Susan is also blogging at GardenRant.Reblooms from Tulips? Get Your Tips Here!
I know how popular "tips" are among web surfers, so I'll call these tips. They're great ideas from my friend Ilene Sternberg, writing in the October 2007 issue of Fine Gardening Magazine
Best Tulip Types for Blooms the Next Year
If they're labeled as "perennializing" or "naturalizing," that's a good bet but especially if the bulbs are of these types:
Tulipa kaufmanniana or "waterlily tulips" and their hybrids. They're hardy in Zones 4-8 and according to Ilene, reliable rebloomers. (Photo above.)- Emperor tulips (T. fosteriana) and their hybrids, which are also hardy in Zones 4-8.
- Greiggi tulips (T. greigii) and their hybrids. Hardy in Zones 4-8.
- Darwin Hybrids (photo right), Single Early, Double Early and some Triumph tulilps also perennialize.
What to Do with Them
- Good drainage is KEY to tulip survival ( to prevent disease and rot). To improve drainage, add organic matter like compost, or coarse sand to the soil.
- Plant in mid to late autumn (in November in my Zone 7 garden), plant the tulips deeply — like 8 to 10 inches deep, measured from the base. Water imediately after planting.
- After the blooms fade, remove flowers but allow the foliage to die naturally.
- A low-nitrogen fertilizer at fall planting time and each fall thereafter is suggested, too.
Foiling Squirrels
Here's what I do and it works, I tell you! Just add some red pepper flakes in the planting hole, more or less on TOP of the tulip bulb. With the use of pepper flakes I've achieved 100 percent bloom from tulips in my squirrel-filled garden, so I know there are some frustrated critters out there. Power to the gardener!
Photos by John Scheepers Bulb Company.