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Among those who grow tulips, many lovers of double flowers, which vaguely resemble peonies, can be of various colors. Terry tulips include many varieties, among which the gardener can choose the one that will meet his wishes.
Description of terry tulips
Double-flowered tulips were first obtained in Holland at the beginning of the 17th century. And it happened by chance, but later the breeders began to select the best specimens and gradually brought out the first terry variety from them.
Unlike ordinary simple tulips, the flowers of which are formed by 2 rows of petals, in double petals one more flower is formed in the place of the inner whorl, and 3 additional petals in the place of the stamens in the 3rd whorl. All this creates lush flowers of double tulips.
Terry tulip flower looks fuller and richer
Terry tulip varieties
Modern terry varieties are divided into early and late. Both those and other plants can bloom up to 2 weeks. The early ones have medium-sized flowers, but they bloom quickly, the tulips themselves are low, the later varieties are taller and have larger flowers (they can be up to 10 cm in diameter). It is they who are most often planted for the purpose of forcing and cutting. The color of the petals of both those and others is varied, they can be white, yellow, pink, red, orange.
Varieties of late double tulips
Many varieties of tulips belonging to the late group have been bred. Among them, you can choose the following:
- La Belle Epoque. The petals are light pink-powdery, the bush grows up to 55 cm. The flowers are very large, do not fade for a long time.
- Mount Tacoma. Flowers are bright white, flowering lasts up to 3 weeks.
- Blue Diamond. The flowers consist of double petals of a beautiful purple-violet color.
- Miranda. Each flower consists of about 50 red petals, which gives them a pronounced decorative effect.
- Lilac perfection. The petals of the flower are lilac, yellow core, flowering lasting 2-3 weeks.
- Charming Beauty. The petals are salmon-colored with pink strokes, the core is yellow.
- Fruit Cocktail. The petals are narrow, yellow with red stripes.
- Princess Angelique. Light pink petals with white stripes.
- Sensual Touch. The flowers are large, red-orange, with a fringed edge.
- Royal Acres. The petals are mostly pink-purple, the flowers are lush. In addition to these, breeders have bred many more late varieties, with flowers of other shades.
Varieties of early double tulips
Some of the best terry tulips belonging to the early cultivars are:
- Abba. Large flowers with scarlet petals, the outer layer with stripes of green.
- Belicia. The flowers are creamy with a border around the petals. One plant can produce up to 5 peduncles.
- Monte Carlo. The flowers are large, densely double, juicy yellow. Can be grown not only in the garden, but also in pots.
- Рeach Blossom. The flowers are very large, the petals are pointed, pink in color.
- Monte Orang. The petals are bright orange with greenish veins.
- Freeman. Petals are yellow-orange, collected in a dense cup.
- Queen of Marve. The variety has pink-purple petals and is one of the few early varieties suitable for cutting.
- Verona. Lemon petals. The tulip can be grown indoors in pots.
- Cartouche. The petals are white with crimson stripes. Plants are suitable for cutting.
- Double Toronto. It is a hybrid obtained from a combination of a double-flowered variety and a Greig variety. The plant produces many flower stalks with colorful orange flowers.
As with the late ones, other beautiful varieties can be found in the early tulip group.
Planting and caring for terry tulips
Although tulips are cold-resistant plants, they do not tolerate dampness and cold winds, a place for them in the garden should be chosen sunny, open, but protected from the wind. Crocuses, hyacinths, primroses, daffodils, or decorative perennials can be planted next to them, which will hide the leaves of tulips with their greenery when they turn yellow and dry.
As for the soil, tulips do not like clay and acidic soil. If the site has heavy or acidic soils, they need to be improved by adding coarse sand, peat and lime materials (chalk, lime, dolomite flour).
It is necessary to plant bulbs at a soil temperature of 10 ° C, with such indicators, they take root well. The best time to plant large double tulips is the 2nd half of September or the whole of October. Early varieties should be planted 2 weeks earlier than later ones. For some reason, they did not succeed in planting in the fall; this can be done in the spring, as soon as the snow melts. But it must be borne in mind that not all bulbs planted in spring will be able to bloom this year.
Among all the available bulbs, you need to choose the best - large, not withered, completely healthy. If some of them have spots, traces of damage by pests, such specimens are unsuitable for planting.
First you need to prepare the bulbs: soak them for 0.5 hour in a fungicide solution to destroy bacteria and fungi on their surface. The beds for tulips also need to be prepared: dig up, fertilize with humus and ash, mix and level everything. Do not use fresh manure either during soil preparation or for subsequent fertilizing. It contains a lot of nitrogen compounds that can burn the roots.
When planting, you need to add a handful of sand to each hole, put an onion on it, sprinkle it with soil, and compact it a little. The distance between plants is 25-30 cm.
Bulbs should be planted in warm weather.
Terry tulip care consists of watering, loosening the soil and top dressing. Watering must be done carefully, the ground should not be damp, in waterlogged soil, the bulbs can rot. But plants cannot do without watering at all, especially when forcing buds and during flowering, since their roots are small, they are not able to get water from deep layers of the earth. Water at the root.
Top dressing is necessary for terry tulips 3 times a season:
- In the spring, when the young leaves appear. The feed mixture should consist of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers in a ratio of 2: 2: 1. Dissolve 50 g of this mixture in a bucket of water and pour tulips over 1 sq. m.
- When the plants form buds. This time, the proportion of nitrogen in the feed mixture should be reduced, and phosphorus and potassium should be increased (1: 2: 2).
- After the plants have faded, they must be fed again - with a phosphorus-potassium mixture, without nitrogen. Fertilizer consumption for 2 and 3 top dressing - 30-35 g per 10 liters, distribute this volume per 1 sq. m.
Fertilizers should not contain chlorine. It is convenient to use complex mixtures for bulbous plants, in which all elements are selected in a balanced manner and in the correct ratio. If you need to get more daughter bulbs, you need to add boron and zinc to the watering solution.
After the double flowers have faded, they must be cut off so that the plant does not expend energy on the formation of seeds. If the flower is to be cut for a bouquet, it is imperative to leave a few leaves on the plant so that it can form a normal-sized bulb. Before the onset of cold weather, tulips need to be covered with mulch, they will not freeze under it. Hay, straw, fallen leaves will do.The layer of insulating material should be at least 5 cm. The next year, as soon as it gets warmer, the mulch should be removed.
Reproduction of terry tulips
Old bulbs die off after flowering, but daughter bulbs develop near them. One plant can produce a different number, they can be large and small.
For reproduction, you need to choose only the largest ones, tulips grow from small ones, which do not differ in good flowering. For this reason, only large specimens are also suitable for forcing double tulips. Small children must first be grown separately (in cups or pots), and then planted in a flower bed. Store the bulbs in wet sand until planting, put the boxes with them in a cool and dry place.
Place the bulbs in the box so that they do not touch each other. If terry tulips belong to several varieties, they need to be signed so as not to be confused later.
Tulip bulbs used for propagation must be large
Diseases and pests
The most dangerous tulip disease is the variegation virus. It is not difficult to notice the defeat - on the petals of monochromatic varieties and leaves, strokes, stripes and spots appear, which are not typical for them. The virus cannot be treated, diseased plants and bulbs must be destroyed. In the place where they were located, tulips cannot be placed for several years. For prevention, you need to disinfect garden tools more often so as not to spread the disease among healthy plants. Prophylactic spraying with fungicide solutions against fungal diseases will also not interfere.
Photo of double tulips
How the flowers of some early and late varieties look like can be seen in the photo.
The flowers of the Peach Blossom variety look quite bright and attractive.
Freeman has delicate buds, deep, noble color
Verona tulips are distinguished by a rich milky shade
Charming Beauty orange flowers will delight the eye even in cloudy weather
Delicate flowers Princess Angelique look beautiful when cut in bouquets
Conclusion
Terry tulips are distinguished by lush flowers, a long flowering period, which attracts many gardeners to them. Among them there are early and late varieties with flowers of various colors, this allows you to make the most unusual compositions from them.
