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Planting, Growing, and Caring for Tulips
Planting
Tulips prefer a site with full or afternoon sun. In Zones 7 and 8, choose a shady site or one with morning sun only, as tulips don鈥檛 like a lot of heat.
The soil must be well-draining, neutral to slightly acidic, fertile, and dry or sandy. All tulips dislike areas with excessive moisture. Prepare the garden bed by using a garden fork or tiller to loosen the soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches, then mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost.
Tall varieties should be sheltered from strong winds.
When to Plant Tulips
- Plant tulip bulbs in the fall, 6 to 8 weeks before a hard, ground-freezing frost is expected. The bulbs need time to establish themselves. Planting too early leads to disease problems. See local frost dates.
- A good rule of thumb is to plant bulbs when the average nighttime temperatures in your area are in the 40s.
- In colder northern climates, plant in September or October. In warmer climates, plant bulbs in December (or even later).
- To find the best dates, consult our fall bulb planting chart.
- Nature never intended bulbs to loll about above ground, so don鈥檛 delay planting the bulbs after purchase.
- In southern climates with mild winters, plant bulbs in late November or December. The bulbs will need to be chilled in the refrigerator for about 12 weeks before planting. (Bulb suppliers often offer pre-chilled bulbs for sale, too.)
- If you miss planting your bulbs at the optimal time, don鈥檛 wait for spring or next fall. Bulbs aren鈥檛 like seeds. Even if you find an unplanted sack of tulips or daffodils in January or February, plant them and take your chances. See more about planting tulips in winter.
How to Plant Tulips
- Plant bulbs fairly deep鈥8 inches deep, or about three times the height of the bulb. Dig a hole deeper than that in order to loosen the soil and allow for drainage. In clay soils, plant 3 to 6 inches deep instead.
- Space bulbs 4 to 6 inches apart.
- Set the bulb in the hole with the pointy end up. Cover with soil and press soil firmly.
- Water bulbs right after planting. Although they can鈥檛 bear wet feet, bulbs need water to trigger growth.
- If you鈥檙e planning to raise perennial tulips, feed them a balanced fertilizer when you plant them in the fall. Bulbs are their own complete storage system and contain all of the nutrients they need for one year. Use organic material, compost, or a balanced time-release bulb food.
- To deter mice and moles鈥攊f they have been a problem鈥攑ut holly or any other thorny leaves in the planting holes. Some gardeners use kitty litter or crushed gravel. If ravenous voles and rodents are a real problem, you may need to take stronger measures, such as planting bulbs in buried wire cages.
- Don鈥檛 lose hope if you鈥檙e planting your tulips later in the season鈥攋ust follow these tips.
Growing
- If it rains weekly, do not water. However, if there is a dry spell and it does not rain, you should water the bulbs weekly until the ground freezes.
- Rainy summers, irrigation systems, and wet soil are death to tulips. Never deliberately water a bulb bed unless in a drought. Wet soil leads to fungus and disease and can rot bulbs. Add shredded pine bark, sand, or any other rough material to the soil to foster swift drainage.
- Apply compost annually to provide nutrients needed for future blooms.
- In the spring, when leaves emerge, feed your tulip the same bulb food or bone meal you used at planting time. Water well.
- Deadhead tulips as soon as they go by, but do not remove the leaves!
- Allow the leaves to remain on the plants for about 6 weeks after flowering. The tulips need their foliage to gather energy for next year鈥檚 blooms! After the foliage turns yellow and dies back, it can be pruned off.
- Large varieties may need replanting every few years; small types usually multiply and spread on their own.
Catherine Boeckmann
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Tulips may not make an appearance the second year for several reasons. Some varieties, such as the Darwin types or species tulips, are better at getting established and coming back each year (look for the words 鈥渘aturalizing鈥 or 鈥減erennializing鈥 in descriptions), whereas others can be fussy. Be sure that you have good drainage, soil nutrients, and adequate water (but not soggy). A low-nitrogen bulb fertilizer each fall helps the plants to get ready for next year. If you live in a mild climate, the bulbs may not receive enough cold temperatures over winter to enable them to break dormancy next year (in which case you can treat them as annuals or dig the bulbs up and store in the refrigerator for 3 months over winter, packed in slightly moist peat moss or similar and sealed in a plastic bag). Sometimes, too, animals or disease may attack the bulbs. Ideally, tulips like their own space. If you do plant them with other plants, shallow-rooted annuals are best—which makes moss rose (portulaca) a great choice. Also, moss rose would not require lots of water (which would make the tulips unhappy). Each year, allow the tulip leaves to brown and fall off on their own—do not remove them after the blooms are gone while they are still green, as the leaves will make food for the bulb to help it to get through winter and have enough energy for blossoms in spring. Hope this helps!
Husband gave me tulips in a pot. The flowers are done and the bulbs are still in the pot. Will they come back? How do I get them to grow again? Still to cold to put them outside
How deep can mulch be on tulip bulbs?
One to two inches of mulch will do, but refrain from applying it until after the ground has already frozen. This is done to prevent the soil from retaining warmth, which could inadvertently encourage the tulips to emerge far too early.
I noticed tulip bulbs lying on top of the ground when I went out to pick up the dead leaves after blooming this spring. Did the bulbs actually work themselves out of the ground. Were they originally not planted deep enough. They were in a flower bed on property we bought last year. Please advise. Thank you.
If you are in an area with frost heaves, it is possible that the bulbs may have been pushed up, especially if they were planted at shallower depths. If the area had any heavy rain, erosion may have taken away some of the soil on top, or the bulbs sitting in muddy water might rise to the surface. Also, were there any signs of digging? Animals such as squirrels may sometimes dig up bulbs. Tulips may form offsets in spring—if these bulbs look tinier than normal, it could be that these detached from the mother bulb due to heavy rain, frost heaving, etc. and rose to the surface. Hope this helps!
I planted bulbs in October and have green leaves nut no tulips. What happened?
It could be that the bulbs are in too shady a spot, or one that is too soggy. Older bulbs sometimes run down until they don’t flower much any more, but since you just planted yours last fall, that’s likely not the reason. Make sure that the bulbs have enough nutrients, but don’t add too much nitrogen, which can encourage leaf formation over flowering. A damaged bulb, such as caused by a hungry rodent, may also leaf out a bit but not flower. A diseased or weak bulb may perform the same way. If flowers do eventually show, after the display, allow the leaves to fade and brown naturally; if you cut them off while they are still green, then the bulb can not make food for next year, which weakens the bulb and discourages flowering next season.
I just read that one shouldn鈥檛 cut the foliage after the tulips and daffodils have bloomed but I did because they were so unsightly to me. I cut all of the greenery down to about 1 inch. Do I have a chance of the tulips and or the daffodils returning? Also would like to know as my amaryllis are beginning to bloom. Thanks
You are correct; the foliage of tulips and daffs should be left to yellow. Since you did cut down the foliage, it is not likely that the plants will return to optimal display/condition. You may see some limp growth next year.
If you find the foliage unsightly, fill the space with other same time or later-blooming plants as visual distractions. Bleeding hearts is a good one; they bloom with tulips but last longer. Meantime, day lily foliage starts up with great thickness.
