Early Tulips Types ?

Tulips are one of my favourite plants . Now I grow some ,mainly Triumph types , in containers and I am 100% happy with them. They do tend to be quite late flowering though. I would like some earlyish flowering Tulip varieties for my flower beds , ideas anyone ?
Also which are good mail order companies for bulbs ?

TIA

 

The tulips I have in a container flower before the ones in the ground. They are not supposed to be especially early flowering. Its probably that the container soil warms up encouraging growth before the ground does.

Would a greenhouse or cold frame help in forcing bulbs to flower earlier?

The Range has a great selection of spring bulbs right now. Not sure of the flower timings though.

 

Hi Harry,

For March flowering there are the Kaufmanniana Tulips ( also known as Water Lily Tulips ).
The original species is pale yellow but there are loads of varieties such as Early Harvest, Guiseppe Verdi, Holland Baby ( a double red ), Shakespeare, Show Winner, The First and hundreds more.

Starting in March but going into April are the Greigii Tulips. These are the ones with striped leaves.
Cape Cod, Czar Peter, Donna Bella, Pinocchio, Plaisir, Turkish Delight, the most common one is Red Riding Hood.

Going into April there are the Fosteriana Tulips which are taller, Albert Heijn, Concerto, Pirand and also the ones with Emperor in their name ( Apricot, Exotic, Orange, Red, Rose, White ).

During April itself there are all the Single Early and Double Early types, there are hundreds if not thousands of these.

Have you ever tried the original Species Tulips....
In March there are T. Bakeri Lilac Wonder, T. Biflora, T. Humilis ( also it's varieties , Odalisque, Persian Pearl, Violacea ), T. Polychroma, T. Sylvestris, T. Turkestanica and T. Wilsoniana.

For April, T.Hageri Splendens, T. Little Beauty, T. Praestans Fusilier, T. Praestans Moondance, T. Praestans Unicom, T. Praestans Van Tubergens Variety ( all the Praestans are short multi headed ), and my favourite, T. Tarda, you get at least 5 star shaped flowers off each bulb and they spread well. ( There are some pics of my T. Tarda in the " what's looking good in April " thread.

Hope that's helped

I only use Parkers for mail order, but if you've got a Wilkinsons or B&M Store they do a good range, especially the Species. Usually about £1.50/ £1.75 for 10.

 

Thanks Anthony , that is a huge list May take me some time to digest it.
We have Wilkos and B and M , and have bought from them in the past . This year I want to peruse and order known types , I'll have a look at parkers.
Just looked its very well divided into late and early Tulips, makes life easier.