Queen of the Night Tulip [Care Tips & Pictures]

The Queen of Night tulip has a long slender green stem which culminates in a dark blossom. This blossom can range from a plum shade of purple to a shade so dark it's almost black. There are generally several thick leaves at the base of the plant, tall and narrow, just tall enough that they end right as the blossom begins.

What is the Queen of Night Tulip?

Queen of Night tulip is currently praised as one of the closest flowers to black that currently exist, and is most certainly the darkest tulip. Gaining traction in the mid-nineteen hundreds, they've become popular for their uniquely dark shade that stands out in almost any garden or flowerbed.

How to Grow the Queen of Night Tulip

Where Is This Plant Grown?

The Queen of Night tulip is generally grown in temperate areas and bloom in the spring, making them a perfect choice in flower for many areas of the world. The massive tulip fields in Holland have gained worldwide renown, proving that tulips of any and many kinds will prove to be gorgeous additions to your landscape.

How Big is This Plant, and How Long Does It Take To Reach That Size?

Tulips bulbs are generally about twelve centimeters, and they grow to a height of around eighteen inches tall, but Queen of the Night tulips usually grow to a height between twenty and twenty-six inches. The bulb should be planted in the early fall, before the first frost, and will bloom in May of the next year.

Best Growing Zones and Weather Conditions (If Outside)

Queen of the Night tulips can be grown in zones three through eight! There are only eleven different zones, so having a flower that can grow in six of those zones gives you a lot to work with. They will do best in full sun, but depending on the zone, they may be able to handle the partial sun. Bulbs can rot, so consistently rainy weather won't be great for them.

Types of Soil

Fertilized soil that drains well is going to be your best bet for having healthy Queen of the Night tulips. Adding compost to the dirt and mixing it in before you set the bulb will help the soil drain and not retain as much moisture, which will help prevent your Queen of the Night from rotting before, during, and after it first blooms.

Light Requirements

Tulips need lots and lots of light, requiring at least six hours of sun per day. They're a perfect flower to plant on the side of the house or your landscape that gets hit by the rising sun. Flowers that don't get enough light either won't grow at all or will be sickly and lean towards the light. Queen of the Night tulips are very long-stemmed, so any leaning towards a light source will be quite noticeable.

Water and Fertilizer Requirements

They have fairly average water needs. So long as they are planted in soil that drains well and is exposed to lots of sunlight, they're going to need to be watered two to three times a week. It's a balance of making sure they're going to get the water they need, but not sitting in water that will rot the bulb.

Low nitrogen fertilizer is going to be a great one to use, and it should be applied when you start to see the tulip break the ground in the spring.

A Short Step by Step Guide For Planting

Queen of the Night bulbs need to be planted in the fall before the ground starts frosting over. Tulip bulbs actually have to go through a period of cold before they grow, which is why they are sometimes stored in refrigerators or freezers.

Put them in the ground between three to four inches down, and you're done! Depending on which zone you're in, they'll start to break the ground and grow in April or May.

Plant Gallery

1. One of Many

This close up and beautiful shot of the Queen of the Night tulip not only shows how wonderful these flowers look in groups, but it also shows the smaller details of the flower, like the different shades in the petals of the flower,

2. Less is More

Gorgeously backed by bricks, with small white flowers providing both contrast and groundcover, this group of Queen of Night tulips shows that even small bunches can make a big difference. With long, delicate stems and dark petals, these sun-loving blossoms will add variety, elegance, and class to your landscape, wherever you put them.

3. Contrast

Light and dark is a classic contrast that has served many gardens and landscapes well, and that doesn't always have to mean black and white! Dark and light colors can come from many different color spectrums, and they don't always have to be opposites. The dark color and light color from the same color scale can do wonders for you!

4. Lines

Tulips have hard lines, which means their edges are easily defined and seen. You can either go with that specific theme or you can soften it up, as portrayed in this picture. Ferns, bushes, alyssum and several other lighter plants are all great options to go with if you're trying to lighten up the feel of your landscape.

5. Different Edges

Sometimes it's fun to have subtle differences and details that people really have to look for. Other times, it's nice to make the differences more obvious, and more noticeable. For example, Queen of the Night tulips have curved petals, and many other flowers, like the white ones, have their curves neat the center, while the petals themselves come to a point. Mix and match your flowers, and figure out which kinds of shapes you like together!

6. Birds of a Feather

Proven by the massive tulip fields in Holland, sometimes having large groups of the same kinds of flowers can be absolutely beautiful, whether you use the same colors or not! Try to mix and match with some different colors of tulips with your Queen of the Nights.

7. Detail

Queen of the Night tulips are absolutely gorgeous flowers, in groups or up close. With tall, slender, light green stems, and gorgeously veined dark purple petals, they'll add beautiful contrast, and texture, and a unique quality that can only be found in these near-black tulips.

8. Spectrum

Such light, delicate pinks contrasted by dark, heavy purples. Such opposite ends of a spectrum are a great way to balance out any flowerbed or landscape. At the bottom of the picture, you can glimpse smaller blue blossoms that give some groundcover provide a cooler color to contrast the purples and pinks.

9. Climb Higher

When it comes to Queen of the Night tulips, you're getting one of the taller varieties of tulips. You could plant a type of ground cover in an attempt to "balance things out", or you could embrace the elevated status of your garden and build around it with other plants of similar heights! The dark tulips will stand out beautifully against the greens that surround them.

10. Dark and Light

This gorgeous flower bed is beautiful in its simplicity. Dark soil or mulch, beautiful green foliage, the dark Queen of the Night flowers, and a few white blossoms to pull it all together. It's not complicated or hard to put together, which makes it all the more beautiful.

11. Levels and Layers

When it comes to your garden, you can accomplish a lot with plants of different colors, and plants of different heights. You can do a lot in one space when everything grows in at different heights! Buy some plants that are smaller than the Queen of the Night, and some plants that are taller. Think of your landscape as a painting!

12. Up and Down

With the dark purple, almost black blossoms and green foliage, you have lots of options when it comes to ground cover! The dark flowers provide great contrast for anything you put on the ground, but they can also be matched by several different kinds of plants and groundcover. This is a perfect flower to use for a darker than average garden theme!

13. A Little Goes a Long Way

Little groups of Queen of Night tulips are a great way to make a small statement that makes a big impact. Smooth green stems slightly wavy leaves and vaguely multicolored dark petals add gorgeous textures and colors to any flowerbed.

14. Color Combinations

Purple and pink? It's more likely than you'd think! They are fantastically complementary colors, adding a beautiful pop of color to this landscape. The large group of tulips provides gorgeous blossoms at the top and fairly dense leaves near the bottom. The tulips breaking the top of the dirt at different times means that you're going to get color at all different levels at different times. It's beautiful!

15. Splash of Color

Queen of the Night tulips are a great addition to any flowerbed. Their dark color provides the perfect contrast and dark background to almost any color. Perfectly complementing these beautiful shades of orange and red, the dark purple, almost black shades of the Queen of the Night show again and again that they can beautifully add class and sophistication to your landscape.