The 25 Best Tulips for Your Garden
Negrita
Though it's not as darkly colored as its name suggests ("nigra" means black in Latin), the purple color looks great in the garden with almost everything.
Name: Tulipa 'Negrita'
Bloom Season: Mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained
Size: To 16 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It's an especially good cut flower with strong stems. It also forces well.
- Learn more about other beautiful bulbs such as cannas.
- Learn more about other beautiful bulbs such as chionodoxa.
Prinses Irene
It's an odd color combination, but it works: 'Prinses Irene' offers orange flowers with purple markings. It's an eye catcher!
Name: Tulipa 'Prinses Irene'
Bloom Season: Early to mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 14 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It's beautifully fragrant and uniquely colored.
Sweetheart
A fosteriana tulip, 'Sweetheart' offers creamy ivory flowers tipped in bright white.
Name: Tulipa 'Sweetheart'
Bloom Season: Early to mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 16 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It's a strong grower and combines easily with other bulbs (here it's shown with 'Mercato' daffodil).
Zurel
A boldly colored triumph-type, 'Zurel' offers rich purple blooms with white streaks.
Name: Tulipa 'Zurel'
Bloom Season: Mid to late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 18 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It has strong, sturdy stems; phenomenal color, and is great for forcing for indoor bouquets.
Unicum
Perhaps the boldest tulip in spring, 'Unicum' offers screaming red-orange flowers and brightly variegated foliage.
Name: Tulipa praestans 'Unicum'
Bloom Season: Mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 1 foot tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: This species tends to reliably come back every year, bears many blooms per stem, and has gorgeous cream-striped foliage.
Menton
This classic variety bears pinkish-red flowers shaded with orange and salmon tones.
Name: Tulipa 'Menton'
Bloom Season: Mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 2 feet tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It offers large flowers that are great for cutting and a unique color.
Fusilier
A showstopper each year in the Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden, 'Fusilier' produces a bouquet of red-orange blooms on each stem.
Name: Tulipa praestans 'Fusilier'
Bloom Season: Mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 1 foot tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: This variety tends to reliably come back every year and bears many brightly colored blooms per stem.
Estella Rijnveld
We wait for late spring to roll around each year so we can enjoy this fantastic parrot tulip. Its bold red flowers are cut, fringed, and twisted, as well as streaked with white. It's tulip perfection.
Name: Tulipa 'Estella Rijnveld'
Bloom Season: Mid to late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 16 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It's one of the most eye-catching varieties we've ever seen. It's also a great cut flower.
Black Parrot
Of the coolest hybrid tulips, parrot types are some of our favorites because of their fantastically fringed and twisted petals. 'Black Parrot' is an especially nice choice with dark purple blooms.
Name: Tulipa 'Black Parrot'
Bloom Season: Mid to late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 2 feet tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It's one of the most dramatic, showstopping tulips available. The deep, dark blooms add mystery to the spring garden.
Montreux
What a way to kick off spring! This early bloomer offers double, ivory-yellow flowers in the softest shade imaginable.
Name: Tulipa 'Montreux'
Bloom Season: Early to mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 16 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: Its double flowers look like golden peonies. They add a soft, romantic element to the garden.
Angelique
Perhaps the most elegant of tulips, 'Angelique' bears double, soft-pink flowers that look like peonies.
Name: Tulipa 'Angelique'
Bloom Season: Late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 16 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It offers gorgeous color, a great fragrance, and sometimes perennializes well.
Burning Heart
It's no wonder striped tulips were among the most valuable during the Holland's tulip-mania in the 1600s. 'Burning Heart' is an exceptional selection with creamy blooms streaked with bold red.
Name: Tulipa 'Burning Heart'
Bloom Season: Mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 2 feet tall
Zones:4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: Its brightly striped blooms are great for cutting or in the garden. It's also a great forcing variety.
Big Smile
After growing this tulip, you'll understand why it earned its name. The big, golden-yellow flowers are perfect for cutting and a fun way to close the tulip season.
Name: Tulipa 'Big Smile'
Bloom Season: Late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 2 feet tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It has large flowers and a wonderful color. It's an eye-catching variety that really stands out.
Tarda
Among the cheeriest of tulips, this wild species offers thin leaves and golden flowers with white-tipped petals.
Name: Tulipa tarda
Bloom Season: Early spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 6 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: Because it's a species tulip, it tends to reliably come back every year.
Tubergen's Gem
This little variety is a gem -- the outer petals are a rich red and the inner petals are sunny yellow. It's particularly delightful in the sun when the petals open wide.
Name: Tulipa clusiana 'Tubergen's Gem'
Bloom Season: Mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 10 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It's a very low-maintenance variety that provides lots of color every year. You don't have to replant it!
Linifolia
It's hard not to fall in love with this precious species. It bears bright red blooms early in the season; as the flowers open, they reveal a dark, purple-black splotch at the base.
Name: Tulipa linifolia
Bloom Season: Mid to late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 6 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It's a low-growing wild type that perennializes well so you can plant and enjoy.
Lilac Wonder
A charming tulip with a wonderful soft-pink color, the blooms open to reveal a bright yellow blotch at the base.
Name: Tulipa saxatilis 'Lilac Wonder'
Bloom Season: Mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 6 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It's a good perennial variety that often blooms more and more each year.
Kolpakowskiana
A relatively unknown tulip, this species offers small, bright yellow flowers. An added bonus: It often produces more than one bloom per stem.
Name: Tulipa kolpakowskiana
Bloom Season: Early to mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: This species tends to reliably come back every year and offers a bouquet of blooms on each stem.
Turkestanica
A wild species that's a great naturalizer, this species bears creamy blooms with golden centers.
Name: Tulipa turkestanica
Bloom Season: Early spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It often produces several flowers to a stem, has a nice fragrance, and comes back every year.
Persian Pearl
This colorful little beauty offers magenta-rose blooms that bear a bright yellow center that's revealed on warm, sunny days.
Name: Tulipa humilis 'Persian Pearl'
Bloom Season: Early to mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 4 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It has great, rich color and tends to bloom better every year.
Queen of Night
A dark purple bloomer for late spring, 'Queen of Night' offers some of the darkest flowers found in a tulip.
Name: Tulipa 'Queen of Night'
Bloom Season: Late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 2 feet tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It has deep, velvety-purple flowers that are perfect for cutting or in the garden.
Burgundy Lace
With a beauty all its own, 'Burgundy Lace' has deep wine-red blooms that offer fringed petal edges. It blooms in late spring.
Name: Tulipa 'Burgundy Lace'
Bloom Season: Mid to late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 18 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: The rich color looks great against most other spring colors and the crystalline edges give it a special touch.
Fancy Frills
This beauty offers rose-pink flowers with delicately fringed edges. It's especially elegant paired with blue grape hyacinths for a fantastic color combination.
Name: Tulipa 'Fancy Frills'
Bloom Season: Mid to late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 16 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: The lacy petal edges work perfectly with the soft pink color.
Pink Impression
An all-around great variety, 'Pink Impression' bears rose flowers with varying shadings of pink.
Name: Tulipa 'Pink Impression'
Bloom Season: Mid spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 2 feet tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: It's a top-notch cut flower with strong stems, great color, and really big flowers.
Red Riding Hood
This wonderful greigii-type tulip bursts into bloom producing bright red blooms that absolutely scream that winter's over.
Name: Tulipa 'Red Riding Hood'
Bloom Season: Mid to late spring
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall
Zones: 4-6
Native to North America: No
Why We Love It: The bright red blooms are a great contrast to the mottled purple foliage.
