Tulip Divisions
This year we are highlighting the diversity of tulips by including the division of each on the label. Tulips are placed into divisions based on shape, origin, and bloom time.
- Division 1: Single Early Tulips – Early to mid-spring flowering tulips with a wide range of colors and cup-shaped single flowers.
- Division 2: Double Early Tulips – Fully double or semi-double peony-like flowers. There are fewer colors in Div 2 than Div 1. Mid-spring flowering.
- Division 3: Triumph Tulips – Single, cup-shaped blooms that appear in mid to late spring. A hybrid division, with the widest range of colors. Tend to be short lived.
- Division 4: Darwin Hybrid Tulips – Single, large, ovoid flowers that bloom in the mid to late season. Usually in warm shades, with a contrasting eye. Reliably perennial.
- Division 5: Single Late Tulips – Cup-shaped blooms, sometimes multi-flowering and sometimes single-flowering. Available in a wide range of colors.
- Division 6: Lily-flowering Tulips – Single, lily-like flowers bloom in mid to late spring. Petals arch outwards and have a pointed apex.
- Division 7: Fringed Tulips – Cup-shaped blooms with a fringed or spiked apex. Also known as crispa tulips. Several cultivars have fringes of a different color. Blooms in mid to late spring.
- Division 8: Viridiflora Tulips – Single flowers streaked with green (hence the name –viridis is Latin for green). Late spring blooming. A long-blooming novelty.
- Division 9: Rembrandt Tulips – Multi-colored, striped blooms that contributed to tulip mania in the 17th and 18th The markings are caused by a virus, so true Rembrandt tulips are no longer in commerce. There are modern tulips that are virus-free and have a similar effect.
- Division 10: Parrot Tulips – Ruffled, coarsely fringed petals combine with bright colors and stripes to give this group a distinct look. Bloom in late spring.
- Division 11: Double Late Tulips – Double or semi-double flowers that bloom in late spring.
- Division 12: Kaufmanniana Tulips – Multi-flowered tulip sometimes called waterlily tulips. Bowl-shaped blooms in early or mid spring. Long-lived. Foliage can be blue-green or streaked with brown.
- Division 13: Fosteriana Tulips – Large, single, bowl-shaped tulips bloom in mid-spring. Sometimes petal margins are variegated of bi-color. Also known as emperor tulips. Reliably perennial.
- Division 14: Greigii Tulips – brightly-colored flowers with mottled or striped foliage. These plants stay small, making them ideal for borders.
- Division 15: Species Tulips – this is a catch-all division for wild species, hybrids, and cultivars. Many are short-statured. Bloom time varies from early to late spring.
Prepared by Lindsey Smith, Collections Curator
