'Menton' Darwin
Single Late Perennial Tulip
"You can't see fairies unless you're good.
That's what Nurse said to me.
They live in the smoke of the chimney,
Or down in the roots of tree;
They brush their wings on a tulip,
Or hide behind a pea."
-Marchette Gaylord Chute
(1909-1994)
(1909-1994)
'Menton' Darwin tulip is largely salmon-pink but with pastel apricot highlights & sometimes appears to be lightly glazed with peach & rose. In all it is the color of a particularly striking dawn.
It is named for Menton on the French Riviera against the foothills of the Maritime Alps, an amazing backdrop for gardens both famed & incidental. The slogan of Menton is appropriately "My village is a garden."
'Menton' stands twenty-six to thirty inches tall with a large pyramidal to eggshaped flower that when opened in fullest sun can be as much as six inches wide.
The many & various Darwin tulips were achieved by crossing T. darwin with T. fosteriana. Such tulips are also known as Mayflowering, Cottage, or Perennial tulips. "Single lates" are a catch-all of tall tulips that bloom mainly in May, but those which can be additionally categorized as Darwins are the best of the single-lates for several reasons:
They are the tallest & largest tulips ideal for cut flowers, are long-lasting in the garden, with sturdy stems not prone to lodging, & unlike so many other hybrids they will perennialize for many years, so long as the leaves are not cut back until they're very faded.
'Menton' burst into bloom late April & mostly in May. It looks good popping up singly amidst shorter leafy perennials, or in drifts of many. It originated as a sport of the pure rose-pink 'Renown.' The sport was developed by W. Dekker & Sons for release in 1971.