Tulip Planting Tips

Lorraine Calder, of White Flower Farm, offers some planting tips for Zones 3 through 5:

• Purchase bulbs from a reputable source who keeps bulbs cool (heat impacts spring blossom size).
• Wait until soil has cooled in the fall before planting. I wait until October in Z5, but of course it depends on the weather.
• Full sun and good drainage are very important.
• Pack the bulbs in! We are all given only so many springs to enjoy these beautiful bulbs!
• Protect against rodents – we successfully use oyster shells or bulb cages.
• If you garden in a deer zone, spray buds when emerging with organic deer repellent.

Planting Depth

No matter which type of tulip you choose, one of the details to keep in mind is planting depth. LaLiberté recommends sticking with the recommended depth, which is typically around three times the height of the bulb. Check the package instructions for each variety. Winter temperature variations can heave bulbs out of the ground if you don’t plant them deep enough. Even if you remove the bulbs after blooming, for the best show, you should stick to the prescribed depth.

How to Avoid Diseases

Tulip bulbs are susceptible to some fungal diseases. “If you plan to replant tulips in the same place (where they have been grown previously), it’s best to dig out the bulbs each spring. That way the old bulbs aren’t sitting around inviting disease problems,” says LaLiberté. “If no more tulips will be going in, just cut off the foliage and the bulbs will decay over the course of the growing season.”

Tulips Don’t Like Too Much Moisture

These flowers love a long, hot summer. They prefer to whither in place. They also reap the benefits of photosynthesis through their leaves. What they don’t love is too much moisture and supplemental fertilizer.

Tulip Tidbits

• New introductions take 20 years to go from seedling to the point when there are enough bulbs to be offered for sale.
• Newer varieties have fragrance. Fragrant double-flowered tulips are ‘Cheryl’ and ‘Orca’. Old House Gardens offers seven heirloom tulips with scent.
• According to Old House Gardens), the term ‘perennializing’ means the bulbs will behave like perennials, coming back year after year and multiplying under-ground. ‘Naturalizing’ means the bulbs will multiply by seed, with little or no care. As a result, tulips with this characteristic usually spread further and faster.

Sources for Tulip Bulbs

Most of the following online sources are taking orders now for bulbs and will ship them at the proper fall planting time.

• American Meadows
• Breck’s
• Brent & Becky’s Bulbs
• Dutch Grown
• Old House Gardens
• Longfield Gardens (pre-orders start mid-April)
• White Flower Farm (fall-planted bulb orders will be taken beginning late summer)