Friday Flower Feature - Tulips
This week’s Friday Flower Feature is the tulip! This brightly coloured flower grows best in climates with cold winters and dry summers.
Bulbs need to be planted in the autumn before the ground freezes. Although tulips are a perennial, most gardeners treat them as an annual and plant new bulbs every fall.
Planting tips for tulips include:
Don’t delay planting bulbs after purchase
Select a site with full or afternoon sun, tulips dislike areas with excessive moisture so this should be taken into consideration when selecting your planting location
If you’d like to raise your tulips as perennials, 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.
Do not water your tulips if it rains weekly once they are planted. If there is a dry spell, water the bulbs weekly until the ground freezes. To allow the plant to bloom the following year, allow the leaves to yellow for around 6 weeks after flowering before removing them. Tulips make a wonderful cut flower, to give them the longest vase life, cut the stem diagonally and wrap the upper portion of the flowers in a funnel of newspaper. Allow them to stand in cool water for an hour then re-cut the stems and your beautiful tulips will last at least a week.
There are so many varieties of garden tulips and with proper care your tulips will flourish and make a beautiful addition to your garden and home.
Did you know that if you dig up a tulip bulb in midsummer it’s not the same bulb you planted the previous fall? It’s her daughter, while blossoming, the bulb is dividing for the next generation!
