By Grace Broyles

Big Country Master Gardener

I’m a first generation Dutch Canadian, and I naturally love tulips, but find they do not grow well here. My dear dad planted some tulips for me one year and I was so excited when the blades appeared in the spring. But very few flowers appeared. The next year, fewer flowers, and the following, none. So, I gave up. But in the last year or so, I came across a post about Texas Tulips and I’m intrigued. Let me tell you what I’ve learned.

Texas tulips are a real tulip. Tulipa praecox is the scientific name. It grows in North Central Texas in the blackland soil along and east of I-35. Also called “Fire Tulip” for its color, or “Georgetown Tulip” because it grows around Georgetown, Texas, this tulip has been growing and blooming naturally in old towns and abandoned lots for over 100 years.

The folks that have lived and driven along that stretch of highway are accustomed to seeing the bright orangey-red of blooms that appear in March through April, but it is the tulip lovers that have tenaciously dug up and planted and studied the growth habits of the Texas Tulip over the years that are to be congratulated. They have shared their knowledge and now we know some more things about this tulip.

The Texas Tulip is a showy red flower with a yellow and black center and leaf blades that are a little wider than our “regular” tulips. It grows from a small fuzzy bulb about 1 inch or so in diameter that is found at least 3 inches below the surface of the soil. The bulb will develop a flower stem and blade leaves about 10 inches tall. The plant needs full winter sun to bloom well in an area that is mostly undisturbed.

This tulip is unique in more than one way. The best is that it does not need to be placed in a cold location to chill before planting, nor be dug up to store until the next chilling session. This tulip can be left in a garden and will bloom year after year. It will naturalize if conditions are ideal, meaning it will establish colonies, multiply, and come back year after year.

The second unique attribute about the Texas Tulip is that it loves the mucky prairie blackland soil (black clay) that clings to the fuzzy bulbs during the wet times of year, and that forms deep cracks around them in the heat of summer. It does not do well in well-draining sandy loams we often find around here, nor in regularly watered soils.

The third unique characteristic about this tulip is that it propagates itself by producing daughter bulbs, and droppers (baby bulbs at the ends of tuber roots from the main bulb) if conditions warrant the need for more depth.

A gardener interested in the Texas Tulip may be able to find some growing along the highways of North Central Texas and may want to dig them up and take them home to their garden. The best time to dig up the bulbs is after they have finished blooming and the blades are still visible. The blades should be left on the bulb before planting. This interested gardener must be sure to educate him or herself on the soil conditions this tulip enjoys best before digging up any bulbs and placing them in the ground. Or he or she may call a certain bulb company and place an order to receive some when they become available. I’ve been looking for their availability, and but they’ve “sold out” for many months. But the Dutch in me wants to locate some and do my best to get a stand of these started so I can enjoy them for years to come. Now to find the clay soil.

If you have any questions about gardening and plants, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at mgardeners@yahoo.com.  We hope you visit bcmgtx.org for information on all Big Country Master Gardener events, like us on BCMGA Facebook, and check out training presentations on BCMGA YouTube.  We are here to help you.