In the old farmyard at Ulting Wick, the jewel-bright colours of thousands of tulips appear luminous against a backdrop of three listed black farm buildings. After a long, sapping winter, it’s a joyous scene. “For me, the tulips are harbingers of colour for the rest of the year,” says Philippa Burrough, owner and creator of this glorious Essex garden.
While many tulip lovers stagger their displays, with early- and late-flowering varieties, Burrough concentrates her efforts on three magical weeks of intense colour, usually around the end of April. She combines a variety of planting approaches: clashing shades, such as oranges against reds; complementary colours, such as a rose pink with a creamy white and an intense purple; and waves of colour from soft pink, to dark pink, to purple. “There is such a range of colours with tulips, you can almost paint with them,” she says.
Burrough grows new cultivars in pots for their first year, then carries a single flower around the garden, placing it against other tulips and perennials to see what works. Her latest combination is the intense burgundy of Tulipa ‘Gorilla’ against T. ‘Red Wing’, a vivid red with a satin sheen. “Experimenting and having fun are what this garden is all about.”
Anyone who has planted so much as a bag of bulbs has to admire the scale of this project. Before the tulips can be planted, other plants go in, so the bulbs won’t be damaged by subsequent digging. First, perennials: pretty fringe cups (Tellima grandiflora), bronze wisps of leatherleaf sedge (Carex buchananii), and maroon-flowered dusky cranesbill (Geranium phaeum ‘Samobor’); then wallflowers including ‘Giant Pink’ and ‘Fire King’.
Then Burrough, along with her head gardener Lou Nicholls and – in non-Covid times – another part-time helper, plant about 10,000 tulip bulbs each autumn. The pair work as a team: one makes a hole with a Sneeboer long-handled bulb planter, while the other pops in a pinch of bone meal fertiliser and the bulb. “We can plant 1,400 in a morning like that,” Burrough says.
After the bulbs have been planted, the tulips don’t need further care or watering. Every May, once the displays are over, they dig them out again. “They would flower again each year, but with less vigour,” Burrough says. “I treat them as annuals; that way I get to try new combinations every year.” Burrough reviews the successes and failures, makes her plans for next year, and orders more tulips. Dahlias and tropical plants (such as ensetes and cannas) take the tulips’ place for the rest of the summer before being swapped again at the end of the growing season.
When Burrough and her husband Bryan moved from London to this former farmhouse 25 years ago, it came with 11 acres of land but a fairly uninspiring garden. Her much-loved Dutch godmother kickstarted her tulip passion with visits to Keukenhof, south-west of Amsterdam – one of the largest flower gardens in the world, known for its tulips.
In 2001, nurserywoman and garden writer Sarah Raven came to give a charity talk. “Her visit inspired me to get going with bold colour; I realised tulips would work so well here, against the black barns. I bought 200 bulbs and it spiralled from there,” Burrough says. She is evangelical about every aspect of the flower, even its often overlooked foliage (“It can be pleasingly curly or quite dainty”) and its stems, some of which flush with a beautiful pink.
The spring tulips are only one of Ulting Wick’s many highlights, among them a meadow, kitchen garden, and native woodland. Today, Burrough is planting a border full of miniature irises. The garden was closed to visitors for much of 2020, but Burrough is grateful that it has kept her so busy; she and Nicholls have kept to separate areas using their own tools. She hopes to be able to open with the National Garden Scheme in time for the tulips. “I think by spring, people will have been stuck indoors for so long, they will be desperate to soak up this joyful colour.”
Subject to government guidance, Ulting Wick will be open on 25 and 30 April, 9 July, 30 August and 3 September. Visit ngs.org.uk or ultingwickgarden.co.uk.
Six of the best tulips
‘Barcelona’ A vibrant pink
‘Ballerina’ Beautiful shape, and very fragrant
‘Paul Scherer’ A dark contrast to pinks or whites
‘Spring Green’ Perfect green and white tulip
‘Abu Hassan’ Enigmatic and sophisticated
‘Merlot’ A lovely lily-flowered shape