Tulip Mara

Tulip Mara is a small tulip that brings a lot of fire to the spring garden. The flowers are a warm cinnamon red orange, with outer petals streaked in soft chartreuse green that catch the light in a very natural way. On bright days the blooms open wide into star shaped cups that show off golden stamens and rich coloring toward the center. In cloud and at night they fold back into pointed buds again, so a clump of Mara changes character through the day.  Tulip Mara is a botanical species tulip, listed as Tulipa aucheriana Mara, and it behaves like a true wild tulip in the garden. Each small bulb sends up several slender stems, often with more than one flower on a stem, which gives a planting a loose, airy look rather than a stiff block of color. Plants stay compact at about eight to ten inches tall, with narrow bluish green leaves that weave easily between perennials, ground covers and spring flowering companions like violas or creeping phlox.  For American gardeners Tulip Mara is an easy naturalizer. It is hardy in roughly zones three through eight, so it copes well with cold winters in the North and Inland West, yet also performs in many coastal and upland gardens where the soil drains well. Once settled it comes back year after year and slowly multiplies, especially in sunny spots that dry out in summer, just as many rock garden plants do. Plant the bulbs in fall when the soil has cooled. Choose full sun or very light shade, tuck the bulbs several inches deep and a few inches apart, and then simply leave them to get on with it. In early to mid spring you will see tidy tufts of foliage followed by a flush of glowing red flowers that sit beautifully among early perennials and low grasses. Because the flowers are smaller and closer to the ground than those of big hybrid tulips, Mara feels at home in cottage borders, gravel gardens, meadow style plantings and informal front yards where you want color that still looks relaxed and natural.