A decade ago, Anna Pavord's book The Tulip set a benchmark for biographies of the popular bulb, and the celebrated gardening writer has included the flower again in another informative and beautifully-photographed tome, simply titled Bulb.
By Hannah Stephenson
Pavord, who sits on the parks and gardens panel of English Heritage, has been growing tulips for 40 years and grows around 20 new types each year.
"One thing that strikes me is how brilliant the wild tulips are, and they are increasingly available through bulb companies and garden centres. Wild types are much smaller than we are used to, and are not only supremely beautiful but are much more likely to stay than other types."
While daffodils are best planted in early autumn, tulips suit late October or early November.
"The two things tulips need to thrive are perfect drainage and to be baked in the summer sun," Pavord explains.
By growing tulips in pots you can adjust the drainage, making sure containers have drainage holes at the base, a layer of crocks at the bottom and a fast-draining potting mix such as John Innes No 3 mixed with a handful of gravel or grit.
"Do not use composts made with peat," Pavord advises. "Tulips like alkaline conditions, not acid ones."
However, in the UK you can't provide the summer baking which prompts new flower buds to form deep in the hearts of the bulbs, which is why many tulips don't flower as well in subsequent years as they do in their first.
The wild varieties tend to be able to put up with lesser conditions than other types, Pavord observes.
"By choosing carefully, you can have tulips in bloom outside from February until early June. In a mixed bed or border, you can use tall tulips towards the back of a scheme or at the centre of an island bed, with shorter tulips growing towards the front of the border," she says.
Pavord loves her tulips in pots. Again, different heights should be taken into consideration and, as a rule, the tulip should be around the same height as the pot is deep.
"All showy tulips will need a pot which is more than one foot [30cm] high. Smaller wild tulips can be grown in a more pan-shaped container," she says.
"Set three pots in a group together, two pots packed full of medium-height tulips arranged in front of those filled with taller types. This triangular grouping fits well into a corner, made perhaps where your house wraps around a terrace.
"In a scree, or some other gravel-covered area, low-growing tulips look best."
As a rule, tulips should be planted three times deeper than the height of the bulb itself, although gardeners whose soil is heavy or clay may plant more shallowly than those with fast-draining, sandy soil.
Containers should be watered well after planting, and then left until they have almost dried out before watering again. When the tulips are in active growth they'll need a steady supply of moisture, but don't waterlog them or the bulbs will rot.
Among Pavord's favourites are Tulipa orphanidea, a species growing to 21cm with pointed petals, in shades of yellow, orange or red.
"It's quite short and good for exposed areas, and the colours go from lemon sherbet to soft apricots and oranges. They look good in pots."
She also favours T linifolia Batalinii Group, an early variety in yellows or oranges which should be grown on their own in pots - nothing should be allowed to overshadow their splendour - or in the ground mixed with wallflowers. These tulips should return each year and increase to make a rich mat.
Pavord also loves lily-flowered tulips such as 'White Triumphator' mixed with forget-me-nots, and 'Ballerina', an elegant tulip in sunset shades of orange and red which is also sweetly scented with the subtle aroma of primroses.
Of course, no tulip lover could go without their gaudy, gregarious parrot varieties in all their frilly glory and dazzling colours.
"I love 'Orange Favourite', a zinging orange which is interestingly marked and has scented flowers," Pavord enthuses.
While tulips undoubtedly look great in pots as stand-alone specimens, they also have some ideal plant partners. "In borders you need at least 25 bulbs, and thread them through the area with hostas, wild geraniums and bronze fennel."
:: Bulb by Anna Pavord is published by Mitchell Beazley, priced £30. Available now.
Best of the bunch - Callicarpa Bodinieri 'Profusion'
We see loads of shrubs adorned with red and orange berries at this time of year, but not many with the bright purple beads produced by this striking deciduous shrub, better known as the beauty berry, which grows to around 3m.
The young foliage is often bronze-purple, becoming dark green in summer before turning golden purple in autumn. It produces pale pink flowers in midsummer, but is generally grown for its colourful fruit and clusters of shining, bright-purple berries which are retained on the bare branches after leaf fall.
This shrub can be grown in full sun or light, dappled shade, in well-drained, fertile soil. Planting in groups will maximise fruiting. Plants tolerate a little lime in the soil, but conditions which are too alkaline will cause leaf yellowing.
Good enough to eat - Potatoes
If you have a crop of maincrop potatoes that you've left in the ground, keep an eye on the weather because a spell of heavy rain or imminent frosts can damage them.
Slugs and other pests will come out if it's wet, and they'll bore into your spuds and start the rotting process. Semi-dormant potatoes may start growing again if you have a lot of rain after a hot, dry summer, which means they won't keep.
Once you've lifted the potatoes, lay them in shallow trays to dry and then store them in hessian sacks or similar (but not plastic bags!) and keep them in the dark to stop them sprouting.
Three ways to - Find a plant bargain
1. Check out the reduced-price plant area, where you could well find something which has finished flowering this year but will look great next year. Always try to knock the plant out of the pot and check for white grubs or weevils - if you see any, don't buy it.
2. Shop around. Many growers offer mail-order plants much cheaper than you can buy them in the garden centre, and don't disregard your local supermarket and ironmongers, which may also have good deals on seeds and bulbs.
3. Beware of tempting plant combinations offered by some outlets. Check the final size of each plant. The small conifer you bought with those pansies may end up a huge tree if not pruned.
What to do this week
:: Continue to sow hardy annuals, sweet peas and lettuces to overwinter under glass. Sweet peas can also be sown direct in the ground in mild areas and protected with cloches.
:: Plant garlic, spring cabbages and Japanese onions.
:: Apply greasebands to apples and pears to control winter moth caterpillars.
:: Cover autumn raspberry canes with horticultural fleece and leave it there for the winter to give ripening fruit a better chance of reaching maturity.
:: Rake up leaves and keep them in dustbin bags with ventilation holes to to make leafmould, which produces a good mulch.
:: If the ground is not too wet, start winter digging, incorporating organic matter to improve the soil.
:: Plant Pacific Coast irises (Californian hybrid), soaking the roots of new plants in water overnight before planting in acid soil, with added leafmould.
:: Keep houseplants in a warm room, but keep humidity around them as high as possible by grouping them together and spraying them with tepid water.
:: Improve surface drainage on lawns by scarifying, spiking and top dressing.
:: Pot up semi-ripe cuttings of rhododendrons and azaleas taken in early summer which have rooted.
:: Give winter protection to rock plants with grey woolly foliage by covering them with a cloche or rigid plastic supported on bricks.
:: Dig up Jerusalem artichoke tubers as required, until the spring.
:: Lift maincrop carrots to store for the winter and begin to harvest parsnips.
