Species tulips

I planted a few species tulips last fall. I'm just starting to explore the genus, but I'm quite taken with them. Compared to the standard hybrid tulips (which I also love) the forms are quite delicate and graceful. I'm going to have to try a lot more this year...

Tulipa tarda So cheerful! Also tough and spreads vigorous for me.

Tulipa 'Little Beauty'

 

'Little Beauty' again... LOVE the blue at the base of the flower. I tried growing it as a teenager at my parent's house... where it became instant deer food. I'm hoping it lives long and well in my current (mostly deer-free) garden.

Tulipa clusiana A flower close-up.

Tulipa clusiana Bad picture of the whole plant. I don't think I've captured how delicate and graceful they are. I'm in love.

Tulipa batalinii Delicately amazing little flower.

Any species tulip fans out that? Recommendations for what I should try next?

Friday Cartoon: The bulb cycle

Timber Press photo contest

Timber Press is having a contest: Submit your best macro garden photograph, and you could win a copy of a book about taking macro photos.(which seems back-to-front to me... clearly the winner is in no need of a book in order to take amazing pictures. Maybe they should give the book to the worst submission? I like that idea -- I might have a chance then!)
I'm not much of a macro person -- I tend to try (try, usually fail) to take pictures which give an idea of what a whole garden looks like. But: Sometimes the extreme close up is irresistable, as in the case of my submission to the contest: A fringed tulip I saw in the Netherlands a couple years ago: