Tulip question

[JenniferJoIN]

My boyfriend's mom got me some tulips for Easter. I moved them into a bigger pot and have kept them watered.

Now all the blooms have fallen off and I was just wondering what I need to do now. Do I need to cut them to get it to re-bloom? Just leave it alone?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Buff Shallots]

Jennifer, they won't rebloom this year. Right now, and through the summer, they will be building strength inside the bulb and forming the tulip flowers inside the bulb that will appear next spring.

When it is warm enough, plant them outside and let them go into the natural cycle of outdoor tulips.

 

[JenniferJoIN]

Wow. I didn't know that! Thank you.

 

[Reinbeau]

Dig a hole deep enough that the bulbs will be down 6-8" when the hole is filled in. Plant the tulips in that hole and wait for the foliage to brown up before totally filling the hole. I did this with a bunch of red tulips given to me years ago and they came up reliably for many years afterwards.

 

[Buff Shallots]

Reinbeau's advice is good, and I'm going to apply it myself to potted tulips I just got from a co-worker. I wouldn't have known to set them in the ground so deep and wait until the plant went dormant until filling in the soil. (I know to plant loose bulbs that deep...)

Anyway, just so you know, after several years of blooming, tulip bulbs decrease in vigor and just throw up a leaf or two every spring, but no more flowers. They don't multiply and gain in size the way narcissus do. But that's okay, because by then, you may be hankering for different colored tulips in that space anyhow.

 

[patandchickens]

Also, if you are in the South or anywhere else that doesn't get a couple months of Actual Real Winter, you may as well just toss 'em in the compost, because tulips need a period of cold in order to form the next year's flower.

Pat

 

[JenniferJoIN]

Gotta love the April weather here. If it's not raining, it's freezing outside.

I'll get them a spot dug up as soon as I can shovel.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[red-hen]

The tulips at my mother's house haven't been messed with for decades - and they still come up bright and beautiful every single year. We get some frigid winters, too. My only advice would be to mark the spot where you plant them - so you don't forget later in the year and accidentally dig them up when you're working on the flower bed for something else.