c (TOM KAN PA) wrote:

I was planning on planting a bed of tulips this fall, but I'm not sure now
knowing that I will have to replant them every year.

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Who the hell told you this??????

Tulips are true perennials, but behave more like annuals in the USA.

I read about it in a book that I don't have with me right now so I
can't reference it, but I did a google search and found a quite a few
articles. Here's two:

http://www.bulb.com/tulips/tulipfavs.asp

http://www.dutchgardens.com/gardenin...p?copy_id=5297

My neighbors planted tulips around their trees and in a bed in their
front yard. They grew beautifully last year. But this year, mostly
just small pieces of foliage grew, and only a few flowers on plants
that were much smaller than the growth from last year. After I read
about the perennial nature of tulips in the US, to me this seems to
corroborate the fact that the bulbs must have split and the small
daughter bulbs only put up a leaf or two of foliage each.

I suppose if I try watering and fertilizing only in the spring when
they first start growing then again in the fall, and leaving them dry
for the summer, they may regrow OK.