Life in Miniature

While tulips inevitably conjure visions of vast, Dutch fields painted with great stripes of vibrant colour, these cultivated giants represent just one aspect of tulips’ magic. In the same way that a microscope reveals a whole new world of life unimagined at first glance, delving into the tulip genus unveils an exciting array of bright, beautiful species tulips to bring joy to our gardens. Their habit and flowers are smaller than those of their common garden cousins, yet they still have the ability to delight each spring.

Although there are 70 species of tulips, only a handful are grown in gardens. Two in particular have given rise to two distinct races – the Greigii and the Kaufmanniana Groups – and there are other smaller species that have proved amenable to cultivation, offering