Plant of the week - Tulip 'Black Parrot'

I have to admit that I have a bit of a thing for black flowers, I've tried a few over the years and of course none are really 'black', but this tulip has a lovely deep velvety dark plum colour that is far more exciting that just plain black. The fringing on the petals gives an amazing texture to the flower and it opens right up into a sort of 'bird-of -paradise' shape.

My tulips in pots haven't done that well this year, the foliage has gone brown and some of the flowers never made it to fully opened but I managed to snap the best example at its full openness. You can just see a couple of its less resplendent neighbours in the background.

Again I got these from crocus (no I don't work for them!) and can be obtained at the link below.

http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/tulipa-black-parrot/classid.1000000303/