BEDDING TULIPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21538, 9 January 1932, Page 3

BEDDING TULIPS

Formal bedding as it was known in pre-Avar days is no longer practised, but for an early spring display tulips in all their brilliant, flaunting colours are yet supreme. Although completely at home in almost any part of the garden, they undoubtedly look their best in formal beds or borders, and planted in more or less geometrical formation. These, however, need never be stereotyped. The range of colour available is such that almost endless combinations present themselves. Brightly contrasted shades are probably the favourite scheme, but subtle blendings of the more delicate tints are also practicable for the amateur Avith an eye for colour effect. The different sections show a considerable variation in height. .From the lordly Lanvins and Breeders, some of Avhich reach nearly four feet in height, they grade down to the modest foot to fifteen inches of the early single and double varieties. Tho full value of these dwarfer early sections is overlooked by a great many amateurs. They are ideal for bedding work in the average villa or suburban garden, coming into flower a full fortnight or three weeks before the latc-floAvcring sections. Rubra maxima conveys a good impression of the merits of the early double varieties. The full flowers arc exceptionally long-lasting, and all forms are endowed Avith stiff, strong stems from ten to fifteen inches in length. Rubra maxima itself is charming in association with the golden-yelloAV Mr Van der Hoeff, or Couronno d’Or, a deep yellow, flushed Avith orange. These varieties may also be advantageously bedded Avith Vuurbank, a brilliant orange-scarlet, A combination of the tevo colours—red and yellow—is to be found in Tournesol, a very good variety for tiny beds in which two different tulips might tend to bo out of place. Among the pink varieties Murillo and Tea Rose are still first favourites. The pale pink, white-flushed flowers of the former are a restful change from the more highly-coloured varieties, and tho changing colours of Tea Rose —from yellow, faintly tinged Avith pink, to salmon, suffused with yelloAv—aro ahvays an attraction. Two good pinks, both of them sports from Murillo, arc Apple Blossom, deep rose, and Peach Blossom,