Tulip sylvestris in Daffodill Dell

Florentine tulip, or the wild woodland tulip, was and is grown still at Monticello.

What a lovely tulip! I am in love with this plant, which I have only read about it books until this spring. Here is a bit about its relatively short history in our country as a naturalizing tulip...

The Florentine or Woodland Tulip is a European native introduced very early into American gardens. Although Jefferson did not mention this species in his Garden Book, it is now naturalized through the West Lawn at Monticello. It blooms with the Virginia Bluebells in mid-April. Florentine Tulips have a distinctly sweet fragrance and multiply freely once planted, two qualities lost with the development of modern Tulip cultivars.

~Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

We have planted it under our yellow magnolia, which is not yet in flower, and near to the vivid Daffodil Dell. The Narcissus 'Jet Fire' are living up to their name this year, keeping the yellow show going through sun and snow. Tulip sylvestris has a delicate scent, and is the first tulip to truly open up this year, even though it is on a cooler, north-facing slope. The green striping on the petals is especially enduring.  I purchase all of my bulbs at the sister companies of John Scheepers and Van Engelen.

Highly recommended! 

Happy spring!

~Julie