Spring wouldn’t be complete without the bright blooms of tulips! From pastel pastels to more vibrant shades, their beautiful blooms add vibrancy and color to April and May borders and potted gardens alike.
Tulips are spring bulbs best planted from mid to late autumn. Although tulips technically belong to the perennial family, years of breeding to produce stunning blooms means many varieties only reliably flower for one season at a time. Many gardeners therefore purchase new bulbs each autumn to maintain a high display, or in potted forms you must plant new bulbs every season if you want your display to remain spectacular. Let’s discuss how to grow Tulips!
How to Grow Tulips
Tulip bulbs should be planted in moist yet well-drained soil in full sun during mid to late autumn (November is ideal, while December can work in mild areas), though early January planting is perfectly acceptable as long as at least three times their depth, pointed end upward, are planted 5cm apart – for optimal displays, plant new bulbs every autumn!
Where to Plant Tulips
After learning how to grow Tulips it’s time to plant them. Tulips thrive when planted in sunny, well-drained soil in full sun. For best results, plant behind perennials for best results as their leaves will provide shade to cover their faded leaves as they die back. Heavy clay or sandy soils may benefit from adding plenty of organic matter before planting; in case the ground is particularly heavy you could add horticultural grit for additional drainage. Not having ideal conditions in your garden? Find out how to grow tulips even when conditions are less than ideal – find out how to grow tulips under adverse circumstances!
When to Plant Tulip Bulbs
Tulip bulbs should be planted between mid-October and November; November being the ideal month due to colder conditions which help lower the risk of fungal disease tulip fire. However, even if you miss November altogether don’t worry: you can plant late (even as late as December or early January!) without fear of them blooming before spring arrives!
Alternatively, potted tulips from garden centers offer an inexpensive way to create pot displays in spring.
How to Plant Tulips
In autumn, prepare a planting hole using either a garden trowel or bulb planter and drop the bulb with its pointed end facing upwards into it. There’s no need to soak tulip bulbs – simply plant them at three times their height with approximately 5 cm between each one for optimal display results. For best results, plant many bulbs together!
Tulips make great potted plants, though each year the planting must start over from scratch. Half-fill your container with peat-free multi-purpose compost and arrange bulbs at three times their depth with only centimeters between each bulb for maximum impact; as they won’t return next year, so health concerns become less of an issue. Top off with compost.
How to Deadhead Tulips?
Tulips can remain planted throughout the year to reflower in subsequent years, yet you may find they don’t put on as impressive of a display as before if left in their soil for too long. To prevent this from happening, it is vital that as much energy from leaves returns to bulbs by deadheading following flowering (with an exception for species tulips which should be left to produce seeds and naturalize around your garden) to stop wasteful production of seeds; cut back foliage only when yellow hued foliage appears about six weeks post flowering as premature cuts will weaken future years’ bulbs making your garden.
How to Propagate Tulips
Many gardeners prefer lifting and storing tulip bulbs instead of leaving them in the ground, using a hand fork once their foliage has turned yellow around a month post-flowering. Remove foliage as you pull or cut off stems before peeling back the flaky outer coating from bulbs leaving them to dry before placing them into paper bags in cool, dry locations for storage.
Offset bulbs that have formed along the sides of a main bulb should be gently pulled away and placed in paper bags in a cool, dry, airy, and frost-free location for storage. Offsets should then be planted out about 25cm deep during the autumn planting season.
Growing Tulips: Issue Solving
Tulip Fire (Botrytis tulipae) is a fungal disease that thrives during wet periods due to wind and rain spreading its spores throughout a plant’s body, often manifesting with stunted shoots, stunted leaves, and unsightly brown blotches covering it all over. If affected plants exist on your site, take immediate steps such as burning them off before planting new bulbs after the first frost has occurred (typically November but in some places December) may help lower the risks of this fungal disease spreading further.
Squirrels love digging up and eating tulip bulbs after planting, so the best way to protect them from further digging up or eating your efforts may be fixing chicken wire over pots with tent pegs or landscape staples, or weighing it down over planted areas with bricks. Also planting deeper may put them out of reach.
Tulip Types and Flowering Times
There are over 12 main species of tulips with differing flower heights and shapes that bloom at slightly different times throughout spring, depending on weather conditions and the part of the country where you reside; flowering times also depend on this factor; for instance, tulips in northern areas can often bloom several weeks later than their southern counterparts.
Early Tulips (Late March to April)
- Single early tulips bloom typically in late March or April. Their simple cup-shaped flowers on strong stems make an impactful statement; try “Apricot Beauty” or “Prinses Irene”.
- Early to mid-April is an ideal time for double, long-lasting flowers with peony-like blooms to appear on short stems, like those of Tulip ‘Verona’ which has pale-yellow petals.
- Kaufmanniana hybrids resemble water lilies in appearance. One of the most reliable perennial varieties, these flowers typically bloom between late March and early April.
- Species/botanical Tulips – small but delicate (10-15cm in height), yet hardy and long-lived, species/botanical tulips make an excellent addition to rockeries, gravel gardens, containers, or the front of borders. Returning year after year and self-seeding without deadheading; some bloom early while others bloom later.
Mid-Season Tulips (April to May)
- Triumph Tulips – tough tulips with strong stems that bloom in April – make an excellent addition to a windy spot. Try lipstick pink ‘Barcelona’, wine-and-yellow Abu Hassan’, or burnt-orange Cairo/’Brown Sugar’ varieties for best results.
- Darwin hybrid tulips feature tall stalks topped by large goblet-shaped blooms on strong stems that resist wind gusts – reliable perennial plants such as Apeldoorn or Apricot Beauty are good examples of such hybrids.
- Fosteriana hybrids, also known as Emperor Tulips, these blooms boast narrow buds when closed that open wide when exposed to full sunlight, often featuring purple or brown markings on their leaves and petals. Try the stunning white ‘Purissima’ variety for an impressive display!
- As their name suggests, these elegant and pointed-flowered tulips resemble lilies in appearance. Try White Triumphator or orange Ballerina varieties which come with fragrant blossoms for the best results
- Fringed flowers feature cup-shaped blooms with frilly edges. Consider selecting from Fancy Frills or Oviedo.
- Viridiflora flowers feature vibrant green markings on their petals. Try white and green Spring Green varieties, red-tinged Flaming Spring green blooms, or dark-pink Doll’s Minuet varieties for best results.
- Rembrandt varieties feature long stems with bi-colored blooms resembling streaky paintbrush strokes; consider Sorbet or Helmar as options.
- Parrot flowers feature colorful fringed or twisted petals. Try the Parrot or Flaming Parrot varieties.
- Greigii hybrids feature marbled or striped foliage on low-growing plants with vibrantly-hued flowers that bloom year-round. Reliably perennial. Consider Red Riding Hood.
Late Tulips (May)
- Tulipa ‘Queen of Night’ and Tulip ‘Maureen’ are three great late/Darwin varieties with dark purple flowers on tall, strong stems; perfect for late/Darwin gardens with strong winds. For optimal results try dark-purple Queen of Night, peach Mentone, or white Maureen varieties!
- Double late/peony flowered tulips are late bloomers and long-lasting. Their large flowers resemble peonies; try the stunning, peach-pink.