieties, 
many of them derived from 7. Gesneriana, but there are also 
many fine species, for instance 7. didieri alba—a lovely, 
sweet-scented white, and J. retroflexa—a yellow with curved, 
lily-like petals, which should be in every garden. Although not 
quite so apparent, the Lily form is seen again in T. elegans, 
and in a slighter degree in such a Tulip as Picotee. 
There are two great classes of May-flowering Tulips, 
the so-called Darwin and Cottage. The former generally 
have round, cup-shaped flowers set on sturdy, upright 
Q r21 
