I wonder if wild tulips growing in Greece is something you could try. For instance, where we are in Greece (Halkidiki, northern Greece) we do not have frost every year, and the ground never freezes, but
Tulipa orphanidea comes back every year. It is not big, like the Dutch garden hybrids, but it is lovely and you can buy bulbs from England.
_DSC5069Tulipa_orphanidea by
Jorun Tharaldsen, on Flickr
