Tulips at Sherwood Gardens in Baltimore

For years I’ve heard about spectacular tulips that bloom every spring in Baltimore. This year, I not only found out where they are – a place called Sherwood Gardens – but also had a chance to photograph the tulips.

The tulip garden at Sherwood Gardens dates back to the 1920’s when it was established by John Sherwood, a local conservationist and former chairman of Sinclair Oil Company. After his death in 1965, the Guilford Association took over the management of the gardens. Each year, they plant 80,000 tulip bulbs.

The day I visited was just after some heavy rains – so many of the tulips weren’t in great shape. But what I saw was amazing – and I’ll definitely head back there next year. The gardens are open year-round and there is no admission fee.

Ballade Tulips

Ballade Tulips @2014 Patty Hankins

Banja Luke Tulips

And finally – what may be Shirley Tulips. According to my reading of the garden map – these are Shirley Tulips. The problem is – they’re the wrong color. Every Shirley Tulip I’ve ever seen is purple and white. I found some descriptions which describe the color as mauve – and one that says the Shirley Tulips start blooming with red highlights – which change to purple as the flowers open. So these may be Shirley Tulips with the red highlights – or I could have read the map incorrectly.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this first set of tulip photos from Sherwood Gardens – I’ll post the rest of my tulip photos from Sherwood next week.