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Originally Posted by P. Alves
Hi everyone,
I have no experience at all with tulips, but my wife this year decided
that I was going to plant 200 tulips... And you know: when your wife
decides something you also decide without knowing! 
my neighbour told me that most tulips only flower one or two years. If
this is the case what should I do after they have flowered: 1) remove
and throw away or 2) leave them in the soil (i am guessing there is
some folliage) and hopefully new bulbs will grow and they will flower
again at some point?
Or is my neighbour having fun selling me the wrong info?
Thanks |
Bury them much deeper than the planting instructions, as much as 25cm deep. That way they will be more likely to survive the summer in the ground. This is in contrast to traditional practice, which is shallow planting followed by digging them up in summer and replanting in autumn. If they fail to come back you can just ignore them. This method is recommended by BBC gardening programmes.
Try to persuade your wife that tulips are nice planted in clumps, rather than the regimented grid patterns seen in commercial plantings. Then you won't have to dig 200 holes. Also missing ones that fail to come up are less obvious. Surround the bulbs with some compost in the bottom of the hole. Sieve out any stones from the soil you back-fill, otherwise they may shred the emerging flowers.
Certain kinds of tulips, "species tulips" may multiply and spread, but hybrids usually don't.