Need Advice About Tulips

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I have a small patio and every Spring I plant some flowers in pots and in a window box type of thing. They've done very well.

I also have a small bit of yard in front of the patio and I'd like to plant some tulips there. I luuuve tulips.

Of course, I know you're supposed to plant tulips in September, so I'm way ahead of myself here -- but I need some advice about them.

I've heard they're high maintenance. Is this true?

After doing some tulip research, I've learned they need good drainage, and I don't think that will be a problem. The area directly in front of my patio slopes downward, so it's not like the tulip bulbs would be sitting in puddles of water after a rain storm.

I've also heard they like some direct sunlight, but they don't like it too hot. I get direct sunlight part of the day, but not all day. Also, I've planted impatiens in my window box thingy, and they've done very well (and they also don't like it too hot).

So what do you think? Should I go for it? What type of soil would they need?

Also, is it true that tulips will bloom the first summer after you plant them, but the next summer you will get nothing -- or very puny looking tulips?

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As far as I know, tulips need full sun. I don't know what zone you're in, but it's possible, if you're in a southern zone, that tulips in your yard might need some afternoon shade. Impatiens need shade, tulips may or may not even tolerate it.

Squirrels eat tulips bulbs (I think) and deer eat tulip shoots/flowers (I think). To protect the bulbs, some people plant them under or in a metal caging - like chicken wire. To protect from deer.... I dunno.

Also, when you put the bulbs in, you should be sure there is adequate drainage and mix bulb food into the soil.

I think tulips only last for a few years. Not sure about that either.

Can you tell I'm not a tulip fan?

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Ha! That's ok, littlek, I like them enough for both of us.

I didn't know about the metal caging. That's good to know! It would be my luck to invest in tulip bulbs and have some squirrels eat them for lunch. Crying or Very sad

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I love tulips too!

Here in Oregon you just throw a bulb into the ground and they're good to go. They don't require any special care at all.

The reason I don't grow them so much anymore is that the bulbs are poisonious to most animals. My dog at my cheap bulbs and it ended up costing me a fortune in charcoal treatments.

I thought I'd dug up all my bulbs last year due to dogs but this year I had several tulips grow anyway.

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I have tulips in the same flower bed I plant impatiens in every year and both do well. The bed gets direct sun in the afternoons but is shaded all morning and in the evenings. The squirrels do go after the tulip bulbs but if you plant them deep enough the squirrels will just give up.

I saw something on a gardening show just last weekend where they claimed you could take tulip bulbs nad put them in your freezer for 3-4 weeks and then plant them and the bulb would be fooled into thinking it's time in the freezer was winter and would produce flowers this year. If you are desperate it could be worth a try...

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Hmmm...that's interesting, boomerang...thanks for the info!

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You can pour some sand in the hole before and after you plant the bulb before refilling the hole with garden soil. The squirrels and chipmunks get discouraged by the sand. I have deer problems and use a smelly deterrent to keep them away. Small chips of Irish Spring soap work well too.

I've had some tulips that came up for years and years, but I don't think they were 'special' varieties. I think those are the ones that only do well for the first year.

My SIL has a huge garden and digs up her tulip bulbs every year. She throws them out and treats them like an annual. I dunno, seems like a lot of work for an annual. I'd leave them in and see how they do. You can always dig them up if they start to fail.

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More good info! Thanks, JB.

Yes, I think I'd leave them in too and see how they do. I wouldn't want to have to keep digging them up each year.

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Oh! I didn't see your post, fishin. Yes, I've heard tulips should be planted deep.

I might just try that freezer trick! Razz

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Tiptoe...

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Don't put them in the freezer....put them in the lower part of the fridge.

And set them in the ground with the pointy part of the bulb up.

Which part of the U.S.A. do you live? You may be able to plant them now , if the ground's thawed.

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I throw out the tulips every year and replant in the fall.

I looooove tulips!

They aren't as tall the second year, and the blooms aren't as big. Also, only about 1/2 to 2/3 of them will come up again. The third year, only about half of those if you're lucky, and they'll be shorter and smaller still. I'm always disappointed in the 2nd & 3rd year tulips so now I just treat them as annuals. (They're very easy to pull up if you keep your soil loose.)

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If you plan on lifting them after they've flowered, you can purchase tulip baskets -- shallow plastic baskets -- in which you place the bulbs and bury complete. Removal is then simply a matter of lifting the baskets out of the soil.

I've had some tulips in the ground for 10 years. The older, species tulips (as opposed to hybrids) are more likely to continue to bloom yearly without loss of looks. Whether you leave them in, or dig them up, dead head them after blooming and let the leaves die back on the stem -- they're feeding the bulb -- if you plan on reusing them.

I've never lived in an area with deer, so cannot comment on that. But I always had a pact with the squirrels -- I fed them peanuts and let them raid the birdfeeders, and they left my tulips alone. :wink: (More likely, it was just luck).

Here's some basic info:
tulips

And a tulip lover's dream:

http://www.northsidecreativephotography.org.au/albums/2004-04/psm_tulips_susan_buchanana.jpg

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Tulips are not poisonous and the bulbs are considered a delicacy in some parts of Asia. Daffoldils are poisonous.

If you plant them surrounded with a little stone dust or gravel the animals tend to leave the bulbs along, but deer will devour the flowers and rabbits will snack on the leaves.

They do OK in part shade (4 or more hours per day).

Plant them in the fall and hope the ground freezes for best results.

Look for the variety known as Darwin for yearly return (about 5 years) and biggest flowering (Impression and Golden Appledorn are great). You can also get long term results by planting species tulips, they are much smaller but have their charm. It is best to buy tulips from vendors who sell fresh bulbs. Avoid the cheap stuff in plastic bags that the big box stores offer. I like Brent & Becky's Bulbs in VT and Van Engelen in CT. Both have websites.

Always remember to cut off the flower after the petals fall off. If it goes to seed you will probably not get a flower the following year.

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weve had tulips in the same spot for over 10 years and they do fine. Certain varieties are not good for naturalizing , but weve found that the "old fashioned " kinds my gramma had work fine. We give em bone meal once a year after blooming. I have no idea when is their optimal feeding time.

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We have tulips from when we moved into this house 11 years ago. We never feed them and do no maintenance on them. I think we may have divided them once when the new fence was put in and a lot of stuff had to be pulled out so that the fence guy could work. But that was it.

The tulips are in the front, which is a Southern exposure with full sun during the day. We do absolutely nothing other than watering -- and then only if everything else is getting watered. We don't even do any winter care. While there are squirrels, rats and mice in the area, so far as I know none of the bulbs have been chomped. But we do have a lot of 'em so I may have lost track, perhaps we've lost a few over the years, I dunno.

Darwinian gardening at its finest.

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I'm also one who moved into a house that had tulips -- haven't done anything to them, and they've come up just fine. Have some blooming in the back now that are stunners; they couldn't have been planted more recently than fall '03.

The ones in the front, though, get positively decimated by deer. Haven't done anything in particular about it, we have plenty of daffodils and those are left alone.

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Tulip bulbs are too toxic to dogs -- and cats.

http://www.nriah.com/oldsite/Treatment/toxic_plants.htm

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Some of the tulips at the hamburger's come up in the middle of the hedge and the lawn - as he's re-landscaped a few times over the decades. More than 40 years later after planting, some of them are still pluggin' along.

He adds a hundred or so, every 5 or 10 years. No special care once they're in. Their yard used to be very sunny, now because of the monster evergreens, it's mostly shady. The tulips don't seem to mind, either way.

~~~~~~~~~

Where I live is MUCH more squirrel intensive than the old hometown. I once spent the best part of three days planting about 300 bulbs in a marvellous design. A week later, my porch and patio were covered with bulb bits. 6 came up the next spring. Never again.

I love 'em, but I've been scarred.

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I fear for my 6 ferns I planted with much fanfare last fall. No trace of 'em. I suspect squirrels. Crying or Very sad

We'll see.

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