I followed all your guidelines about planting tulips and followed the breeders timeline for appropriate planting time but my foxy foxtrot bulbs are starting to bloom but are super short and super small. I’m in Colorado zone 5b. Do you have some ideas on why this may have happened? I’m so bummed!

When your allium go to seed, cut and dry them indoors where fragile balls are not damaged by early summer rains. I spray paint them – vivid violet, then display with BIG chartreuse hosta leaves. Or paint them silver and stick stalks into your Christmas as they do at the Missouri Botanic Gardens. See Sarah Raven’s U-Tube video about silver painted allium Schuberti – 12″ across – in winter arrangements.

Big box store bulbs usually do not do well because they have not been stored at proper temperatures while offered for sale. Purchase in volume from wholesalers who store them properly, provide proper cultural information, and send you mammoth bulbs at the proper time for planting at a fraction of the price you pay at local nurseries. Your local botanic garden offers classes and provide you with names of THEIR suppliers. That is how I started. The botanic garden’s library contains catalogues from all their suppliers where you will find fabulous, sturdy, fragrant bulbs for 1/3 the price you pay at big box stores. No large botanic garden near? Plan your next vacation so you can spend a day at the nearest one.

Plant Daylilies over Narcissus – perfect companions as foliage shape is similar and daylily foliage obscures declining narcissus foliage. Should you wish to plant more bulbs in fall, say in wide beds, daylilies can be lifted (at any time of year) without affecting their health. Opt for early, mid season, and late season daylilies – same for daffodils. Order landscaper packages of naturalizing narcissus from wholesale suppliers. Van Engelen lists fragrant varieties you should NOT miss. Heirloom varieties are very inexpensive and multiply rapidly. They tolerate heavy soils and are toxic to all animals – a better investment than tulips.

Tulips grow VERY well in containers – the bigger the better. Use big black nursery pots which are free – local landscapers will give them to you. If you have heavy soil, tulips do BEST in pots. Originating in Iran and other dry cold environments, where they grow in gravel, they can be given the proper environment in pots – kept dry in summer after foliage ripens by storing them inside or under your porch. If your space is very limited, use a deep pot and plant in layers – bottom layer upside down, mid layer sideways, and top layer correctly. The layers will bloom 2 weeks apart – each layer being replaced by the next layer’s blooms just as the previous layer begins to decline. If you plant layers, treat them as annuals. You will harvest huge blooms safe from animals, perhaps on your balcony! 100 fit well into a relatively small pot if planted in layers. Buy inexpensively from Colorblends or Van Engelen for great quality and prices for your first try. We purchase from these companies for our landscape clients’ plantings and for their spring containers. Van Engelen offers great cultural information.

Hi Alissa, We don’t do any additional watering of our tulips after planting them. Happy gardening!

This post has been very helpful! I’m planting my first tulips now! ? Question: do you water your tulips throughout the winter, or just the one time after you plant them. I live in Colorado, a very dry climate.
Thank you!

Alissa