When to Plant Your Tulip Bulbs:
If you want to fill your garden with color next spring, plant bulbs from October to December; Tulip bulbs can actually be planted right up until Christmas and still flower perfectly well in the following spring because they only need a short season of growth.
Where to Plant Your Tulip Bulbs:
Tulips perform best in full sun but will tolerate some shade.
Tulips dislike wetness and require well-drained soil.They grow in most soils but if the soil is very dry, plant the bulbs a day after it has rained.
How to Plant Your Tulip Bulbs:
Prepare the site by removing any weeds or stones and use a fork or trowel to loosen and aerate the soil. Use a trowel to dig a hole large enough to fit all of the bulbs that you are planting. For large quantities, you may also dig a large bed. The depth of the hole should be twice the length of the bulb itself. Make sure the pointed end of the bulb is up in the ground.
In warmer climates plant bulbs deeper than 10 inches; the deeper you plant a tulip, the tougher it will be. Tulips planted deeper have thicker stems and fall over less often.
When planting tulips, it is nice to place them close to one another to avoid having them standing by themselves in the spring. This is one flower that always looks better in groups. You can place bulbs as close as six inches away from each other in the ground.
A great tip is to alternate rows of early, mid and late blooming tulips so you may enjoy tulips throughout the entire season!
Tulip as perennial:
Strictly speaking,
tulip bulbs cannot be guaranteed to flower for more than one season.
Tulips hail from the rugged and windy mountains of Central Asia and need conditions that are not usually found in American gardens. However, to encourage your
tulips to bloom for several years in a row, we recommend that you do the following:
• Plant your
bulbs deep (8-10 inches). Deep planting helps to prevent the
bulb from splitting up into many small, non-flowering
bulbs.
• Fertilize the
bulbs when the foliage pushes through the soil in spring. We recommend a general low-nitrogen organic fertilizer.
• Remove spent flowers as soon as the
bulbs finish blooming. Snapping off the top of the flower stem encourages the plant to send energy into bulb growth rather than seed production.
• Allow the foliage to wither completely before you remove it.
• Avoid summer irrigation.
Tulips prefer to be dry during their dormancy.
Almost all
Darwin Hybrid Tulips have proven to be good perennial so they would be your best bet if you are looking for years of colorful blooms.
