Tulips anyone?

I'm a first-time tulip grower. We planted last fall, and now (the end of March) they're just this tall. When should I expect them to actually bud? I'm worried that maybe we did something wrong and they're too small. Can anybody put a first-time tulip worrier at ease?

Tags: bud, growth, march, tulips

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Permalink Reply by Polly McDaniel on March 26, 2008 at 11:40pm

John, a few things about tulips. First of all, you have to plant them deep. So I hope you checked out the recommendation on the packaging when you planted them. Secondly, like a lot of plants, bloom time varies by variety. There are early, mid-season and late-season bloomers. So yours may be on track, depending on which you have. The reasoning behind the various bloom times are so you can stagger blooms to stretch out the flowers. You can interplant with all three to extend the bloom time. People do this with a lot of plants, like azaleas, for example. The good news is that they're emerging at all. Often, squirrels get them around here.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Coyle on March 27, 2008 at 1:23pm

Yeah, it is encouraging that the squirrels haven't gobbled them up. Most tulips seem to be at a minimal height right now from what I have seen. The cooler temps during February and March have kept all but the hyacinths and daffodils from popping up yet, and that is a good thing.

If you didn't plant the bulbs with bone meal or phosphate last fall, go ahead and use an organic fertilizer right now that has at least a little water soluble phosphorous. Plant tone would be a good choice, or Indonesian bat guano would be good. A little bit of nitrogen would be good as well, and these two fertilizers would provide what your bulbs need.