Madame Lefeber or the Red Emperor?

Madame Lefeber is a queen among tulips. Of course, when she is called Red Emperor - which is often - she becomes a male ruler. Confusing. Either way, this is one of the first and best of the early spring flowering fosteriana tulips; a little shorter than that some others at 35-45 cm tall, Madame Lefeber makes up for a lack of height with an attention-grabbing display of larger-than-life, brilliant red flowers. If lots of red, early in spring is not your thing, we have dozens more varieties of tulip bulbs for sale to fill your garden with flowers right through spring!

Called the Red Emperor tulip because so many fosteriana tulips are "Something" Emperor, Madame Lefeber bulbs self-seed readily, so they’ll spread over time to make a right royal carpet of huge, sizzling scarlet flowers from late March through April.

Looking good in the garden

This tulip is a real head-turner in the early spring garden with flowers of the kind of retina-popping scarlet the Coldstream Guards made famous. It’s impossible to ignore it in full flower: the large, goblet-shaped flowers positively glow when back-lit by low early spring sunshine, each petal dipped delicately in egg-yolk yellow at the base. On sunny days they open wide to reveal a dark, velvety heart picked out in a halo of gold. They also make fabulous cut flowers.

Madame Lefeber looks wonderful partnered with sunshine yellow ‘Tete-a-tete’ daffodils, or you can really set your garden on fire by planting in mixed drifts of other vividly colourful fosteriana tulips like tangerine Orange Brilliant.

Red Emperor Tulips in Brief

Colour: Fiery red, with a velvety dark heart edged in yellow
Height: 35-45cm
Scent: None
Flowering: March/April
Foliage: Sage green with paler stripes
Naturalises: Yes
Group: Fosteriana (very early)

Naturalising Tulip Trivia

Many tulips are bred to flower spectacularly, but only once. But several species of tulip, including the fosteriana group, are true perennials and return every year. Often known as ‘species’ or ‘wild’ tulips, they usually flower earlier than other tulips, and have slightly shorter stems; the leaves are also often striped or mottled. They’re fantastic value – plant just a few bulbs and they’ll gradually spread into carpets of jewel-like flowers.

Planting instructions

Tulips are best planted in late autumn, usually in November, ideally in free-draining soil in a sunny spot (if you can’t provide this, they are ideal for containers).

Madame Lefeber tulips will be in the ground a long time, so plant them deep – about 20-25cm, or four times the height of the bulb. When you’re planting in the garden, leave about 8-10cms between bulbs (in containers you can pack them in a bit tighter – perhaps 5cm between bulbs). If you’ve got heavy soil, throw a handful of horticultural grit into the bottom of each hole before planting to help with drainage.

A handful of slow-release fertiliser like pelleted poultry manure scattered around the plants during the growing season helps keeps your bulbs healthy. Once they finish flowering, let the foliage die down naturally to return nutrients to the bulbs for an even better display next year.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: The basic delivery charge for orders of bareroot plants is £6.50 + vat, which increases to £12.55 + vat if you add any pot-grown plants, standard trees or fruit trees to the order.
Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
We will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

*Surcharges to the Highlands and Islands still apply.

Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.

Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.

Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.

Misc	Wildlife Value
Area	Frost Pockets, Scotland & The North
Colour	Red/Crimson
Also Good	Fragrant
Flowering	Mar, Apr

	NUMBER OF PACKS Inc. VAT
SIZES	1	2-9	10+
Pack of 25	Plenty of Stock£9.48	Plenty of Stock£7.08	Plenty of Stock£6.24

Red Emperor Tulips

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Madame Lefeber or the Red Emperor?

Looking good in the garden

Red Emperor Tulips in Brief

Naturalising Tulip Trivia

Planting instructions