OK, who has Tulips?

Hiya Tracie,

Thanks! Yes, I replant every year....though I will say I am having several of last year's single lates returning for me! I have five flowers now but when I looked this afternoon I found a bunch of buds coming up. The flowers are shorter than they were first year but they're perfectly formed and still very pretty and showy.

Are yours all the same variety or different types? Even if the same variety, they will sometimes stagger and come up at slightly different times and that is not unusual. They tend to bloom for several days so you should still get a nice show when enough of them are up simultaneously. I have the same situation going on and wouldn't worry too much.

If you look at the photo below, you will see I have the same thing happening but they'll all come together....you'll see. Good luck!

i have a number of different types, but i only planted a single variety in each area/planting hole. most of my beds are for my daylily addiction, so there are a bunch of dayliles spread throughout the beds. the other plants, including the tulips are planted between the dls. so, there was not enough room for a long strech of tulips, such as you have shown above. i primarily dug a hole, put in bulb food and at least 10-20 bulbs. i figured that would be enought for a good show. i didnt think about them not all blooming at the same time. btw, about how long does a tulip flower last? i know that would vary, especially based on the weather, i was just looking for some idea. oh, there is something eating my tulip leaves, any suggestions as to what that might me? i live in town and have 3 cats, so i dont think it is rabbits. i have heard that slugs and snails like tulips.

tracie

Great photos in this thread!

Steve, I love that shot of the peony-flowered tulip beside your sprouting peony -- nice placement!

Beautiful setting with your tulips Lily_Love!

Steve, what a gorgeous double purple! Do you know the name?

This is one of two from a purple bulb mix my daughter gave me about 9 years ago, it renewed itself and has been flowering every year. Some bulbs will make small new bulbs and when they mature are more likely to live in the conditions they grew in. It's next to a south wall.

Thanks everyone for the compliments. I do stagger plant mine too, here are the others that are just now begin to unfurl. ☺

Janet, do you know what class it is? Lovely, rich color and pretty shape.

LilyLove, the blue pansies are perfect with those tulips, pink and blue are one of my favorite combos!

Neal, I have a feeling it's Negrita, a Triumph tulip. It's one which has been around a few years.

http://www.theplantexpert.com/springbulbs/Tulip3Triumph.html

They say they are about 10 days earlier than Darwin Hybrids.

More, more of Tulips? I've got them. :-)

Pink, then yellow, how about a mixture of the two color?

Very nice, Kim....that looks like some of mine!

Thanks critter and Wallaby - no Wallaby, it is just from a late doubles mix. I went the easy route and bought mixes of tulips this year other than buying some Mentons, which are my favorite tulip. I think next year though I'll order individually and do specific combinations like some of you have.

I actually prefer mixing varieties together as you get a more consistent scale of bloom across a longer period!

Neal, I am glad you've had good luck in your doubles returning. This is about the best success I have had in getting tulips to return LOL (see below) - they're only about 2/3 as tall as last year but still perfectly formed, and last night when I got home from work I found a bunch more buds starting to come up in this group....so not bad for Texas!

My mom had tulips planted in an area of her yard on a slight slope. and of course nobody there has sprinklers and so the area gets minimally watered in the summer....and virtually all of hers came back strongly second year. She said they bloomed last year (year 3) as well but I wasn't up there to see that. Wonder how they'll do this year.

Steve, not to go OT; but I've spotted some healthy Lilies coming up among your Tulips!

Why thanks for noticing, Kim :-)

You know, at my old house I sold in fall of 2006, the soil was this horrible thick gooey clay I think they call "gumbo" that didn't drain and was hard as rock in summer. I raised all of my beds as much as possible and bought 24 cubic yards of loam that cost me $$$$ in order to be able to grow bulbs successully and to get them to return. My problem wasn't our climate; it was our horrible soil. Lots of nutrients in it but it just suffocated bulbs.

We bought a new house 15 miles to the west/northwest in fall of 2006, and totally different soil consistency here. Kinda of sandy base and little to no clay. Drains well and absolutely everything I planted in 2006 has returned strongly other than a little weaker performance from tulips due to our southern temperatures. I am seeing lots of multiplication among the Asiatics as well as the main stalks starting to come up. I am so excited! Here is this area last year - I wonder what they'll look like this year~! I need to more some stuff because as usual I plant things too close together wanting a dense look - then they all "grow up" and it's overdone!

Fabulous Lilies garden! Like you I agreed the soil is the foundation of our garden planting. I'm looking forward to the Lilies season this year--after the Tulips show of course! Thanks Steve for posting.
Kim

Steve,
I am so glad you started this thread. I only have a few tulips, but love to see what has worked for other people in warm winter climates. Also sighhhh... with a bit of zone envy over the many elegant tulips that require more winter chill.

Here's 'Red Emperor' aka 'Madame LeFeber' . This clump was planted in 2004 and they have returned and increased for me. This photo doesn't show the inside but in the sun they open up wide and have a black base surrounded by a yellow circle.

Chris

One of the species, Tulip orphanidea flava

Chris

Even, in my mild winter here. It isn't impossible to nurse the tulips to persist year after years, but to consistently bloom every year is nearly an imposible task, I surmized.

But I love them so much, I treat them as annuals. Like most, garden space is a premium comodities. That works just as well for me...

A spring grouping---Tulips 'Red Emperor(Madame LeFeber), Muscari, and Tulip orphanidea flava with Rosemary 'Tuscan Blue' in the background

Happy Spring,

Chris

Ahhhh... spring. Lovely tulips (and lilies) everyone!
Mine are just showing the tips of the folliage so I'll
be drooling here for a few weeks 'til mine are actually
blooming too. :-)

I love Tulip orphanidea flava Chris, some of my species have budded. I have ordered a few more for this autumn from minitaurebulbs, their catalogue is now open and they have a few new species.

You can see 3 here, taken today on Easter Sunday!

I believe this this tulip clusiana var. chrysantha. Again, I bought 50 thinking I would make a statement and they are hardly noticeable. I needed at least 500. We'll see if these return for me next year.

I was digging around for my species Lilac Wonder and there were no bulbs whatsoever, zilch, zero, nada. they ain't comin, sigh

OTOH, my poor hyacinthoides hispanica, pink and white, are doing much better this year. They have been struggling for 2 years--I think I may have planted them too deep.

Here is little Newman. Because it was Easter, I thought it only fair that he be put in his really big pen. He spent the whole day there, eating non-stop. He's such a cutie.

Wow, you guys are proving that the species varieties can be very prolific :-) I need to try those.

Chris, I will try your idea on the emperors. I love to push zones and get things to bloom that "shouldn't" LOL. You seem to have done very well with them.

Vossner, sometimes that happens. Might be drainage and then might be animals - I hear they all love tulips. You'll be butying in bulk soon like the rest of us! BTW your clusiana is very pretty. Looks like you have more budding too.

See I have more buds coming up from last year's tulips :-)

oh Newmie would LOVE all that tulip foliage!

edited to add: Oh, never mind, I just remember they're poisonous. nope, he wouldn't like those.

This message was edited Mar 24, 2008 8:53 PM

Heheh - Newman is adorable :-)

The transition from the early blooming pink tulips to this...ah, I love them!☼

Vossner, --My own experience with hyacinthoides hispanica includes both a named white one called 'White City" and a named blue one called 'Excelsior'. 'White City' was only about 6 in tall and underwhelming--small blooms and few spikes. However, 'Excelsior' was taller, and very impressive . I started with 25 bulbs of Excelsior in 2002 and by 2007 I must have had a a few hundred blooms--they just split and multiplied every year. In my opinion Excelsior is the one to buy.

Unfortunately, I didn't know that hyacinthoides are the gopher equivalent of potato chips so this year I only have a few random bulbs and a couple of smaller clumps that were missed. Here's a closeup photo taken last year in early April.

Chris

steve,
i purchased 200 species tulips from bleek this last fall, the foliage is just starting to come up now. of course, i really want a ton of the the big ones (of which i did plant a few hundred), but i also want some that will naturalize. i will let you know how they did for me. btw, bleek had great deals on his bulbs and so far they have done wonderfully for me!

tracie

wow chris, that blue one is way showier. I don't know that I will get any more of these, gonna see how well they fend for themselves in humid, clayey Houston.

ok, finally had a new variety open today!

tracie

creme upstar

Great picture, aggie! :-)

Glorious! I love that tiny bit of pink, like a smudge of lipstick on the outer petal.

Tracie, that's lovely! I think they get pinker as they age; if they do, I'd love to see another pic of that bloom in a few days :-)

thank you guys so much! i will defineately get more pics. i am so excited, have a couple of new varieties that look like they will be opening in the next day or two. one is red and yellow! just for fun, here i another photo i took of the Creme Upstar yesterday, i love the lighting in this photo.

tracie

Creme Upstar

here are a few new pics that i took today.

tracie

another shot of Creme Upstar

this one is just opening, but couldnt wait to post it. will have to look up the name.

this is kinda funny! i am pretty sure i only planted Triumph Purple Flag in this clump, but a couple of other colors are joining the fun! i guess some bulbs were mislabeled.

tracie

I had a whole batch of 100 bulbs come mislabelled. They are
pretty but not what I would have planted had I known what they
were. Your tulips all look so lush and pretty!

thank you, but something has been nibbling on some of them. dont know what it is, but i wonder if it could be slugs. i hear slugs like tulips. also, i tend to take pics in the morning, a lot of times there is dew or like today, rain drops on them. i like the way it makes them look! i also plant WAY to dense!lol i subscribe to the "more is MORE" school of gardening! lol

i know this is a tulip thread, but i thought i would share one of my new daffs,
Gentle Giant, boy does it live up to its name!

tracie

Gentle Giant

Very nice! And you have snap's too? Ooooo... zone envy rearing
its head again.... :-)