"Bill Oliver" wrote in message
...
In article ,
B & J wrote:

Wait until all the foliage has died back before digging, but be sure to
mark
the area so that you won't lose track of where they are. After they die
back, dig up the bulbs, and you can either replant immediately into the
new
destination, or you can store them in a cool, dry place until September
or
October and plant them then.

John


Actually, that brings up a different question. I live in an older house
with "established" landscaping -- which means, basically, that it was
doing fine when I moved in. Both I and my wife work long hours and
really didn't get interested in gardening until recently; our "gardening"
consisted mostly of cutting back shrubs so they didn't block paths
and mowing the yard.

Now we have gotten interested in gardening, mostly because of a
weekend place we got. I am at the putter about and play with
easy stuff stage...

One of the things we have at our place are a couple of patches
of tulips. They do *extremely* well -- pop up every year, seem
to get thicker every year, and the patch has been slowly enlarging
itself. The only thing that hurts the tulips are some deer that
live in a nearby park, who have ravaged all the yards in the
neighborhood because of a tough winter.

This spring, a friend of mine came over and saw the tulips,
or what was left of them after the deer had their way. He
said "You know, you really need to dig them up every couple
of years and replant them."

I said, "No kidding," but thought "Wait a minute, these things
are doing great. This sounds like a great case of fixing something
that isn't broken."

Then I read a little, and have seen this advice a couple of times.

So....

Do I really need to dig up a patch of tulips that has been going
great guns for 15 years and replant them in the same place?

Somehow that just doesn't seem right.

billo

To me, you've got a good point there.... if it ain't broke, leave 'em alone!
You could consider feeding them once or twice a year though to keep them
strong like that.
--
Tammie
49° 27.2' N.
85° 32.8' W in N. Ont, Canada
http://community.webshots.com/user/_tammie57