How to Buy Tulips

From LoveToKnow Buy

There’s nothing like the slow growth and sudden blooming of bulbs to let you know that spring has arrived. One of the most popular and beautiful of the spring bulbs is the tulip, which has been wowing flower lovers for around a thousand years.

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History

It is believed that tulips were first cultivated in Turkey around the year 1000. The first European to see tulips visited the Ottoman Empire in the 1550s and soon made the flowers a luxury item in the gardens of Europe. It wasn’t long before tulips were introduced to Holland, where botanists experimented with different colors and petal shapes.

By the 1630s, a wide range of tulips were available in Holland and beyond. Poorer people could buy the plain yellow tulips that are still familiar to many gardeners, while rich people could buy flowers such as the Semper Augustus, which sported red flames and was sold for exorbitant prices.

This time period is known as “tulip mania” because of the practice of buying promissory notes in exchange for bulbs. People would buy the notes and resell them for even higher prices, until finally someone at the end of the line would not be able to resell the note and they would get the bulb when it was ready.

Price controls were established soon thereafter, but Holland is still known for its obsession with this bulb and its fine flowers.

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Tulips today

There are hundreds of varieties of tulips available today, from plain smooth cups to frilly fringed tulips, flowers that look like waterlillys and others reminiscent of peonies, in almost every color of the rainbow, from yellow and red to orange and dark purple, white, pink and salmon.

Some flowers have pure colors, while others are more variegated and others combine several colors, like red tulips with yellow stripes or bronzy flowers with white stripes. Whatever color or combination of colors you like, you are bound to find a tulip or several that will suit your needs.

Tulips are arranged into different varieties depending on when in the season they bloom and the height of the flower stalk. Tulips are generally categorized as early-, mid- and late-season varieties, and short (smaller than 8 inches), medium (8 to 18 inches) and tall (taller than 18 inches).

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For your yard

Tulips need a cold dormant season in order to bloom, but not too cold. They will grow in USDA plant zones 3 to 7. In the deep south, tulip bulbs can be stored in the refrigerator at around 40 degrees for eight weeks and planted 6 to 8 inches deep in November. Dappled sunlight will help the bulbs, too, as they will not get as hot as they would in direct sunlight.

Choosing tulips to grow in your yard can be a lot of fun. The catalogs and websites are beautiful and give you a chance to play with color, texture and height. As you choose tulips for your yard, consider the amount of space you have. It is beneficial to plant your bulbs about 4 inches apart, so try not to buy so many that your space will be crowded.

Consider bloom time and height when picking out bulbs. If your flower bed has a front side or direction from which most people approach it, you might want to plant short bulbs there and increase the height of the plant as you move back in the bed.

You’ll also want a mix of early-, mid- and late-blooming flowers so that you have color as long as possible. When you look at varieties in the catalogs or online the information provided will tell you both when the plant blooms and how tall it grows. This information is as important as color when planning a well-balanced bed.

A succession of blooms that look good together and fill out the bed nicely all season long is the goal. Have fun trying different varieties as you attempt to reach that goal.

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Perennials

Most tulips are treated as annuals in the United States because their ability to rebloom is unpredictable. Tulips don’t like moist summers, which many bulbs get when they are part of a flower bed with shrubs, trees or other flowers that are watered regularly. The moisture can cause the bulbs to split or mold.

Some tulips will rebloom if they are planted at the proper depth in well-drained, properly fertilized soil and if the foliage is allowed to die back naturally and not trimmed while still green. If you’ve left the flower on the plant, it can be cut off after it fades, but leave the leaves to turn brown and whither on the plant. This ensures the bulb will have enough energy to make a flower the next year.

There are now tulips on the market advertised as perennial tulips, which are a lot more likely to bloom year after year than other varieties. They’re rather plain, traditional-looking varieties and they aren’t available in a lot of different colors yet, but if you’d like to spare yourself the trouble of planting new bulbs every year, these perennials can be a big help.

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Planting tulips

Tulips should be planted in the fall or early winter, when the soil temperature has fallen to about 60 degrees. The ideal time varies from region to region, so check with your local Cooperative Extension Service for the best time in your area. Choose the largest bulbs you can find, as those are the healthiest.

Bulbs should be planted about six inches deep (but smaller varieties don’t have to be planted as deep, so check the package for instructions). Tulip bulbs look kind of like onions, with a pointy end and a flat end. Put a small amount of slow-release fertilizer in the hole, then place the bulb, pointy-side up, into the hole and cover with soil.

In very cold regions, the bulb bed can be mulched with straw, but it’s not necessary to protect them from cold in most parts of the country.

As you place your bulbs, remember that the leaves will be off the trees when the bulbs are growing, so you can plant bulbs in places that will be shady later but get a good amount of sun in the spring.

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Enjoying the flowers

Tulips look great in the yard, but don’t forget to pick a few to enjoy inside the house. A mixed bouquet of tulips looks great on a kitchen table and is a wonderful way to bring a bit of spring into the house.

Use shears to pick the flowers and try to pick them in the cooler part of the day; it’s less stressful to the plant.

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