Imagine waking up on a beautiful, sunny morning in late April. You can hear the birds singing. Smell the freshness of the dew on the lawn and see the trees and plants budding. Then, look across your yard and see a patch of patriotic tulips standing at attention, waving a salute in the morning breeze.

No matter what country you may live in, with a little creativity and planning, you can design and grow a colorful, patriotic tulip garden. There are many different shades and colors of tulips that are commercially available from the leading tulip growers that can lend themselves to a garden. No matter the nationality or ethnic background, a colorful tulip garden can display the colors of the flag or local hues that are important to your heritage.

Let's say that you want to create an American patriotic tulip garden. Simply design and plant a patch of blue, red and white tulips. Candidates for blue tulips include the gorgeous Skagit Valle tulip, whose white petals are edged with blue. You can also add blue hyacinths for more color.

Add other white tulips, such as the Ice Princess single tulip or Purissima jumbo tulip. Ah yes, red. There are single red tulips, such as the Firespray red tulip, the Red Impression tulip and the brilliantly bright Oxford jumbo deluxe tulip. For a special effect, consider the Moulin Rouge tulip whose petals start as red and white but change to all red as the season goes on. Make sure to plant other white tulips with the Moulin Rouge so that you will still have white color after they have turned red.

If you are of Canadian, Polish or Swiss descent, planting red and white tulips is easy to do. Just make sure that the bulbs you purchase are in the appropriate hardiness zone for your location. The USDA plant hardiness map (located on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website) will show the zones by geography. Check with the tulip grower for the tulip bulb rating.

Gold and red are the colors of the Spanish flag. There are different shades of red and yellow tulip flowers, and even some that have red-and-yellow petals. For example, the Tequila Sunrise tulips feature a golden flower that has red edges. Imagine a patch of those tulips waving in the Spring breeze, just like a flag waving overhead.

For those with a Mexican heritage, which features red, white and green colors, a tulip garden can reflect them on a sunny day. As mentioned above, there are many choices for red and white tulips. Believe it or not, tulip growers have isolated a green tulip hybrid after years of breeding and testing. The Evergreen tulip has solid green flowers that last up to four weeks long, which is a lifetime for tulip season.

How about black tulips? Some national flags include the color black, and truly black tulips have never been found. However, the Negris tulip, which is a very dark purple, can look black when mixed with brighter colored tulips.

There are literally hundreds of combinations of tulip colors and varieties that you can grow on your property, whether you want to celebrate your national patriotism, your ethnic heritage or simply enjoy a rainbow of colorful tulips.

The options are endless in designing your own tulip flower garden for your home. The time to make your plans is now, so that next Spring you can wake up to a patch of patriotic tulips and return their salute.