October, 1916 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
93 
I 
i 
*1 
«i 
V 
* 
t 
i; 
a 
T 
I 
r 
1 
f 
« 
5 
<» 
) 
I 
( 
ft 
t 
i 
Late Tulips planted in the perennial border in fall give bloom in spring 
Tulip Pride of Haarlem with white perennial Candytuft. At top right Tulipa vitellina 
shall speak later, but it is also necessary. 
Likewise there is the work of committing the 
bulbs to memory, a fine mental test. I have 
a prejudice against owning things I can’t 
name, but it is a difficult matter to distinguish 
between many of the rose and pink Darwins, 
some of the scarlets, and the series of brown 
and purple breeders. However, it can be 
done and is worth the effort. 
I have been growing Tulips for thirty years 
and I still have my original stock of late and 
Parrot bulbs. The earlies I have allowed to 
go the way of all flesh and vegetation yet 
many of them survive. In the face of this 
persistence, I can’t believe in the evanescent 
character of the Tulip. 
The breeder Cardinal Manning is the most 
persistent, prolific and unkillable bulb of any 
sort that I ever encountered. I’ve had this 
huge purple or lilac Tulip for thirty years and 
never identified it until three years ago. 
Likewise, I have had another very enduring 
Tulip for thirty years which I have not yet 
identified. It is a flame color, apparently a 
cottage Tulip, with a rose flush on the outside 
of the petals and a yellow base slightly starred 
with green. It is very fragrant. Each 
year I’ve bought something that sounded like 
it by description but have never found out 
what it was. It is known for convenience as 
“The Great Unknown.’’ It is a peculiar 
mingling of yellow and orange scarlet and 
never fails to elicit enthusiasm. 
For some reason or another there was much 
confusion in the labelling of the Tulips last 
fall. I bought Emerald Gem, presumably, 
and when it bloomed it was Fairy. A friend 
of mine bought Baronne de la Tonnaye, and 
the bulbs proved to be double early whites. 
I had endeavored to identify “The Great 
Unknown” as Emerald Gem, a Tulip not in 
my collection. 
There is a temptation in considering a col- 
lection of Darwin Tulips to start with the 
blacks, so called, and grading them along to the 
whites. I had tried this one year. The 
cerises, scarlets, and salmons attracted all the 
attention while the pale shades suffered. 
This fact was considered in the construction 
of the color scheme and the solving of this 
puzzle proved to be the making of the planting. 
First of all, in taking stock I found that I 
had the heaviest supply of Cardinal Manning. 
This, therefore, became the basis of the plan. 
I also had a large quantity of yellow and 
orange shades, zoo or so Gesneriana spathu- 
lata major, and lOO or more Clara Butt, 
Farnscombe Sanders, and Leonardo da Vinci. 
At one end of the bed is a clump of Persian ' 
Lilacs. At the other a big clump of Golden 
Bell (Forsythia). The Lilacs and Darwins 
bloom at the same time, hence the Persian 
Lilacs were figured in lifting the color scheme 
into the air and in front of them was laid down 
a good sized colony of Cardinal Manning, 
carrying out the lilac shade, a colony of Clara 
Butt intervening by way of contrast and to 
emphasize the lilac shades. The light green 
of the new Forsythia foliage served as a back- 
ground for the yellows and oranges. 
Cardinal Manning usually is described as 
wine red flushed rosy brown. I have always 
had a curiosity to know what brand of wine 
the author of this description used, for none of 
the well known vintages giveth such a color 
in the cup. This Tulip, which is also known 
as Goliath, is a very tall Tulip, about 34 
inches, and has a huge bloom. Its general 
appearance is rosy lilac on the outside of the 
petals. The inside is a mixture of purple 
and brown. It has the typical dull color of 
the breeder class. 
Roughly, the range of coloring ran as follows: 
Dark maroon and blue purples, browns, lilacs, 
with rose pink colonies interspersed in order 
to relieve the dull shades; then the deep roses. 
lighter roses, lavenders and buffs, white shades, 
ranging into the cerise, salmon scarlets, blood 
reds, oranges, yellows, apricots, buffs and 
finishing with the pale primrose vitellina. 
Colonies with deeper shades were interspersed 
at the light end of the bed and lighter shades 
at the dark end. “High lights,” the artist 
designer called these little dot plantings. 
One great difficulty in arranging a color 
planting of Tulips is that of rightly interpret- 
ing the catalogue descriptions of the blooms. 
It is best to use Tulips with which we are 
familiar. For instance, my idea of an apricot 
— I believe it is the common one superinduced 
by inspection and consumption of the fruit 
of that name — is a shade the general effect of 
which is a soft salmony yellow. The Tulip 
named Apricot, which is described as ruddy 
apricot with a lighter toned edge, is really a 
rusty brown with a lighter edge, a rather un- 
attractive dingy affair. Naturally it did not 
fit the scheme. Decayed apricot would better 
describe this Tulip. However, properly placed 
it is not so bad. 
It is considerable of a gamble to place 
Tulips from descriptions. When you find a 
dull dark red described as old rose and the 
commonly accepted maroon described as 
blood red, it is time to contemplate and en- 
deavor to reach a working basis. I now want 
to see Tulips in bloom before banking on their 
color. We found two or three rather jarring 
notes in our planting due to a misapprehension 
of the descriptions. Other plantings which 
were accidental gave us combinations of 
unusual beauty. In fact a color planting 
evolves itself from season to season. 
Before proceeding farther it may be of 
interest to catalogue the Tulips used according 
to their class and color as follows: 
Darwins. White and very light shades: 
White Queen, Wedding Veil, Painted Lady. 
Pink and flesh: Mrs. Cleveland, Gretchen, 
