From the bloom of our ever-fragrant lilacs to the dainty dramatics of the Auricula Theater, spring’s progress isn’t hard to see here at NYBG. The crabapples are waking near Daffodil Hill, and the magnolias—always some of the season’s top charmers—are still trucking along with pink and white blooms. Meanwhile, the Azalea Garden is becoming a sea of color.
The armillary sphere in the Perennial Garden finds itself surrounded these days by a cornucopia of spring flowers, from tulips and daffodils to Viola in a variety of hues.
The armillary sphere in the Perennial Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Between the billowing canopy of cherry blossoms above and the rolling waves of daffodils below, there hasn’t been much attention paid yet this spring to the classic tulip—such as this Darwin hybrid tulip.
Tulipa ‘World’s Favorite’ in the Perennial Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
As I mentioned the other week, I have been making the Garden rounds to talk to different colleagues about their favorite bulbs. We often like to use tulips here at the NYBG as part of large annual displays in springtime. We plant the bulbs in November, which then flower in May. By June, they have all been dug up and recycled in the compost pile.
The reason why tulips are not often part of permanent displays is that many varieties don’t come up consistently in subsequent years. They look glorious the first year, spotty the second year, and prove fairly anemic moving into the third and fourth years. Happily, this is not true with all tulips, and many make wonderful, long-lived additions in a garden provided they have good drainage.
