This is my second growing season in a 30-yr old house with some established
gardens. Last year, the tulip patch of about 10 or 12 plants had the most
glorious rich red blooms. Well, they came up a few days ago, and the color
has bleached out to a vermillion shade, which, if I'd seen for the 1st time
would say is nice, but knowing what they were like last year, I'm bummed
out.
Is this a normal thing to happen with tulips? Would the fact that I
mistakenly dead-headed not only the flowers, but the leaves as well last
year cause this? After the fact, I read somewhere that you should let the
leaves alone in order to promote bulb growth or something, so perhaps I'm
lucky that they came back at all?