Skip to content

Top Navigation

Southern Living Southern Living
  • Food
  • Holidays & Entertaining
  • Home & Garden
  • Style & Culture
  • News
  • Video

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Southern Living

Southern Living Southern Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • These Haircuts Are Going To Be Huge in 2021

      The trendy haircuts you’ll be seeing everywhere next year. Read More Next
    • How To Season A Cast-Iron Skillet

      Learn how to season this Southern kitchen staple in five easy steps. Read More Next
    • The Right Way to Heat a Pre-Cooked Ham

      It's so easy, trust us. Read More Next
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food

    Lost Cakes of the South

    These simple and spectacular Southern cakes deserve a comeback
    • All Food
    • All Recipes
    • Holidays & Occasions
    • Quick Fix Suppers
    • Slow Cooker Recipes
    • Desserts
    • Casseroles
    • Healthy Recipes
  • Holidays & Entertaining

    Holidays & Entertaining

    See All Holidays & Entertaining

    70 Wedding Vow Examples That Will Melt Your Heart

    Fight writer's block and find ways to express your love with these romantic, funny, and short wedding vow examples.
    • Christmas
    • Entertaining
    • Thanksgiving
    • Southern Weddings
    • Easter
    • Kentucky Derby
    • Valentine's Day
    • 4th of July
    • Mother's Day
  • Home & Garden

    Home & Garden

    See All Home & Garden

    7 Paint Colors We’re Loving for Kitchen Cabinets in 2020

    ‘Tis the season to ditch your all-white palette in favor of something a little bolder and brighter.
    • Home Decor Ideas
    • Idea Houses
    • Before & After
    • Inspired Communities
    • Curb Appeal
    • House Plans & Builders
    • The Grumpy Gardener
    • Plant Names A-Z
  • Style & Culture

    Style & Culture

    See All Style & Culture

    50 Books Everyone Should Read in Their Lifetime

    Curl up with a classic!
    • Southern Culture
    • Hair
    • Travel
    • Beauty
    • Pets
    • Southern Fashion
    • Healthy Living
  • News
  • Video

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Southern Living
  2. Gardening Ideas
  3. Gardening Flowers
  4. Here's How a Self-Taught Gardener Grows Over 800 Tulips Every Spring

Here's How a Self-Taught Gardener Grows Over 800 Tulips Every Spring

By Libby Monteith Minor
February 13, 2017
Skip gallery slides
Save FB Tweet
Credit: Alison Miksch
Tumbleweeds could have rolled through the barren yard of this 1935 Oklahoma City Tudor home 26 years ago when Linda Vater and her husband, Jamie, bought it. Now, it’s a kaleidoscope of bold colors, especially in spring, when about 800 tulips put on such a show that she often watches lines of cars rolling by to take them in. It’s a satisfying scene for Vater, a self-taught gardener who did all of this herself. All she knew when she moved in was that she loved the 100-year-old Shumard red oak that graces the front yard. “It’s the reason we bought the house,” she says. “Let me tell you—it’s rare to have such a big old tree in Oklahoma!” Vater’s love for that oak turned into a passion for plants, which eventually led to her role as the Garden Guru for a local TV station and a blog, potagerblog.com. See what Vater learned from her garden and what plants she used to make it a spring showstopper.
Start Slideshow

1 of 4

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Inspired by the Setting

Credit: Alison Miksch

“I have an English-style garden because I have an English Tudor house. If I had a different house, I’d have a different-style garden. They have to speak the same language.” She designed everything in her front yard around that beloved oak tree—even using its shade line to define the shapes of her flowerbeds. Where she couldn’t grow grass for lack of sun under the tree, she tore out part of the lawn in favor of beds. The curves of her beds follow the footprint of the house and serpentine lines of the low brick wall. Near the house, azaleas put on a pink-and-red show in spring and (along with other evergreens) provide a verdant background year-round. Smaller boxwoods and variegated euonymus are scattered throughout the beds, offering a constant framework for the rotating cast of annuals and perennials that come and go throughout the seasons.

1 of 4

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 4

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Keep Size in Mind

Credit: Alison Miksch

When planting in spring, she places shorter plants like creeping phlox, violas, and pansies in front; medium-size plants like golden feverfew and ornamental cabbage in the middle; and tulips in the back because they’re the tallest. “Tulips are like little soldiers marching across the yard, and I don’t like them marching in front of my other plants,” says Vater. And if something starts taking over, feel free to cut it back or give it the boot. “Don’t let your plants boss you!” she admonishes.

2 of 4

3 of 4

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Our 10 Best Container Gardens

If managing a full garden isn't your style, we recommend instead turning to these bright, bountiful container gardens for inspiration. We picked our ten favorites – a variety of outdoor containers, indoor greenery, and porch perfection.

3 of 4

Advertisement

4 of 4

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Picking the Flowers

Credit: Alison Miksch

Take your home’s location into account when deciding what plants to use. “Every plant I choose is viewed through the lens of ‘Will it do well in Oklahoma?’ ” Vater says. She learned what would endure the Sooner State’s long, hot summers and harsh winter ice storms by asking friends who are pros, reading publications by her local Cooperative Extension service, and old-fashioned trial and error. Spring is her big colorful season. Then for summer she says, “I do the minimum, because in Oklahoma, color in hot weather equals work. I don’t particularly want to be in the garden when it’s so hot, and I don’t think the begonias do either.”

1. French Blend Rose Tulip - Traffic-stopping blooms come in light pink, rose, and apricot hues. Vater mixed these midseason tulips with early season white ones to extend bloom time. White ones start in mid- to late-March; pinks and reds pop up in April. “Plant them close together in a rickety-rackety fashion with 15 to 20 bulbs in a single 2- to 3-foot hole,” says Vater.

2. Columbine - This perennial with fascinating purple flowers is irresistible to hummingbirds.

3. ‘Coral Bells’ Kurume Azalea - Abundant pink flowers grace this mounding evergreen.

4. Pansy - With dark purple markings, the petals pop next to vivid green foliage.

5. ‘Snow’ Kurume Azalea - An avalanche of icy white blooms accents this compact shrub.

6. Ajuga - Captivating blue flower spikes adorn a ground cover that needs good drainage and likes sun or shade.

7. German Chamomile - Also known as “false chamomile,” this aromatic plant offers feathery foliage and daisy- like blooms.

8. ‘Gold Heart’ Bleeding Heart - You’ll fall in love with its stunning gold leaves and delicate pink blooms. It thrives under shade trees.

9. Golden Feverfew - Give it plenty of sun, and it will thank you with eye-catching chartreuse foliage.

4 of 4

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Libby Monteith Minor

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 4 Inspired by the Setting
2 of 4 Keep Size in Mind
3 of 4 Our 10 Best Container Gardens
4 of 4 Picking the Flowers

Share options

Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Login

Southern Living

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • About Us
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Books from Southern Living
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Southern Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Southern Living is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporationthis link opens in a new tab All Rights Reserved. Southern Living may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.southernliving.com

View image

Here's How a Self-Taught Gardener Grows Over 800 Tulips Every Spring
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.