Turkestan tulip
Tulipa turkestanica · Liliaceae
Up to a dozen small, starry, white flowers with yellow centres on each branching stem, opening wide in the sun in early spring.
- Size
- 10 in tall, 4 in wide
- Zones
- 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late March to mid April
- Pets
- Toxic (moderate)
- Job in a bed
- Bulb layer
A bed built around Turkestan tulip
The planner designed this bed around Turkestan tulip when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why Turkestan tulip stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies' × 14, pink
- 2 Sedum 'Lidakense' × 18, pink
- 3 Hyssop 'Black Adder' × 5, purple
- 4 Brown-eyed Susan × 5, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Eastern bee balm × 3, pink
- 7 Turkestan tulip × 12, white
- 8 Schubert's allium × 2, pink
Why this plant
- The only white. White sits between stronger colours and calms them.
Why here
- In the middle. At 10 in it is the step between sedum 'Lidakense' (4 in) in front and eastern bee balm (20 in) behind: each is seen over the one before.
- 12 plants in 2 handfuls. In the gaps between other plants, which fill the space when the bulb is not in growth.
Why now
- In flower for four weeks. From late March to mid April.
- Opens the season. In all that time nothing else on the plan is in flower.
- Leaves gone by midsummer. They die back and leave bare ground. A perennial that comes up late stands beside it, and grows over the gap.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 7 groups (71%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Hyssop 'Black Adder' and brown-eyed Susan anchor the back corners of the bed: the tallest plants on the plan stand there. Pink runs through the planting: 4 of the 7 kinds grown for their flowers have it.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 6 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where Turkestan tulip goes in a border
At 10 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is low (6 to 12 in).
Its job: bulb layer. Small bulbs planted in handfuls of five or seven in the gaps between other plants, for colour before the perennials wake up.
A wild tulip that behaves like a perennial: it multiplies and seeds gently in gravel or thin grass. The seed heads are worth leaving.
- Naturalising in gravel
- Rock gardens
- Early spring colour
What to plant with Turkestan tulip
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Creeping thyme: carries the spot on into mid July; low enough (3 in) to stand in front of it; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue fescue: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; happy in the same dry soil.
- Pasque flower: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for three weeks; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about Turkestan tulip
Does Turkestan tulip need sun or shade?
Turkestan tulip grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does Turkestan tulip grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 8. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does Turkestan tulip flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late March to mid April. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 4 | Early April to late April |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Late March to mid April |
| Zone 6 | Late March to mid April |
| Zone 7 | Mid March to early April |
| Zone 8 | Early March to late March |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should Turkestan tulip be planted?
3 in (8 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 4 in (10 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 10 in (25 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many Turkestan tulip plants do I need?
At 3 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 168 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 39 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 536 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as handfuls of five or seven, in the gaps between other plants.
In the bed above, the planner used 12 in two groups.
Is Turkestan tulip poisonous to dogs and cats?
Yes: moderate toxicity to dogs, cats and horses. The bulbs are the most poisonous part and cause vomiting, drooling and diarrhoea in pets. Handling the bulbs can irritate skin.
Rated from the ASPCA. Where references disagree, the more cautious rating is used.
Is there a pet-safe plant like Turkestan tulip?
These come closest to doing what Turkestan tulip does, and no toxicity is recorded for them:
- Striped squill: the same job in a bed and the same flowering time; 5 in shorter, blue, not white.
- Spring starflower: the same job in a bed and the same colour; 4 in shorter, flowers early April to early May.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What can I plant to hide Turkestan tulip's leaves after it flowers?
A bulb's leaves have to be left to yellow for about six weeks after flowering, to feed next year's flowers. Plant it among perennials that come up late and spread wide, and they grow over the leaves as they fade:
- Lady's mantle: 18 in tall and 24 in wide, in flower late May to early July.
- Catmint 'Walker's Low': 24 in tall and 2½ ft wide, in flower mid May to mid September.
- Garden chrysanthemum: 24 in tall and 24 in wide, in flower mid September to late October.
What does Turkestan tulip look like in winter?
Turkestan tulip is underground: it dies back after flowering and waits as a bulb until spring. Mark where it is, so a fork does not find it first.
More Tulipa
- Darwin hybrid tulip Tulipa (Darwin hybrids)
- Greigii tulip Tulipa greigii
- Lady tulip Tulipa clusiana
- Tarda tulip Tulipa tarda
- Tulip Tulipa
- Tulip 'Angelique' Tulipa 'Angelique'
- Tulip 'Apeldoorn' Tulipa 'Apeldoorn'
- Tulip 'Ballerina' Tulipa 'Ballerina'
- Tulip 'Fusilier' Tulipa praestans 'Fusilier'
- Tulip 'Lilac Wonder' Tulipa saxatilis 'Lilac Wonder'
- Tulip 'Purissima' Tulipa 'Purissima'
- Tulip 'Queen of Night' Tulipa 'Queen of Night'
- Tulip 'Spring Green' Tulipa 'Spring Green'
- Waterlily tulip Tulipa kaufmanniana
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Bulb
- Size
- 10 in (25 cm) tall, 4 in (10 cm) wide
- Plant
- 3 in (8 cm) apart
- Height class
- Low (6 to 12 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late March to mid April; open bowls; white, yellow
- Leaves
- Fine texture, summer-dormant; grey-green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Liliaceae
Checked against ASPCA poison lists. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.