jane wrote:
[...]
I buy a pack or two of ten most years, put them in pots and they
usually do fantastically in year one. Then I plant the contents of the
pot as deeply as I can around my fruit trees at the allotment. The
following year you're lucky to get anything apart from leaves. The one
after that I get about 1-2 flowers per bagful, then they gradually
increase. Last year I had 20 flowering again from a couple of years'
worth of bulbs that had been in 4 or so years..

If I leave them in pots, however big, they never seem to do anything
even a couple of years down the way.
[...]

In my experience, you need to go back to some of the low-growing
species if you want long-term flowering: they also look better to some
tastes. The Brit Is don't really have the weather patterns they like,
but they'll often do well, and even multiply slowly, if you give them
good conditions. That means a southerly aspect and good drainage all
the year round: in Wet Wales I grew them successfully on a slight mound
among rocks with a lot of grit worked into the clay soil.

Rather incompetently, I can't quite remember what they were; but I'm
pretty sure I had T. turkestanica and a very pale pink form of
T.pulchella with a yellow throat. I moved about ten years after
planting, and they were still going strong; but note that many, I think
most, of the "species" tulips on sale are actually selected forms, not
the true wild originals: this may have implications for long-term
viability. So if you want to fill a large space, it's worth hedging
your bets by buying the same species from different suppliers, even if
they say the bulbs are "botanical species".

--
Mike.