This award-winning beauty first caught our eye at the Hortus Bulborum where its brilliant rose and white flowers created an almost shimmering effect. Its thick petals make it long-lasting in bloom, giving you more beauty from every bulb, and it looks especially good mingled with whites and purples, a tip from English garden maven Rosemary Verey. Triumph, 16-18”, zones 3-7S/8WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

Richly fragrant and long-lived, ‘Generaal de Wet’ is a worthy scion of the legendary ‘Prince of Austria’. Although orange is not a traditional spring color, once you try few bulbs of ‘De Wet’ we think you’ll agree that its sunny, fresh, juicy tones look right at home in the spring garden. Pair it with dark purple johnny-jump-ups outside and in a vase where you can enjoy its fragrance up close. Ahhhh! Single Early, 14”, zones 3-7S/8WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

A bit dazed after looking at row after row of antique tulips, I snapped to attention when ‘General Ney’ caught my eye. It’s decidedly different, a rich dark cordovan – or port? mahogany? – that glows with intensity. Its old-fashioned, globular shape sets it apart, too. Exceptionally rare, it’s named for the inspiring leader that Napolean called “the bravest of the brave.” Dutch Breeder/Single Late, 18-20”, zones 4b-7aS/7bWC, from the Hortus Bulborum. Chart to compare. Last offered web-only in 2012. Although we hope to offer this rarity again in 2013, availability can’t be confirmed until June. Please check back then or subscribe to our email newsletter.

This lush, ruffled, mid-century double is named for one of our kind of guys. The founder of Hybrida, a forward-looking Dutch bulb house, Gerbrand Kieft was also a tireless advocate for Double Late tulips, preserving and promoting them when they fell out of fashion. With its strong stems and rich color — burgundy-red edged with ivory — it’s a worthy namesake and survivor. Double Late, 16-18”, zones 3-7S/8WC, from Holland. Chart to compare. We offered Gerbrand Kieft on a trial basis in 2012. Please let us know if you think we should add it to our ark of bulbs for 2013. If we do, we’ll announce it in our email newsletter.

With wisps and splashes of dark violet on creamy white, “Black Glory” is one of the very oldest surviving Bijbloemen tulips. Also known as ‘Violet Ponceau’ and ‘La Victorieuse’, it was first offered in 1837 by Voorhelm and Schneevogt, a fabled bulbhouse that had catered to wealthy bulb lovers since the 17th century. 16-18”, zones 4b-7aS/7bWC, from the Hortus Bulborum. Chart to compare.

Cottage tulips were bred from ancient survivors collected from English country gardens in the late 1800s. ‘Golden Harvest’ is one of the loveliest, a soft, lemon yellow so fresh and dewy that we would have named it ‘Spring Dawn’. Its excellence as a cut-flower – strong-stemmed, long-lasting, harmonious – has preserved it. Cottage/Single Late, 26”, zones 3-7S/8WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

Dark tulips are in vogue, and you don’t have to be Goth to appreciate ‘Greuze’. Its dusky buds on dark stems open into flowers of deepest purple, and it often follows its first bloom with smaller, slightly later blooms to make a clump that’s informal and charming. Named for an 18th-century French artist, it’s hard to pronounce but “Grooz” is close enough for us. Single Late/Darwin, 23”, zones 3-7S/8WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

Did you see this knockout in The New York Times? Like a sunrise in slow motion, it opens with baby-smooth, pale yellow petals feathered with rose, and then day by day it transforms itself into a big, ruffled flower of creamy white flamed with purple. You will be enchanted! True broken tulip, late-blooming, 16-18”, zones 4b-7aS/8WC, from our friends at the Hortus Bulborum. Chart to compare.

A brown tulip? You bet! And it’s fabulous. This is the original, Breeder form of ‘James Wild’ that’s more often seen in its flamed mahogany-on-gold Bizarre form. Though the flamed version is flashier, this anything-but-plain brown tulip needs no improvement. With shades of coffee, bronze, and amber, it’s already amazing! Single Late, 18-20”, zones 4b-7aS/7bWC, from the Hortus Bulborum. Chart to compare.

An affordable 18th-century antique, “Emperor’s Crown” is still “magnificent for any purpose,” as C.S. Allen wrote in his 1893 best-seller, Bulbs and Tuberous Rooted Plants. Counterfeits are rife today, but our bulbs are the real deal. You’ll even see them blooming at Mount Vernon! Single Early, 13”, zones 3-7S/8WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.