This is one pair that Costco combined in a package last fall: Tahiti daffodil and Orange Emperor Tulip, The tulips started out shorter than the daffs but soon outdistanced them. Somewhere along the way, I remember reading that tulips continue to grow taller, even if they are placed in a vase.
Here is the same combo in the garden rather than a pot.
And a combo unique to my garden. Red Impression and the Mountain.
I love the Impression tulips as they come back year after year. This particular group is in the large pot for the second year so far, but Julie has some that have been in the ground for several years and they still put out a spectacular show.
Well that's just no fair - how can anyone compete with that :)
Beautiful tulips and mountain.
That is a postcard picture for sure. I like your pot also Sharon.
Very nice.
These are from about 3 weeks ago. Hyacinths in Pixie's basket
Very pretty...except for the dang hailstones on your decking. What a crazy spring we're having.
These are the last of my tulips. I bought 3 bags and mixed them.
This is some tulips I bought at Emery's around Christmas for half price. I thought they wouldn't bloom because planted so late. Guess this cold spell helped here.
springcolor your tulips are beartiful.
Thanks Willow
These are the purple tulips I planted for my purple loving customer. The crocuses have died down. She is happy
All very pretty. I've shied away from tulips for a couple reasons: Not too enamored of their after-foliage (how do you hide that?). Trouble with the critters eating the bulbs, so have gone with mostly daffs which they leave alone (same problem with the foliage although it seems to lay down better than tulips). They are a lovely flower though when in bloom, maybe I just need some tips of aftercare?? Especially when you plant a whole patch of them.
Well I don't plant whole patches of tulips, so don't have any hints for that (although a lady down the street does a whole bed of tulips interplanted with Oriental Poppies, which do a good job of hiding the waning tulip foliage, only I don't know what you do then to hide the Oriental Poppy foliage once they die down! I think she does a bunch of annual cutting flowers and lilies intermingled.)
I'm finding that Columbine and Aquilegia are both very good tulip companions for small clumps. They get big at just the right time and hide the nasty foliage nicely.
Just buy the cheap ones, and cut down the foliage when they are done. If they come back next year, it's a bonus. Otherwise, it's an inexpensive annual. They are so stunning, my yard isn't complete without them.
Plant daylilies as they are greening up while the tulips and daffs fade.
I'm a little ticked off - my Queen of the Night turned out to be yellow. It's a pretty yellow, but where is my Queen of the Night?
I saw somebody on TV yesterday planting a layered bulb container. Daffodils on the bottom, tulips at the next level and then crocus on top. He said the main reason tulips don't come back is that they're not planted deep enough. So plant your tulips and daffodils deep, apparently.
He said you'd have color March through May. I think maybe my planting aren't dense enough. I wish you could put bulbs in in the summer, rather than the fall - having to get stuff in in October is my downfall . . .
Yellow is definitely not Qof the N. It's maddening when one thing is expected and something totally opposite happens.
I tried a pot like that one year and it didn't turn out. Maybe I did something wrong, but nothing bloomed. Or maybe they were all dug up.
Cisco Morris said that daffs can be cut down after blooming. But yes, the tulip ugliness after bloom is a challenge. The purple tulip bed in the picture is a new bed this year and so still in the design phase so I will be watching this thread for the perfect campanion plants to hide the tulip remains. So how deep is deep enough anyway?
Not to question Cisco (who I've heard of but never listened to), but I've always read to leave the daffs to die off naturally. I usually just push them down and tuck them around something that is coming up. Has anyone tried cutting them down after bloom, and had good repeat blooming the next year? Maybe I'll try cutting some down and letting others alone and see if there is a difference.
Another daff note -- when do you divide a clump that is needing it (blooming less, very crowded). Mark it well and divide in fall? Or can you divide it now?
I think Daffodils are pretty tough. I'll bet you could divide them now, though fall would probably be best as they wouldn't be stressed by lack of water.
I think the only reason to leave the green leaves on is to help the plant photosynthesize longer. I don't think cutting them kills a plant outright. For years we cut them and didn't have any problems.
I found this about tulip planting:
http://www.elegant-tulip-bulbs.com/tulip-planting.html
Oh no! Like you said Kathy, yellow is nice, but it certainly is not Queen of Night-ee.
Astilbe is also nice for covering decaying tulip foliage. In my yard Sweet Cicely is the queen of covering unsightly things quickly, but it definitely has some thuggish tendencies once established (just keeps growing, and growing, and growing...)
I also echo the daylily suggestion.
So far we have: bleeding heart, columbine, astilbe, and daylily as good tulip companion suggestions. Any more out there?
I have some long established patches of the plain yellow daffodil - I think you could dig up a clump of that and move it just about any day of the year and it would be fine :) Also, probably cut the foliage. I don't know that I would do that on clumps that are just getting established though.
Hostas work great in shaded areas and this little white anemone.
Well dang it! This is shaping up to be the year of mis-labelled tulips. My Queen of Night tulips are as advertised, but my Spring Green are pink. A quick Google suggests that what I got is Groenland (this link shows Spring Green and Groenland together: http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/977318-product.html).
Hmmmmm. Interesting. They are pretty, but when you're expecting something else, it's just plain a disappointment . . .
Kym, dare we ask where you bought your bulbs? Sounds like they were either having too much fun in the packing plant or perhaps don't pay attention.. ??
Sure, but I should make it clear that I've ordered lots of bulbs from these guys and this is the only issue I've ever had. And I'll definitely order from them again in the future - although I should probably let them know that what was packaged and shipped as Spring Green.... wasn't.
I ordered these from Holland Bulb Farms. Along with a few other tulips including this beautiful Queen of Night
Gorgeous. I was at Greg Rabourne's native plant talk at Molbak's today and they had something similar to Queen of the Night blooming in the front pots.
Kim, do you remember the 'black' Fuchsia we saw at The Gray Barn Nursery? I saw it in a pot today at Molbak's. It was combined with the Tradescantia vine that has burgundy in it . . .Of course, they didn't have 4" pots . . .
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/231333/
Detouring to another bulb -- bluebells (skilla). I've always let that foliage lay around like the daffs to die on its own. Has anyone tried cutting them back after bloom? I have both daffs and bluebells planted in a fern garden and would love to cut the foliage back to let the ferns pop out better. Usually, I just tuck the spent foliage around the base of the ferms but there is always a bit of a transitory time that is a bit messy looking.
Often the combos the garden comes up with on its own are better than the ones I plan in my head. Queen of Night with chives in full bloom.
Kathy, I definitely remember that dark fuchsia. I'm not normally a huge fuchsia fan, but that one is stop you in your tracks gorgeous.
I don't know how much scilla foliage can be fussed with - on the other hand the Spanish bluebells can be ripped out and danced on top of and they'll still somehow multiply for the next year.
Gorgeous. The yellow tulips did turn orange one day - and so I must have gotten the QON switched with the DD. I got one purple one, too, but not QON. I'm very confused . . .
I think bulbs like the extra time to photosynthesize, but in good soils, they don't have to have it . . . certainly NOT the Spanish Bluebells. They may end up taking over the yard, but they are so no fuss that I can't complain about them.
Daydream always freaks me out at first when it starts out so yellow.
Hey, not to tempt you or anything, but Territorial has the black fuchsia and they're taking their final plant orders of the season :)
Oh, seriously? I might have to - love that Fuchsia. Thanks!
