Tulips!

Tips for growing tulips in your home gardens.

Tulips are THE Spring flower for most people in the Northern Hemisphere. I love the Specialty Tulips varieties the most but the Big Darwin Hybrids can be spectacular too. The colours and blends of colours!! I am particularly fond of mass plantings of Spring Bulbs in groups of 10-12.Always order these bulbs in Spring/Summer for Fall plantings.

But here is the trick for Home gardeners, plant them as late as possible before the ground freezes. The reason is that Squirrels have stopped digging to store food and are likely using Bird Feeders at that point instead of your new Tulips. Dig Holes for the Tulips and wait to plant them. I have done it when snow was falling!

Another trick to keep rodents away from your bulbs is to interplant or surround the Tulips with Daffodils or Hyacinths. Rodents don’t like the smell of them and stay away. also these bulbs have a slightly different bloom time so it may give you colour earlier and later. Deer are only a problem with tulips at a very specific time in the Spring, the period when Tulips are emerging from the soil until about 6-8” high. After that they are not so interested. I use electric fencing as soon as I notice sprouting through the soil. I unfortunately discovered last year that Deer also eat the bud tips of Delphinium too!! Electric fence is being moved to those after the tulips are safe.

The difference between Flower Farming and Home Gardeners when it comes to tulips is more than just quantities. the Home Gardener usually doesn’t cut their tulips, they are usually there for show and colour. But if you are so inclined to cut your Tulips remember that at least two leaves must be left on the stem in the ground ignorer to generate a new bloom for the following year. Flower Farmers on the other hand, dig up each stem and cut off the bulb into compost. with no leaves left on the bulb they are ‘One and Done’ and will have to be repurchased each year! Home Gardeners can leave tulips in ground and have bloom the following year, just not quite as large a bloom as it diminishes over time while the bulb is multiplying. I might suggest replacing them every couple years.

Specialty Tulips such as Parrot Tulips and Peony Flowering or Double Tulips are more expensive than other types of Tulips.These Tulips offer a huge variety of shape and colour and size. It is the Specialty Tulips that I concentrate on at the Farm. These Tulips can be truly spectacular and worth the extra expense. I don’t add bulb food when I plant but I do add compost before digging a trench to plant them in. digging them in 4-6”. Another trick is to plant Tulips that have designations of Early, Mid and Late bloom times, just like peonies, it can extend your flooring period in your Garden. As one variety finishes another is blooming etc., your own succession planting!

Verona

Charming Lady

Queensland

Amazing Parrot

Charming Beauty

Verona