A Gardeners Guide to Tulips

A comprehensive guide to growing tulips from bulbs, with current and past varieties of tulips for growing in containers and in the garden.

Alongside practical hints and tips on growing tulips from bulbs, A Gardener’s Guide to Tulips includes wider information for interested growers and admirers of tulips, with illustrative examples of how good results can be achieved when planting tulips in the garden or in containers. In this Guide readers will find information on:

• Taxonomy and types
• Cultivating and caring for tulips
• Designing tulips in the garden
• Tulip varieties
• Gardens and places of interest for tulips
• Commercial growing
• History

The information included in this guide aims to both help growers understand the different stages within tulips’ lifecycle and what can be done at each stage to ensure success in cultivating tulips, and to inspire gardeners who may not have attempted to grow tulips before to try growing tulips.

Photographic examples are included throughout the book, with the aim of providing readers with a selection of varieties to consider, gardens and places where tulip cultivation is inspiring, and practical advice for readers and gardeners interested in experimenting.

Matthew Smith runs a small plant nursery in Preston, Lancashire. Although both Matthew and Grete trained in Horticulture, Matthew remained within the industry. After starting a plant nursery in 2010 and becoming an exhibitor at various RHS and independent Flower Shows, Matthew was awarded the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022 for his Zantedeschia display, awarded for the best exhibit in the Great Pavilion.

Grete Smith remains a keen gardener, horticulture experimenter and reliable sounding board for horticultural activity, providing strategic oversight and design support.

Foreword by Carol Klein