Tulipa Lilac Wonder - ORG

The Lilac Wonder isn’t the largest tulip in the garden, but it is certainly the most striking. Tulipa ‘Lilac Wonder’ is a botanical tulip, native to the island of Crete, and has everything a classic tulip lacks: it is small, fragrant, edible and naturalises year after year without you having to do a thing. Lilac-coloured petals with a large yellow centre, on a stem about fifteen centimetres long — subtle in size, but not in appearance.

Botanical tulips are different

Botanical tulips grow naturally on dry, stony mountain slopes — in Turkey, Greece and on Crete. You can see their origins in their character: they are more robust, longer-lived and much easier to naturalise than the large hybrid tulips. In sunny weather, they open their flowers wide, allowing bees easy access to the nectar. If the sun disappears for a moment, they close up neatly. And they smell lovely too.

Planting and combining

Plant the bulbs in autumn in a dry, warm spot — preferably in well-drained soil, not in peaty soil. They thrive in a rockery, at the edge of a border or scattered through the grass. Combine them with other small naturalisers such as Muscari or Scilla for a playful, natural effect. They thrive in a pot on the balcony, especially if it faces south. Organically grown, certified NL-BIO-01.