I drove up to the Skagit Valley north of Seattle last week to pick up some native plants for a creek side restoration project I am working on. But what hit me in the face were these most unnatural fields on fire. The tulips are nearly unavoidable in the valley this time of year; I wasn’t even driving through the main tourist-attracting fields of the valley.

            I was glad it was Monday, a bit cloudy, and oh, so early. I knew the tulip festivalgoers would be reduced to the few intrepid photographers craving the perfect light, and those who were smart enough to get here early. And who like me don’t like crowds. I knew the roads would be clear for travel and I could do my business and get out of the valley with efficiency.

            I also knew I would have a few intimate moments with the tulips.

            Oh, I love to gawk and speed by these flaming fields. Shock and awe! Shock and awe! But I really love to get down into the fields and find the individuals.

            In my own garden, the effect is more homely. I cluster little clutched of tulips here and there, where I think they might grow—thrive even, and return next year maybe.

This gives me the opportunity to get in close. To examine, admire and create an intimacy that those crowded, roaring fields negate. Did you ever try to have an intimate conversation at a carnival?

 I imitated the medieval gardeners who grew tulips in meadows. Here  Tulipa clusiana  ‘PeppermintStick’   under a cherry in the orchard.

I imitate this naturalistic use of tulips in a clients garden. Here is T. clusiana ‘Tubergin’s Gem’ with Molina cerulean ” Variegata’ and Hosta ‘ Birchwood Parkey’s Gold’ where I hope it will perennialize.

At home I grow most of my species tulips among the weeds of our raised gravel drive. I am trying to imitate there home turf in Central Asia where they grow in high altitude meadows which are waterlogged in Spring and dry in summer.

This little beauty was sold to me as T. orphanidea lava; I think it might be T. whittalii

The trouble with species tulips is so many look so similar.

            I have introduced quite a few new tulips to my collection, which would shrink without new introductions each year. Here are some tulips I am trying for the first time.

“Synaeda King’ ruled our kitchen table for a few weeks this April.

T. humilis ‘Odalisque’ is a species tulip which I am hoping will settle in and re-bloom.

‘Fostery King’ had these showy black stems long before it ever bloomed, but those red flowers with the white base have been holding up to rain. A winner!

An Heirloom from Old House Gardens T. Elegans ‘Rubra’, truly elegant in a way this photographer was challenged to capture.

T. praestans ‘ Shogun’ is by far the best new tulip for me. Loads of this wonderful color on very healthy robust plants.

I am as much of a sucker for the tiny species tulips as I am for those flaming fields. Tulipa kopakowskiana had me on my belly to get this shot.

I plant plenty of tulips for clients, who love a fresh shot of color come April. I tried ‘Mango Charm’ this year. What a wonderfully luminous tulip it was.

This individual is showing the virus induced breaking so valued by tulips fanciers.

I love a good strong pink tulip to stand up to all the gaudy lushness of spring in the Northwest.

‘Gander’ fit that bill perfectly.

            The rains came as they do almost every year during tulip season. Pummeling rain, and cold damp air make it easy for tulip fire (Botrytis tulipae) a fungal disease that can wipe out your tulips in a few short days. I curse it, yet refuse to use the systemic fungicides that stop it.

            So I “rescued” a few tulips and brought them into the house, created a little studio on the kitchen table to do some portrait work with my new macro lens. I was no longer shockedly gawking at a landscape on fire with color—a delight in itself—but up close and personal. As the lens allowed me to insinuate myself into the very flesh of these petals and sexual organs, I saw landscapes no car could race past. Landscapes that demanded stillness— every tremble of my hand a hurricane, every bump of the table an earthquake.

‘ Fostery King’ , again, showing off his female parts.

‘Aleppo’ and…

‘Curly Sue’ giving us some lip.

A broken “Perestroyka’.

‘Black Diamond’ early in the morning.

            I am not just a collector of tulips for the sake of collecting. I am searching for the perfect tulip for the Northwest garden. One that re-blooms, maybe even multiplies, and doesn’t get the tulip fire. I laid my hopes on the species tulips, but they are a finicky bunch. What I am finding, and this is not conclusive, is that hybrid tulips are often better. I am no scientist; I have no methods. But fortunately I miss a few tulips when digging them out of my clients’ gardens each year, so I get to see, which might have survived, which would bloom again. Here are a few unexpected surprises.

I had nearly a dozen ‘Barcelona’ tulips that I planted last year bloom again this spring, and no sign of blight.

One lone ‘Passionale’ stoically re-bloomed.

I had several ‘ Bleu Amiable’ bloom again this year. I had planted them four years ago and they had only bloomed the first year. And now again in rather heavy wet soils, this was a true surprise.

This little cutie, which was sold to me as ‘Acuminata’ re-bloomed this year after a three year rest. I love a yellow mystery.

Alas, tulip time has come to pass. Time to get the vegetables started.