Darwins come in a range of colors, including white, pink and purple as well as various shades of yellow, orange and red and various bicolors.

I seldom bother to dig up a spent or no longer blooming bulb unless I come across it doing other planting. But I do pull up the skimpy or single foliage if it's in my way or annoys me :-))

Thanks. I thought the red and yellow were the "species" and the other colors were the "hybrid", and only the species were really reliable. I have noticed that the red and yellow tulips in my yard (including some that have been coming up since before we moved in 10 years ago) are by far the most reliable.

All Darwins are hybrids but are considered the best hybrid (tall growing, big flowers, good for cutting) for perennializing. Species tulips (altogether different - usually short, stubby plants with a limited color range) also tend to be good at returning/perennializing because that characteristic has not been bred out of them as it has with most hybrids.

I have one random white tulip that has been blooming (in a partly shady bed, in the root zone of a large locust no less) for 6 years at least. I would love to know the secret -- I drop a lot of money on tulips! Maybe because the bed is kept drier by the tree?

Most come back for a 2nd, sometimes a 3rd year, but that is it -- and this year was bad, most from last spring didn't make a 2nd appearance (Ollioules among them) even though planted in full sun, well drained beds. All of the "species" tulips reappeared, though

Could a layer of mulched leaves on the bed in fall be bad for tulips?

Thanks for the explanation, gardengal! I guess I never knew what the definition of species was.

raee, my random long-lived random tulips are all in relatively neglected parts of the garden: against a fence, behind a hydrangea bush, against a stone wall. These are places that get a bit of water (not too much) and otherwise have almost no disturbance to the ground. They aren't weeded much, I seldom step on that soil, no fertilizer, and very little digging. That probably has something to do with it! I doubt the mulched leaves are the problem.