Tulips
Garden Clippings for Nov 19, 2022
A pound of butter is selling for over $7.00 and a litre of fuel is just under $2.00, yet, a dozen tulip bulbs is well under ten dollars.
Tulips have always been one of gardeners’ greatest bargains. Plant them in fall and in spring they will reward you with bright coloured blooms. By the end of spring flowers fade and the bulbs sleep in the soil until reappearing the following spring. The process repeats itself for several years.
Tulips are the classic spring flower that have been adorning gardens for centuries. Years ago, the only colours available were yellow and red, but growers have found ways to produce all colours except true blue and jet black.
The roots of tulips, resemble a small onion with white flesh and brown skin. Plant them 6 or 8 inches deep in well drained soil and they will flourish. I usually plant them in clusters of 10 or 12. They prefer a spot in full sun, but will do well in the shade of trees where leaves won’t appear until May.
Planting tulips is easy. Some gardeners dig up single holes and plant individually, aiming for about 4 or 5 inches apart. I prefer to excavate an area about 2 ft in diameter and 6 to 8 inches deep. I will amend the soil beneath with compost and space the tulips evenly, point facing upward. I will backfill the soil, rake it level and water thoroughly to get rid of air pockets and give tulips a running start.
Fertilizer added at planting time will give the tulips a strong start. Repeat again a year later, soon after flowering. Use a formula with low nitrogen and high phosphorous such as 5-15-5 to encourage root growth. Bone meal, a natural plant food rich in phosphorous, is tulips’ favorite.
Tulips come in a dizzying array of flower types, colours and heights. Their height range is about 6 to 24 inches high, although most are about 18 inches. Generally, the taller the tulip, the later and longer lasting the bloom.
When tulips are finished flowering, they should be left in place until their leaves have turned brown and can be removed with a quick tug, making sure the bulb below remains in the ground. Experts recommend cutting off the flower stem after their petals fall off, but I have a habit of overlooking that step.
It takes about a month for leaves to fade, leaving an unsightly mess for a short spell in spring. At the end of May, I plant annual flowers in between the fading leaves, and by the middle of June the tulip leaves are cleaned up revealing young flowers ready to show their colour.
Tulips are easy to grow and are generally pest resistant. Their only enemy is squirrels, deer and other rodents who will sometimes dig up and scatter the bulbs. In our backyard, we have plenty of squirrels who so far have not been a bother. Tricks to keep squirrels at bay include planting deep, applying bloodmeal as a deterrent, or adding a few daffodils in the tulip garden. Die hard gardeners who have a persistent issue with squirrels will put chicken wire over the bulbs at planting time.
