I stopped planting tulips two years ago, due to the fact, that wild boar on their search for the bulbs kept digging up my garden every year. Many of the bulbs fell prey to their appetite, along with other plants killed by uprooting in winter.

And the sorry leftover thin out, naturally. Only a few forlorn survivors came up this spring. I was ignorant enough to believe, all tulips are perennial. But pretty much all of the hundreds of glorious tulips on offer in shops or on the internet from Dutch traders – THE tulip experts, if you ask me – are not. I learned, that only botanical tulips, the wild kind, are truly perennial. I have found only a few varieties of those on the market. Most of them are blooming red or yellow, so they won’t go with my colour layout. Thus, I refrained from replanting tulips.

However, this year I was spared a visit from family hog. And instantly got bold again. Couldn’t help but order some bulbs to have another go for next spring.

I even found a botanical variety in white with a dark blue center, a tulipa humilis alba called Alba Coerulea Oculata. The bulbs are tiny and the flowers are supposed to grow to a height of 15 centimeters, only. The only big thing was the price. However, if they keep to the promises made on the label, I shall have lots of joy out of them for many years to come.

Unless the boars have the better of me, that is .