Tulips are much easier to grow and care for than you might imagine. Even a rank beginner can do it!
In the 1600’s a single tulip bulb often sold for as much as a house. Today, even the very poor can afford to enhance their home gardens with an endless variety of regal looking tulips of many colors, shapes, and sizes. A carefully planned tulip garden attracts attention from all who visit or pass by, and tulips are so easy to grow and care for, that even novice gardeners will be astounded at how simple it is.
Caring for tulips
Planting Tulips
Preparing Your Bed
Tulips need a fertile, well-drained soil located in full or partial sun. Under a tree is okay since the flowers will receive plenty of sun in the spring before tree leaves are fully developed. Then, later in the summer, the leaves on the tree will provide welcome shade. Add mulch if your soil is heavily compacted.
Choosing Your Bulbs
There are literally hundreds of species of tulips to choose from. Usually pictures on the package of bulbs at your nursery are accurate enough to give you a pretty good idea of how your mature flowers will look. Come armed with a plan of how you want your finished garden to appear and choose accordingly. Some commonly chosen favorites are:
- Single blooms
- Double blooms
- Parrot (Petals are feathered and scalloped looking)
- Lily (Pointy petals)
- Fringed (Lacy and extremely delicate looking petals)
There are almost as many colors of tulips as there are varieties. Some are barely tinged with solid pastel colors while others range from deepest red to purple. Recently, an exotic black tulip has become a popular choice. Some tulips are two-tone color patterns, and some, especially the fringed and parrot types, display bold splashes of attention-getting color that almost take your breath away.
Check the bulb package for height as you choose your bulbs. Planting bulbs that produce very short mature flowers behind a row of very tall ones may detract from the effect you are trying to create. These versatile bulbs range in height from less than 8 inches to a few that grow as tall as 24 inches. You may want to pick up a few other plants to alternate with the tulips at the same time you are choosing your tulip bulbs. Daffodils, pansies, bleeding hearts, and columbine all go very well with tulips.
Also, be sure that you check on the package for blooming time for the particular species of bulb you choose. If you pick only early spring flowering bulbs, your garden will look pretty barren by mid-summer. Try for a variety to make your garden last as long as possible.
Choose large bulbs. The larger your bulbs, the more likely you are to get sturdier plants with larger blooms.
Planting the Bulbs
Tulips grow best when planted in mid-fall before the ground freezes. Make sure the bulbs you buy have not already sprouted in the package. If you live in a very warm climate, refrigerate your bulbs for about 8 weeks before planting them.
For a showier display, plant them in round or irregularly shaped groups of 5-15 bulbs, rather than in straight rigid rows.
Plant your bulbs, pointy side up, at least 5-8 inches deep. Some growers feel that even deeper may prolong the life of tulip bulbs, but never plant them over 12 inches deep. Again, check the package for planting directions, keeping in mind that the instructions may not take into account the climate of your particular area.
Write down the names and locations of your bulbs so you can re-order only the ones you truly enjoy, and avoid replanting types that did not do well.
Tulip Care
As with all garden plants, your tulips will require some maintenance, but that maintenance is neither difficult nor excessive. If your neighborhood is infested with bulb snatching squirrels, a wire mesh spread over the ground may discourage them long enough for your plants to begin to grow. Some gardeners use hot pepper powder to successfully battle a variety of curious animals; grated orange peels sprinkled on the ground around plants sometimes works, too, but may lose their aroma in a few days and need to be replaced. If you have purchased very expensive and difficult to find bulbs, you may wish to invest in a few bulb cages to use at the time of planting. These cages can be reused each year.
When your tulips start to grow, water them whenever the top half inch of soil around them is dry. A feeding with an all purpose bulb fertilizer when the first new plants show themselves, and once more after the flowers are finished blooming, if you intend to replant them for the next year, is sufficient.
Storing Bulbs For The Next Season
Most tulips are designated as perennials, but usually bloom best during their first season, with blooms getting smaller each year. Because of this many people prefer starting with new bulbs each year. Older bulbs can be moved to decorate areas along property lines, or to empty areas in a back corner of your property, while new ones are purchased for your main display each year.
If you do want to preserve your bulbs and keep them blooming as long as possible, they are not difficult to store for replanting the next year. Just pick off dead blossoms during the flowering season, but let the leaves remain until they turn brown. Then dig up the bulbs and store them in a cool dry area, (too much heat can cook the bulbs), until mid-fall.
Congratulations. You are now ready to begin planning next summer’s tulip display.
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