Tulip Estella Rijnveldt

Striking colours are a-plenty with the ever-colourful ?parrot tulip? group ?Estella Rijnveld?. This is known as one of the most spectacular varieties around, with frilly double blooms and flame-streaked petals that boast an exotic feel to brighten up any spring garden.

For best impact, plant this in close groups in a sunny spot, while they are also perfect in pots and containers on the patio. As with all other tulips, they make beautiful cut flower displays – simply cut the long stems and place in groups in vases to dress up your home and bring a snapshot of nature inside.

Supplied as a pack of 15 bulbs, size 11/12, ready for planting out in autumn.

Top Tips

Which way up? Usually pointy end up, but if you are not sure, plant the bulb on its side and it will eventually right itself.

Care Guide

Planting Advice for your bulbs:

• Tulips prefer sun if possible, but some will also grow in shade so consider this before planting.
• Tulip bulbs begin to put down roots in October and November, so can be left until then if you’re short of time, just store your bulbs in a cool, dry place.
• Plant bulbs at twice the depth of the height of the bulb and four times their width apart. e.g. 5cm tall bulbs need to be planted 10cm below the surface of the ground and 20cm apart.
• If you garden on heavy soil, cover the base with 5cm of sharp sand or horticultural grit. This allows bulbs to put more energy into flowering and less into forming new bulblets.
• Please check the bag for any additional planting instructions.
• They are fine to plant even if a little green growth is showing, they?ll just need a good watering when you plant them, and then only when the soil is dry.
• While all the energy that a bulb needs in order to grow is stored in the bulb itself, they will do better if you feed them when in active green growth.
• Plant in herbaceous borders, in pots, or leave in the ground to naturalise.
• Tulips grow perfectly well in pots filled with soil-based compost with some added grit or multi-purpose compost.
• Bulbs grown in pots should be planted deeply in the garden after flowering and pots replanted with fresh bulbs the following year.
• If planted in pots be sure to water frequently and keep moist.

Aftercare Advice for Estella Rijnveld:

• Get your bulbs in the ground as soon as you can so that they can establish a good root system before the weather becomes too cold.
• Plant in herbaceous borders, in pots, or leave in the ground to naturalise.
• Water frequently and if in posts ensure that the compost doesn’t dry out.

Tidying your Tulips:

• Once flowering is over, it is important to leave the leaves on your tulips until they have died right down, usually by early summer. This allows the bulb to store food and produce flowers the following year.
• While it is recommended that bulbs are dug up and dried in the summer sun, modern thought is that there is no real benefit from doing this and many gardeners now leave bulbs where they are.