A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 What happened to my Tulips?

When I moved in 4 yrs ago, my house was surrounded with tulips. There were at least, hmmmm, 10 "clumps" of tulips. Last year, I only had 1 pathetic clump of black tulips return and that was it. Do these bulbs rest for a year or something?? I'm sure it's too late to go digging for the bulbs too see if they are still there, but I'd kinda like to know what's goin' on.

Thanks,
Sarah

Tulips often don't perform well above zone 4. They need a long period of cold weather to bloom and may not bloom on a regular basis after the first year. Many people plant them as annuals, digging up the old ones and planting new ones every year or two. There are several critters that like to eat them, too. Also, if you had a really wet winter it's possible they may have rotted.

Tulips don't always come back In fact, most of them won't after one or two years, especially the really cool new hybrids. You need to have a "perennial tulip", when you go to the garden centers, or online, you need to ask for the perennial ones and even they won't always come back with vigor. I know, it stinks! Especially since the perennial ones are no show stoppers and the hybrids are the really cool ones!!

Hi Sarah
The biggest problem around here is squirrels!

Hmmm, I never considered squirrels...now that I think of it, they are always digging in the flower beds. Plus we've had several very warm winters and 2 years ago, it was really wet (this past winter was nothin' but a terrible drought). I just assumed that since a tulip was a bulb that it would return year after year...like surprise lilies. Thanks for the info, alan, rainie, and netty!

Tulips and bulbs alike seem to do well up in Canada, if the bulbs don't get a cold enough winter or not a long enough cold period, the stems will be short

Tupils (IMHO) are best dug up after blooming and thrown out, they usually do poorly after the first year. I plant new one's every year because of the poor rebloom rates the 2nd year.

Tom

All the above could be possible...

Also sometimes bulbs tend to pull themselves under, further down into the ground...
*Don't ask me why , they never told me, but I read it somewhere's*
And because they pull themselves down,
each year it takes just that much more energy to grow to the top..


andddddddddd if you cut the green leaves offfffff.... you are cutting off the "food~source" for the bulb and it's next season's bloom.. so every year, if it didn't get the green food, it doesn't bloom and /or come up any more...

I second what Weezie said....They can settle to deep in the ground, some of it is caused from freezing and thawing and also from rain...they spend all the stored energy just to get to the surface, and have none left for flowering....And they get there energy to bloom from the green leaves, so never mow or weed eat where the tulips are while there are green leaves. But when I first read this..the first thought i had was squirrels...They will dig up tulip bulbs and eat them. So when every you can dig in the area where you think they are, See if you can find the bulbs and replant them..be sure to use some bulb fertilizer if you find them when you replant.

I'll have to start some exploratory digging and see what I can find. I think I'll wait for a day above 30 degrees to start digging, though! Thanks for the info/suggestions!

Daffs do the digging themselves into the ground thing, not so much tulips.

Tom

My mother's tulips get pulled up by squirrels and moved - I guess they don't eat them, they just like to dig them up and move them around! How funny is that.
Anyways, my tulips are strong for a season, and then don't do so well after that, I just keep re-planting them to make sure I have some coming up in the spring to be safe.
Good luck!
claire