Tulips in Containers

I have several large pots and urns on my patio and around my garden. Each summer they are filled with tropicals (mandevilla, lantana, brugmansia, etc.), but I like to start the season by forcing tulips, narcissus and daffodils to go in the containers. Since they cannot survive our harsh, zone 5b winters, I fill plastic azalea pots and large, round-bottom pots with potting soil and bulbs in the fall, and sink them in a blank space in my border garden for the winter. Around the first or second week of March I bring them out of the ground and place them in the containers, pot and all. I try to find the largest possible pot that will fit in the container without showing when I top off with mulch.

In previous years I have tried combos of narcissus, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths, but they never seem to all bloom at the same time. This year I just used "Princess Irene" Darwin tulips (one of my favorites - good, strong stems, great color combo (purple with orange flames on petals) and a mid-season bloomer that doesn't get too tall (wind can damage them if they get too tall).

Here's what the containers looked like April 9.

I have a large limestone urn at the corner of my house. For this container, I use five 12" azalea pots. This is a more protected spot, so the tulips bloom a little earlier here. This photo was taken April 9.

Here's what the urn looks like 4-15-09

The tulips are beautiful but I'm really impressed with the planter. Together they are a knockout. Laverne

A nice rain today, which makes everything look fresh. The tulips are starting to open. This is an urn on the north side of my driveway.

The tulips in the urns in the back are starting to open too...

The tulips in the limestone urn are open now too...

Those are beautiful! Awesome urns!

so tulips don't really need deep space?? I just picked some up on sale (after Easter, so they've already bloomed). Do they only bloom once?? I have them in my raised garden bed, with my mini roses and a few dianthus for company.

nice early tulips

Hi DirtyGirl!

I don't have experience with warm-weather gardening, but I've always heard that tulips are an annual in Florida, since they need 12+ weeks of cold to form the bloom. Those I force in pots are also an annual (to me) - you're right, they need more room if you're going to naturalize them, but for a one-shot, growing them in pots is fine.

for the 12+ weeks of cold, can I put the bulbs in a cool fridge? OR??? OR ??? *S*

I just took them out of the original container, but the stems (blooms are gone) and dug a hole in the rose bed and plopped them in.

We don't get COLD here till Jan. and it can sometimes last till first of March... ((at night we run the heater, by day we run the a/c)) *LOL*

I think most folks refrigerate bulbs to grow them in Fla. You can probably buy them pre-refrigerated at local nurseries. If you do it at home, you need to put them in a refrigerator that does not contain food items (the gases given off by the food inhibit the bulb development, I think).

how about a beer fridge? ~LOL~ only thing we put in the mini fridge out by the spa

Should work!

if I give them a 12 week chill will they bloom again this year??

In my experience, bulbs that have been forced once won't bloom again - you might check with some of the bulb nurseries (van Bourgondien - http://www.dutchbulbs.com/ or van Engelen http://www.vanengelen.com/) and see what they recommend.

LeawoodGardener, thanks alot for all your input!!

LeawoodGardener,

Gorgeous !!

I love the simple settings you have made.

Tomtom

This is how the limestone urn looks this summer. I saved the palm from last summer (put it in a pot indoors, by a window) and just added the sweet potato for 'color'.

Beautiful! Love it.