Two of the tulips I like best (besides two lips in the dark) are late-bloomers making a show right now.

The Tulipa above is in the fringed group of tulips. I wish I knew its name. Squirrels and their guillotine tendencies aside, these were reliable performers in my garden for many years, increasing happily and even providing their own light scent.

Reliable, that is, until I foolishly moved them so their ripening foliage would be less of a blot on my tiny landscape. Mistake, mistake! Although half a dozen have survived, they were really set back. The offsets I gave away look fab in my neighbours’ gardens, though.

I was luckier moving these lily-flowered tulips, Tulipa ‘West Point’, from languishing in a too-shady corner to a sunny spot. Now, they glow like candles in the morning, and open like stars in the afternoon. Their maturing petals become increasingly recurved, so when they close for the evening they seem to do some impossibly twisty yoga position.

These two bloom with another lily-flowered favorite, Tulipa ‘White Triumphator.’ Together, they provide sculptural interest, colour, light, and fascinating changes over a long period in May.

I could kiss them for that.