Tulips beat down by hail

Yesterday, here in Texas (DFW area) I experienced the strangest hail storm. I was pulling out of my driveway as it began to fall. By the time I reached the corner (and I LIVE on the corner lot!) the streets were beginning to flood. The rain & hail were falling so hard and fast I could barely see 30 ft. ahead of me. The storm was over in about 15 minutes - and we got an inch of rain in that time frame. All of my tulip blooms were destroyed, along with some other flowers that were up. What I am curious about is: do tulips put up more than one flower? That is... will the plants recover and rebloom? Or do I get to wait until next year for more blooms. This is the first time I have ever grown tulips. I got about 20 bulbs as a freebie when I placed another order. I have really been enjoying them. I had no idea that tulips open up in the morning and close again at night.

maryyx,

I'm afraid that you will have no more tulip flowers this year.
Are the leaves also badly damaged ? The leaves are necessary for the bulbs to store up the food for blooming the next year.

This message was edited Mar 15, 2007 9:55 PM

Yes, the leaves on several plants are mangled. So... should I just leave them, and let the plants reabsorb what they can? I'm so impressed that you are responding from Belgium! Wow.

I cut off the stems of the mangled flowers. Hope I didn't make the situation worse by doing that.

Yes, Maryxx, that's a great thing with internet!

About the leaves of your tulips, I would leave them on unless they are really completely smashed! Difficult to know though without a picture.
Some of the types of tulips have to be replaced every year even if they hadn't been damaged like yours.
Most reliable are the botanical species. They are smaller but very beautiful.

I suppose that your tulips are from the current types, because there are actually tulips that produce more than one flower. But these are not so commonly available f.ex.: Tulipa tarda, Tulipa praestans and Tulipa urumiensis.

Bonitan,

Are tulips heavy feeders? I planted out 2 groups of Lady Jane last year with 10 bulbs in each group. This year I have 18 in one group and 15 in the other. All are blooming, but the blooms are smaller than last year. Have you any suggestions for building the bulbs up?

Thanks,

Beth

I really don't know what type of tulips they are. Got them as a bonus for an order placed with Wayside Gardens. Tulips have not been one of my favorites - so the experience of growing them has been very pleasant. They have been the first flowers up - and I had no idea they open in the morning and close at night. I will take some pictures of them tomorrow, and post them.

Beth, your tulips belong to the specie types.
Have a look at this website;

http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/bulbs/TulipLadyJane.html



Maryxx, yes please, show us your tulips.

Here goes! First the overview: taken along the north wall of my house, in the side yard. The scent of the hyacinths is out of this world!

An orange beauty

The hyacinths are so lovely in this bed of warm colored tulips

This tulip is so delicate, so graceful.

As you can see, the bed is putting on quite a show in spite of the 5 or 6 flowers that were mangled by the hail.

This is the newest one up.

Last but not least, a closeup of a newly planted sprig of Aztec Silver Magic verbena nestled among the hyacinths

This message was edited Mar 20, 2007 10:33 PM

This message was edited Mar 20, 2007 10:40 PM

Your bonus: a photo of my first lilac blossoms. I am SO excited about my lilacs - I have wanted some for years. I live in Texas so have not been able to grow them - but now there are lilacs which thrive in the south! Yea!

The damage doesn't look as bad as I had imagined.! You have quite a rich colour palette in there! I know the smell of the hyacinths is irresistible.

I also love lilacs and over here they are very commonly used in the gardens, their flowers smell gorgeous!

There are a few damaged plants, but they really are not that noticeable now - because the eye is drawn to the healthy plants. Only a few of the tulips were up when we got the hail.