04/14/2026
Happy National Gardening Day! These tulips, grown by a long-time Georgia Perennial member and now board member, were a hit at our recent board meeting! They have performed extremely well, returning year after year, and have the added charm of opening and closing each day.
𝑇𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑎 ‘Lady Jane,’ ‘Tinka,’ and H***y Tonk’
Pierre-Joseph Redouté (Dutch painter and botanist nicknamed “the Raphael of flowers”) author
𝑇𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑎 from the Turkish word for turban, referring to its shape
C𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑎 in honor of Carolus Clusius (Latinized form of Charles de l'Ecluse), 16th-century, Flemish physician, botanist, and scientific horticulturist, largely responsible for discoveries that led to Dutch tulipmania, 1634–1637, and today’s Dutch tulip industry
Family Liliaceae
Common names: Clusius’s Tulip, Lady Tulip, Candy Tulip
Native to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and India, and naturalized in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Tunisia, Greece, and Turkey
Early-spring-blooming, perennial bulb, with grayish-green foliage, tender stems and vase-shaped blooms of varying colors ranging from white to yellow, usually with a red exterior but sometimes just a pinkish flush, 6 to 12 inches tall, closing at night or on cloudy days, open and star shaped on bright, sunny days, with a clumping habit
‘Cynthia, ' 'Lady Jane,' 'Peppermintstick,' ‘Tinka,' and var. 𝑐ℎ𝑟𝑦𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑎 have received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Likes moist winters, warm dry summers, full sun, alkaline to neutral, well-drained soil, containers and rock gardens
Propagated by seeds (can take 4 to 7 years for flowers), naturalization, or division
No serious diseases or insect problems, but can suffer from bulb and root rot, gray mold, mosaic virus and pests including aphids, slugs, snails, deer, squirrels, mice and voles
USDA Zones 3 through 8
The author of this post is neither a botanist nor a horticulturalist, so please feel free to correct and inform!
Photos courtesy Phyllis Owens
