Products › Autumn planted bulbs to flower in the Spring › Tulipa › Greigii Tulips › Tulipa Red Riding Hood

In flower in April when the daffodils may well be looking a bit tired this red flowered tulip can add interest before it blooms with its attractively speckled leaves. The flowers are vivid red with the inner colour more scarlet red, with a darker base. At 8" (20cm) tall, well suited to containers, rockery or sunny well drained garden position.

The species gregii tulip originates from Central Asian where it grows on mountain slopes. It was originally discovered by the German P.L. Graeber who moved to Tashkent shortly after the Russian occupation of the territory in 1865. At first he sold the bulbs to Germany where they started to occur in gardens in 1871. The species was in 1877 described by Eduard Regel, the director of the St. Petersburg Botanic Garden. He named the species after the botanist S.A. Greig, at that time the president of the Russian Horticultural Society. Its hybrids are ideal tulips for early colour in rock gardens and containers.

Planting instructions

Plant in a sunny site, or in containers to flower in the sun, 4" (10cm) deep and 4" (10cm) apart.