Planting Tulips

I think of tulips as annuals. They do come back although probably not all that you initially planted and they never look as good as that first year.  There always seems to be some that do keep coming back faithfully especially in our present garden but it is hit and miss. When we gardened in Alabama, the only tulip that ever came back was 'Maureen' and it lasted for years.

I decided to add some new tulips this year and I wanted my favorite 'Princess Irene'. However, I've waited too late to shop and I can't find them anywhere. So I dropped into Lowe's where they had a lot of tulips but not many varieties. In my quest to find another orange, I chose the only orange available which was 'Van Eijk' (anyone care to pronounce it?) I also picked up an orange/yellow variety called 'Dreamland' and was quite happy with the photos I found of it online.

For 'Dreamland', I pulled out the frost-bitten snapdragons, a perfect spot for 6 tulips (and whatever happened to the odd-number rule?)

Since I knew there were no other bulbs planted underneath, I just dug out my area. Rule of thumb - tulips should be planted about twice their height plus half. So if the tulip bulb is 2 inches tall, you would plant it 4.5 inches deep. This is NOT that specific so I'm not suggesting you use a ruler. They should be fine but you don't want to plant too deep or too shallow.

I don't put down fertilizer although some recommend bone meal, blood meal, etc. and there are specific fertilizers for bulbs. Unless you just have awful soil, I personally don't think it is necessary. 

This step is optional as well - placing a piece of screen to keep critters from digging up the bulbs over the winter. I don't think this has ever happened to me but I know we have lots of squirrels so I decided to do it.

Finally, a mulch. I'm using gravel in this location -

I wanted to plant the orange tulips right inside the front gate on both sides.  On one side, an existing aster had spread so I dug a portion of it out. I also added some compost to this planting area as I plan to use it next year for zinnias. They did well here this year.

The opposite side has plants already in place that I don't wish to move. So I just planted each bulb with a trowel.

The area was larger than I thought so I should have purchased more bulbs but this will have to do for this year. 

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy