Family: Liliaceae
Botanical name: Tulipa fosteriana

Flowering period: April – May

Average plant height: 25 – 30 cm

Spacing between bulbs: 10 cm

Type of bulb: bulb

Landscape uses: parks, beds, borders and rock gardens

Tulipa fosteriana is a wild species found in the mountainous areas of Central Asia. Although no longer being cultivated, numerous beautiful cultivars developed from it are still marketed. They differ from one another in height, but all have a slender flower shape and large, sometimes striped leaves. Reds are strongly represented in this assortment. The most famous of its cultivars is ‘Mad Lefeber’, better known as ‘Red Emperor’. Naturalising is possible with these tulips.

Most significant cultivars

• ‘Candela’: lemon-yellow
• ‘Concerto’: sulfur-white
• ‘Juan’: luminous deep orange, yellow base, foliage brown spots
• ‘Madame Lefeber’: red
• ‘Orange Brilliant’: orange
• ‘Orange Emperor’: bright orange, yellow base
• ‘Princeps’* bright red, bronze-green base
• ‘Purissima’ (‘White Emperor’): pure white
• ‘Summit’: yellow
• ‘Sweetheart’: lemon-yellow with broad ivory-white edge
• ‘Yellow Purissima’: golden-yellow

* indicates the shortest cultivar

As is the case with most other tulip classes, these are also offered as mixed colours.