I was surprised to learn that tulip bulbs split apart and form small
bulbs that usually don't flower the following year. 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.

I know that there are perennial tulips, which are gigantic 5-6" bulbs
that don't split for several years, but I really wanted some more
unique colors that aren't available as perennial tulips.

Are there any techniques for growing standard tulip bulbs as
perennials?

It also begs the questions - how are tulip bulbs produced for sale in
the first place?

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.

____Reply Separator_____

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

In article , Pelvis Popcan
wrote:

I was surprised to learn that tulip bulbs split apart and form small
bulbs that usually don't flower the following year. 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.

I know that there are perennial tulips, which are gigantic 5-6" bulbs
that don't split for several years, but I really wanted some more
unique colors that aren't available as perennial tulips.

Are there any techniques for growing standard tulip bulbs as
perennials?

It also begs the questions - how are tulip bulbs produced for sale in
the first place?

My tulips bloom every year. I plant 95% species tulips. I am no tulip
expert but I don't think your representation is quite true. But many fancy
hybrid tulips weaken rather than strengthen with each year. Some of the
fancy hybrids perennialize instantly, others fade out & look yes
impressive year by year, & when shopping for varieties you have to choose
carefully if you want them to perennialize. From memory, but I think I
remember this right, if you go for the Darwin hybrids, you'll have big
beauties that perennialize with great ease. Or go my route & stick to
species tulips. Some of them are just as showy as the million hybrids.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

In article ,
Pelvis Popcan wrote:
I was surprised to learn that tulip bulbs split apart and form small
bulbs that usually don't flower the following year...
[snip]
I will have to replant them every year.
[snip]

That has not been my experience. I put in a bed of tulips 12 years
ago in my backyard, and they pop up every year. I don't do *anything*
to them. I don't dig them up and separate them, I don't take them
inside, etc. They grow like crazy, and do fine every year. They
seem to be thicker now than when I first put them in, but I haven't
counted them.

The only thing that hurts them are the deer, who have eaten
them back three years in a row, now.

billo

Tulips are perennials to at least zone 5, maybe colder. You can leave them in
the ground though most people plant new ones every year. They will flower
every year as long as you let the foliage die off naturally.

Toad

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 14:04:10 -0400, Pelvis Popcan
wrote:

I was surprised to learn that tulip bulbs split apart and form small
bulbs that usually don't flower the following year. 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.

Don't believe everything you hear. Learn to look up info on this here
machine.

I planted tulips 14 yrs. ago and they come back every year.
zone 7

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.

____Reply Separator_____

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.

In article ,
Marley1372 wrote:
Tulips are perennials to at least zone 5, maybe colder. You can leave them in
the ground though most people plant new ones every year. They will flower
every year as long as you let the foliage die off naturally.

Toad


Does this mean that if the deer keep eating the tulips when they
are green, they will stop coming up?

billo

"Bill Oliver" wrote in message
...
Does this mean that if the deer keep eating the tulips when they
are green, they will stop coming up?

billo

By observation I've found that tulips that are eaten off one year will send
up vegetative growth the second year with fewer flowers. If they are eaten
off the second year, most don't appear the third year, but the ones that do
survive the deer attack and send up vegetative growth will flower the
following year if left unmolested.

The deer seem to browse the buds and flower more than the leaves, which
might account for survival after a couple years of browsing.

As an aside, deer also browse lilies and seem to prefer the scented trumpet
and orientals over the asiatics. They don't browse the foliage but select
the flowers and buds. I think the scent from the flowers of both tulips and
lilies is what attracts them.

John

Mine too. Zone 5
--
Jayel

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

As an aside, deer also browse lilies and seem to prefer the scented trumpet
and orientals over the asiatics. They don't browse the foliage but select
the flowers and buds. I think the scent from the flowers of both tulips and
lilies is what attracts them.


Hmmm... Maybe it isn't deer then -- I just assumed so, since
I have caught the deer eating back the English ivy and munching
on my vegetable garden. It's a hell of a note. I live on a 1/3 acre
lot, and have seen six deer shoulder to shoulder in my back yard
munching away.

Anyway, my tulips were eaten down to about 1 inch above the
ground. One small tulip had been pulled from the gound, and
the bulb was laying on the grass. Whatever this is, it isn't
just eating the flowers and buds.

billo

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 17:40:03 -0500, jammer opined:

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 14:04:10 -0400, Pelvis Popcan
wrote:

I was surprised to learn that tulip bulbs split apart and form small
bulbs that usually don't flower the following year. 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.

Don't believe everything you hear. Learn to look up info on this here
machine.

I planted tulips 14 yrs. ago and they come back every year.
zone 7

You may have planted Darwin tulips. Many tulips do not reliably come back, and
they certainly don't in the south. Tulips also do not make bulbils and
multiply. They are not reliably perennial.

The main part of this top URL you posted is this:

"Tulips are indeed true perennials," explains Frans Roozen, technical director
of the International Flower Bulb Center in Hillegom, the Netherlands. "Getting
them to bloom in your garden year after year is no problem, if your garden
happens to be located in the foothills of the Himalayas, or the steppes of
eastern Turkey."




On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 18:56:46 -0400, Pelvis Popcan
opined:

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.

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 14:04:10 -0400, Pelvis Popcan
wrote:

I was surprised to learn that tulip bulbs split apart and form small
bulbs that usually don't flower the following year. 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.

I know that there are perennial tulips, which are gigantic 5-6" bulbs
that don't split for several years, but I really wanted some more
unique colors that aren't available as perennial tulips.

My experience has been that while some tulips re-bloom for a year or
possibly 2, they mostly disappear. Not at all like daffodils, which
reliably multiply in place. Every year, I have *leaves* coming up,
usually only 1 or 2, but not blooms. I never paid attention to whether
they were advertised as perennial or not, and just chose from the
pretty pictures. :-) Zone 7b.

It also begs the questions - how are tulip bulbs produced for sale in
the first place?

Very good question. Hope someone knows the answer.

Frogleg wrote:

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 14:04:10 -0400, Pelvis Popcan
wrote:

I was surprised to learn that tulip bulbs split apart and form small
bulbs that usually don't flower the following year. 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.

I know that there are perennial tulips, which are gigantic 5-6" bulbs
that don't split for several years, but I really wanted some more
unique colors that aren't available as perennial tulips.

My experience has been that while some tulips re-bloom for a year or
possibly 2, they mostly disappear. Not at all like daffodils, which
reliably multiply in place. Every year, I have *leaves* coming up,
usually only 1 or 2, but not blooms. I never paid attention to whether
they were advertised as perennial or not, and just chose from the
pretty pictures. :-) Zone 7b.

It also begs the questions - how are tulip bulbs produced for sale in
the first place?

Very good question. Hope someone knows the answer.

Tulips common to our gardens in the present time are very highly
hybridized from the species that was their parentage. That combined with
the fact that most gardens do not provide conditions ideal for their long
term viability is why they appear to be less perennial in their culture
than we would like. The secret to successful perennializing is exceptional
drainage, virtually no summer moisture, and sufficient cold periods
through the winter. Species tulips are reliably perennial, the hybrids
much less so, although I have some that have continued to produce for at
least 10 years now, although their strength and numbers fade each season.

I live in one of the largest tulip bulb producing areas of the world - we
actually generate more tulip bulbs in the Skagit Valley of Washington
State than are grown in Holland. Heck, we even ship 'em to Holland! The
bulbs are dug each year after the foliage dies back, are sorted by size
and age, kept in dry storage over the summer and are replanted (by machine
- we are talking 100's of acres here) each fall. Bulbs that are harvested
for sale are three to five years old, so those little baby bulbs you find
if you dig up your own tulips do indeed mature to full size, flower
producing bulbs PROVIDED they get the right conditions and care. Unlike
narcissus, tulip bulbs do not split (or shouldn't - if they split you
have damaged them in digging) or produce multiple "noses"- they do produce
offsets or baby bulbs each year which is what is grown on by the growers
to produce full size bulbs.

pam - gardengal