Description

Tulip Cape Cod is a distinctive, low-growing tulip variety celebrated for its vivid two-tone colouration and ornamentally mottled foliage. Blooming early in the tulip season, often in late March to early April in milder parts of Ireland, it produces robust, cup-shaped blooms in deep scarlet-red with bright golden-yellow margins, maturing to include streaks of orange flame and coral blush as they age. The compact 20–30 cm stems are stout and weather-resistant, perfectly adapted to Ireland’s variable spring conditions.

Cape Cod bears attractive broad, blue-green leaves marked with deep maroon streaks or spots, making it an ornamental feature even before flowering. This early-blooming tulip is ideal for rockeries, front-of-border edging, gravel gardens, raised planters, and alpine troughs, as well as civic beds, urban pocket parks, and small-scale municipal displays where impact, resilience, and foliage value are important.

It performs best in full sun in well-drained, fertile soils and benefits from dry summer dormancy — making it a good choice for containers, gravel-mulched beds, or low-maintenance perennial borders. Its preference for sun and dry summer conditions echoes its Central Asian heritage, though it is perfectly winter hardy in all Irish counties.

While not a pollinator-rich flower, Cape Cod does provide early pollen resources for hoverflies and solitary bees, especially when grown alongside more nectar-rich spring bulbs. Its early flowering time makes it a valuable colour bridge between late crocus and mid-season daffodils. Though not fragrant, the visual drama of the flaming blooms and streaked foliage makes this tulip a versatile and structurally interesting component of biodiversity-leaning, foliage-conscious, and small-scale urban planting schemes. Suggested companion combinations include Muscari Baby’s Breath, Narcissus Tête-à-Tête or Dick Wilden.

Greigii tulips, like Cape Cod, are a strong choice for naturalistic planting, low-maintenance schemes, and wild-style formal plantings, particularly where low height and strong foliage are desired. Plant in groups of 10–15 bulbs per m² or intersperse through low perennial or gravel plantings for a painterly effect.