First Botanical Tulips

Two of the botanical tulips (aka species tulips) are blooming now. I am still waiting for Tulipa tarda/daystemon. Last year, I never deadheaded these tulips, as recommended in a garden magazine I just read. I even let the seedheads dry and spread the seeds in the dirt. I did this mostly because I was impressed by the naturalizing power of these little tulips. Such a change from those fanciful but feeble Dutch inventions! This spring I saw a vertiable grass of little green spiky seedlings in those areas. You can the seedlings and blooming Tulipa turkestanica in this picture (below). At the left foreground is a little (and I do mean tiny) bunch of Crocus chrysanthus (Snow crocus) "Romance". They are a pale yellowish, but don't contribute much to the big picture, since you can't even see them over the rock wall edges of the raised bed!The other blooming botanical tulip is Tulipa pulchella Eastern Star (below). It is such a vibrant pink. I really wish I had a large patch of these. I shall have to spread seeds from these tulips around the rock garden. They need a season of cold to germinate, so there's no point in trying to grow these seeds indoors. Thankfully, squirrels don't seem to bother any of my bulbs. They live in our trees and screech at our dog, yet they haven't found the buried treasures in my garden.