Tulip medallion with broken tulips

The combination of brown, broken tulips with the young leaves of the copper beech produces one of my favorite color associations. The tulips you see here are 'Absalon' (this time with very little color breaking so that it is essentially a brown tulip), 'Lord Stanley' (boldly streaked red and yellow)  and 'Insulinde' (slate colored). A few pansies in a similar color range complete the group.

The color of 'Absalon' matches the color of the copper beech leaves almost exactly. The appearance of this tulip varies much from season to season. In the lower pictures, taken in 1981, you see other ones including a boldly broken example. It's not only the color pattern which varies: the shape of the tepals also varies.

Next year I hope to have more tulip flowers with which to work up such a combination, but even these three produce a rich effect all out of proportion to the meager resources used.