Betty Montgomery| Garden Columnist
It is the time of year to plant bulbs and what bulb shows off more drama and color than tulips. These awe-inspiring spring flowering bulbs will fill the garden with color when other perennials are still waking up from their winter slumber. The cup-shaped flowers come in a dazzling array of colors, heights, and bloom time. The flowers are usually large, showy and they can be double or single, fringed or twisted, perfumed or non-scented
Tulips are among the oldest cultivated plants; we know they were cultivated in Constantinople as early as 1055. Later, tulips were frequently depicted in Dutch Golden Age paintings, and have become associated with the Netherlands ever since. Now that is where the majority of the world market is currently produced. Today, they have been hybridized to get just the right characteristic that you might want. Depending where you live and spring temperatures, the flowering can range for about 4 to 6 weeks.
These jewels can be planted in groups or tucked into a perennial border among hostas, ground covers, ferns or other plants that will be coming along. I personally think they are more effective when planted in masses or groups rather than in a single row. The effect can be breath-taking when limiting the color pallet. One color can be dramatic or a mass of two or three colors can be used, which will make an attractive display but when you plant a mass of different colors you have to be very careful. If you plant too many different ones, they might bloom at different times and you could lose the effect you are trying to obtain.
Now, I must tell you, where I live, tulips are not good perennials. Some tulips are better at returning than others. With the ones that do return, they are smaller and not as showy as the previous year’s flower. The wild, or species, tulips have a propensity to return for several springs but the wonderful, showy, tulips I love will not show like this again for me.
Tulips require a chilling period so gardeners in warmer climates must purchase pre-chilled bulbs and plant them afresh each year. But even if you have to grow your tulips as annual plants, they will still lift your spirits in the spring. Once they emerge from the ground, tulips grow and flower quickly. In cold-winter climates, they typically emerge in March and begin flowering in April to May. In warm, Southern gardens, tulips can emerge in January and bloom in February.
I read one time that we do not have enough calcium in our soil and this is important for tulips. Well, when cooking with eggs, I started saving egg shells so that I could raise the calcium level in the soil. When I went to plant my tulips, I added crushed egg shells to holes where I was planting my bulbs. Well, I did not know that skunks love eggs and are drawn to the smell of egg shells. Several days later, I was in the area where the tulips had been planted and the bed had been dug up.
Now I have had people ask me, can’t you just buy calcium? And the answer is yes, but I find it fun to have a jar on the cabinet to collect the shells. People ask me about this and it makes for good conversation. I learned the hard way about egg shells and I now advise people to use a balanced, slow release, bulb fertilizer. And yes, this is the best way to give your bulbs an extra boost.
When planting, tulips need good drainage and they prefer full sun if they are to return the following year. Leaving the foliage is important because it is like a solar panel, gathering up energy from the sun to help create the flower for the following year. You also need to remove the spent flowers because the spent flowers will go to seed and drain the bulb of the energy it needs to produce a pretty flower the following year.
Bulb companies are ready and willing to help you. They have wonderful catalogues that I love to drool over,wanting to plant many more than I have the space, the manpower to plant, or the pocket book to support. So, when choosing what bulbs to purchase, I have to restrain myself from ordering too many.
Now, the next several weeks are an important time to plant tulips (and other spring flowering bulbs). Bulb companies still have some available and you should go online to any one of them. I have purchased from Brent and Becky Bulbs, John Schepper, Van Engelen, and McClure & Zimmerman and they have all been good quality. The brightly colored photos will make you wish you could plant hundreds of these triangle shaped bulbs.
Happy Planting!
Betty Montgomery is a master gardener and author of “Hydrangeas: How To Grow, Cultivate & Enjoy,” and “A Four-Season Southern Garden.” She can be reached at bmontgomery40@gmail.com.
