10 Stunning Tulips for Your Garden

Tulips (Tulipa) are a must-have in the spring garden. While the first flower bulbs are still modest in color and flower size, tulips bloom in a striking, colorful display with large flowers. The most beautiful tulips come in every color and in many shapes, sizes, and varieties—from tulips in soft pastel shades to truly vibrant colors. We’re all familiar with the classic single-flowered tulips, but don’t forget about double-flowered tulips, multicolored tulips, fringed tulips, and parrot tulips.

Tulips fit into any garden. Whether you have a sleek, modern garden or a flower-filled cottage garden, tulips add color to your garden or patio. Not only are they beautiful to look at in a flower bed, but tulips are also perfect for planting in pots or as cut flowers. Many tulips have a wonderful fragrance.

Planting tulips is easy and requires little to no gardening knowledge. In the first year, they almost always sprout without any problems—especially if the soil isn't too wet. The best time to plant them is from October through December. The first Buy Tulips They'll be available starting in September (or you can pre-order them earlier).

We're happy to showcase the most beautiful tulips for you, so you can more easily choose from the countless varieties and types of tulips.

The 10 Most Beautiful Tulips

1. Tulipa Purple Prince

Purple Prince is a very well-known and popular purple tulip. This single-flowered tulip blooms early and doesn’t grow too tall. This makes Purple Prince ideal for growing in a pot. It comes back every year—we’re delighted to see this beautiful tulip in our front yard year after year. It pairs beautifully with pink or white tulips. We personally combine Purple Prince with Purissima.

Features

• Flowering period: April
• Height: 35–40 cm
• Color: purple

2. Tulipa Purissima

The classic white tulip Purissima is one of the most beautiful tulips and blooms early, usually starting in early April. When Purissima begins to bloom, it is white to creamy white, then gradually turns pure white. Growing to a height of about 40 cm, this tulip does not grow very tall. Perfect for a flower bed or a pot. It pairs beautifully with pink, red, and purple tulips, such as Purple Prince.

Features

• Flowering period: April
• Height: 35–40 cm
• Color: white (cream)

3. Tulipa Red Impression

Red Impression is a robust tulip with large, bright red flowers. It grows to about 55 cm tall. Red Impression blooms starting in April. Red tulips add a splash of color to your border and pair well with (dark) red, yellow, and white tulips. Other beautiful red tulips include, of course, the well-known Apeldoorn and Kingsblood varieties.

Features

• Flowering period: April
• Height: 55–60 cm
• Color: red

4. Tulipa Queen of Night

Queen of Night is often referred to as the black tulip. And for good reason—it’s the darkest tulip we know of. Its dark purple color even verges on black (purple). It blooms starting in May. Thanks to its unique color, it’s a must-have in our list of the most beautiful tulips. It pairs beautifully with white, pale yellow, purple, and pink tulips.

Features

• Flowering season: May
• Height: 60 cm
• Color: dark purple-red

5. Tulipa Apricot Pride

Order Apricot Pride If you're looking for a tulip with large, soft pink to apricot-pink flowers, this is the one for you. It begins blooming as early as April. It's a hardy tulip that returns every year. It has sturdy stems and is also ideal as a cut flower. It pairs beautifully with purple and pink tulips.

Features

• Flowering period: April
• Height: 55–60 cm
• Color: apricot pink

6. Tulipa Orange Emperor

Orange Emperor is a beautiful orange (Fosteriana) tulip that grows to about 40 cm tall. The flower is large and bright orange and has a beautiful shape. It is a hardy tulip with sturdy stems that returns reliably every year. It pairs well with yellow and purple tulips.

Features

• Flowering period: April–May
• Height: 40 cm
• Color: orange

7. Tulipa Purple Dream

Purple Dream is a lily-flowered tulip that blooms with dark purple-pink flowers. This tulip has pointed flowers with a white center. It can bloom for quite a long time. Purple Dream pairs well with other (lily-flowered) tulips in white and pink, for example.

Features

• Flowering season: April–May
• Height: 45–55 cm
• Color: purple

8. Tulipa Black Parrot

Black Parrot is a popular parrot tulip, with a dark, velvety red to nearly black color. The color is actually even darker than it appears in the photo. Parrot tulips have large flowers with wavy and serrated petals and add an exotic touch to your garden in the spring. Order Black Parrot and plant them alongside white tulips or lily-flowered tulips for a nice contrast.

Features

• Flowering period: April–May
• Height: 55 cm
• Color: dark purple (blackish purple)

9. Tulipa Flaming Purissima

Flaming Purissima is a tulip with a white flower and a pink blush (or flame). As this tulip continues to bloom, the flower becomes increasingly pink. Flaming Purissima blooms starting in early April. It has sturdy stems and grows to no more than about 40 cm tall. It pairs beautifully with pink and white tulips, or even purple tulips.

Features

• Flowering period: April
• Height: 35–45 cm
• Color: white-pink

10. Tulipa Mascot

Mascotte is a striking double tulip with fringed petals. It has large, dark pink flowers and is a truly unique addition to your garden. Also suitable for growing in a pot or as a cut flower. Grows to about 40 cm tall. Very similar to Tulipa Matchpoint.

Features

• Flowering period: April–May
• Height: 40 cm
• Color: purple-pink

Tips for Growing Tulips in Your Garden

Did you know that many tulips are very easy to grow and require little maintenance? Still, we’d like to share a few tips on planting and care:

• It's best not to plant tulips too early: plant them from around mid-October or November through December. This helps prevent fungal infections. You can plant other flower bulbs earlier, though.

• Be sure to buy tulips early, because the most popular varieties often sell out quickly. Sales usually begin in September.

• Did you forget to plant your tulips? No problem—even if you plant them in January, they’ll almost always come up. They might just bloom a little later, though.

• The best spot for tulips is a sunny spot with well-drained soil.

• Keep in mind that some tulips do not return every year. Hardy perennial tulips include, for example, Darwin hybrids (Apeldoorn, Daydream, and Pink Impression), Fosteriana tulips (Purissima, Orange Emperor), and botanical tulips (tarda and turkestanica).

• Plant tulips about three times as deep as the bulb is tall.

• Do not cut off the leaves of tulips after they have bloomed. By allowing the leaves to die back naturally, the bulb can still absorb enough nutrients to bloom well again next year.

• Tulips also look very pretty in pots. An added bonus is that you can move a pot of tulips around.

The Most Beautiful Tulip Combinations

Tulips pair very well in gardens and flower beds. Here are our tips for the most beautiful tulip combinations in your garden.

First of all, tulips look great when combined with other tulips. You can create beautiful arrangements in pastel shades, as well as with white and pink tulips or white and purple ones. Tulip combinations featuring colors that are very similar but just slightly different (tone-on-tone) are also very beautiful. Want a more exotic look? Then combine orange or yellow with purple or burgundy.

You can create your own beautiful tulip arrangement, but you’re also seeing more and more cases where entire Beautiful tulip mixes are available. This makes it very easy to plan the most beautiful combinations.

If you want to combine tulips with other plants, choose other flower bulbs, early-blooming perennials, evergreens, or plants that already have attractive foliage when the tulips are in bloom. Consider daffodils, grape hyacinths, ornamental onions, coral bells (Heuchera), Anemone Blanda, Helleborus, geraniums, and ornamental grasses.

During tulip season, there are also blossoms in the garden—especially among the later-blooming tulips. Flowering trees and shrubs pair beautifully with tulips.

The Most Beautiful Tulip Combinations