The woodland tulip. Native of Italy and widely naturalised further north, including England, Holland, Germany and even Norway. It prefers sun but will tolerate light shade, growing in grassy meadows, open woods and vineyards, flowering in April and May.
It has narrow grey-green leaves and bears bright yellow flowers on wand-like 30cm stems. When in bloom it brings a touching charm to the mid-spring garden. In a sunny location it is easily grown and will naturalise even in grass if it is not too coarse. The grass should not be mowed, however, until the tulip foliage has turned yellow.
Suggestion: for a truly naturalistic look we mingel the bulbs of Muscari latifolium about them at planting time. They bloom at the same time and create a lovely display that will repeat itself for years.
