..how sweet, and cheerful..... mine aren't out yet, a few I have are similar to yours..hopefully they won't be long now....

Lovely! Thank you for sharing.

Oh, I'm so jealous. Voles have made tulips impossible here--lilies too.

The sprengeri tulips are poking out of the soil - this will be the first year (after a 5 year wait ) that the bulbs are mature enough to bloom. The species tulips are excellent value for money - increasing and reliably returning, year on year. Along with the cheerful sprengeri, I cannot praise these little jewels enough, T.batalini - with those pale glaucous leaves, are still some of my favourites, along with the lady tulips - chrysantha and new to me this year are our native woodlanders - tulipa sylvestris.

Deer have made tulips impossible here. I used to be able to grow them (back when the orchards tried to shoot deer instead of fence them out)

I love the species tulips...far more than the hybrids (which are too big and overblown)..lovely.

Very pretty, daves10.

We don't see species tulips in flower here until late April/early May.

For us, the only problem, like with the crocuses, is the voles, but I just plant more in the fall.

Among our most cheaply available and dependable is Tulipa tarda (below; May 9, 2014).

Bang-for-buck, I really like multi-headed, variegated-leafed, Tulipa praestans 'Unicum' (May 4, 2013).

I like all the little tulips too! As SB says, they bloom in May for us. The little Tarda ones make great companions with the big Ivory Floradale (a cross between Fosteriana and Darwin tulips) that fades from yellow to ivory white over its long bloom period. The Floradales have come back, bigger and better, for me every year since they were planted in fall 2002. Turkestanica tulips are another favorite - they look a bit like the Tarda ones, but are taller and the flowers nod a bit before the open wide in the sun. Not the greatest of pictures... :

Another favorite is 'Little Beauty' - one I keep meaning to order more of, but always forget by fall! When the flowers are open, the centers are blue with a white border! Check them out on Google images. This clump in the backyard dates back to 2002:

left undisturbed species tulips, and crocus will multiply and seed themselves. some fade away, i have very few clusiana left, but its genetic material shows up in most of the seedlings. because i put some new shrubs into the species tulip area i have many fewer this year but by next spring they should have gotten over the sulks.

Very pretty, Woody.

David Tomlinson, at Merlin's Hollow, has sheets of crocuses in spring. He's said that his crocuses seed into the wet leaves he spreads over his garden each fall. Unlike he and you, I've never noticed crocuses that have seeded. Perhaps it's because of the extensive cultivation of the perennial beds that I do.

I know that David likes to leave the beds alone (except for the addition of wet leaves in fall), that is once he's planted them. You mention non-disturbance as promoting crocus seeding as well.

Of course, some of our disturbance is also voles. David puts out beer cans containing warfarin ( hole in can slightly enlarged - but nothing other than voles can get in). He says this manages rather that solves the vole problem.

Overall, I'm thinking that the voles aren't so bad. They certainly contribute to the aeration of our clay soil and I believe that there's some evidence that they help make nutrients available to the roots of the perennial plant that bloom after the spring bulbs.

Campanula.... I love the clusiana's... I intend to get chrysantha at some point...I have been grown 'Lady Jane' for years and never have enough of these...

..congratulations on your sprengeri successes... a garden near me has them and I admire every year as I walk past....

...really enjoying everyone's photos...

Hi Marloreana, I wondered where you bought bulbs from? For ages, I used Peter Nyssen but now buy them from Gedneys. Pretty generic (you won't find sprengeri) and you have to order in larger amounts (minimum tulips, 25, say....but the prices are really excellent, as are the bulbs. I am dithering over Galtonia and liatris at the moment...

Campanula - I tried Galtonia a couple of times but gave up long ago - totally destroyed by snails. The pictures looked so nice .....

..since I've been at this garden, Campanula, I haven't got round to ordering bulbs on line, so I pick things up as I see them.....I think we are blessed with some great nurseries, and rare plant fairs, in our area.....but for next year I will be ordering from Broadleigh gardens in Somerset, Pottertons in Lincoln, and probably Nyssen's - thanks for that I hadn't checked them out before.... between them they should satisfy my needs I think.... Broadleigh have sprengeri in small quantities.... I thought Gedneys were wholesale...not sure...

...Pottertons have a good choice of Nerine's... and I really want more of those...

...I'm really looking forward to drawing up a list for later this year - no more room for roses...

...hasn't it been dry lately,..? can't remember last time it rained....

edit.

...and of course it's pouring down today...

are we near each other, Marloreana (in the east anglian hinterland?)
Yep, we are pretty lucky as far as great nurseries go...and there are always the HPS and NPhG fairs (just spent less money than I feared at Monksilver's 'Spring Thing' but am still astonished by my eldest's profligate galanthophile madness moment - Primrose Warburg and Tubby - woosh- £50 gone (I stuck to primroses and pulmonarias myself for a measly £20).

...I'm tempted to say I'm astonished, but I would pay that for roses or some other rarity.... so who am I to judge..?.... I prefer Crocus's though...I have to say...flowering a little later as they do, just as I poke my head out the door for the season...

...I'm up near Wisbech...which is quite nice, they have good plant auctions and open gardens.... lots of nurseries too.... the one at West Acre east of King's Lynn is always worth a visit...it leaves me bankrupt but never mind...

... my best local I would say is this one below.... in case you're ever travelling through the area...

...Rachaels Plant Outlet at Tamar nurseries... they sell retail at wholesale prices and I'm always picking something up.... at West Walton, near Wisbech.... I think we're very luck to have this... amongst a number of others....

Rachael's...

..I also consult this page rather a lot....so much to peruse...

Rare plants...

...I know you like species roses... I don't tend to grow these as they don't suit my current garden, but 'Fruhlingsmorgen', 'Complicata' and 'Stanwell Perpetual'...would be 3 of that ilk - wildish looking... that I've enjoyed so much in the past.... and would have again if I had the room.... I grew them in Cornwall...

..kind regards...

mixing it up. there are going to be a myriad of tarda very soon. they seem to be very resistant to interbreeding, the clumps all remain single species.

The tulips look great. I'll be keeping my eyes open this fall in order to add a few, I have a couple spots which should be perfect!

some very red tulips

Oh, cheers for the info, Marloreana. My eldest has to buy a huge tranche of plants and, as usual, wholesale often means buying massive multiples but I guess we might check out Tamar nurseries ourselves.

Mmmm, have lingered on the Rare Plants site myself, along with Cotswold Garden Flowers...and Plantworld or Special Plants for seeds (especially now Chilterns have gone a bit sideways).

The reddest tulips I grow were bought for the almost unpronounceable name (tulipa Vvedenskyi).

not a tulip but a pretty thing-hoopskirt