15 Tips For Longer Lasting Tulip Blooms This Season

Tulips have become quintessential spring flowers in our gardens. Their jewel tones are available in single flowers, double flowers, late-blooming, and early blooming you name it. No matter what you are looking for, there is a tulip for you.

Growing beautiful tulips begins with putting the work in during the autumn. While this work is simple enough to do, it can take a bit of prep and planning to ensure that you get the job done correctly.

If you’ve decided to grow tulips in your garden and want to get a little more longevity out of their blooms, you’ve come to the right place! Continue reading as I share some of my top tips that will help to extend the bloom time of your tulips this season!

Watch Your Watering

Tulips are relatively low-maintenance plants. Considering the beautiful colors these spring bloomers provide our otherwise desolate gardens, the minimal effort these plants require is quite remarkable. Watering your gardens in the spring is vital, but this rule does not apply to tulips.

The only water your tulip bulbs require is rainfall. Of course, if you are experiencing an unusually dry spring you should water your tulips lightly about once a week.

The reason for keeping the water to a minimum with tulips is simple: bulb rot. If the tulip bulbs are watered too frequently or sit in standing water for too long the bulbs themselves will begin to rot or develop a fungus.

When this happens you may notice your tulip stems weakening which can cause collapse. This will also make it very difficult for the tulips to return next year.

If you feel the urge to water your tulips, hold off. Nature is likely taking excellent care of your spring beauties.

Fertilize Your Bulbs

Tulips can greatly benefit from fertilizer in the fall as well as the spring. After you plant your bulbs in the fall, top-dress the soil with a 10-10-10 fertilizer.

Do not mix this fertilizer into the hole you have dug for the bulb. The contact between the fertilizer and the tulip bulb can cause burning, which is damaging to the bulb and the overall health of the tulip plant. 

In the spring, once you see the tulips begin to pop up through the soil you can fertilize again. Using the same 10-10-10 fertilizer, sprinkle it around your bulbs. Follow any package instructions for application rates. There are also bulb fertilizers, such as bulb tone, which are also a great option for your bulbs.

Stake Your Tulips

Whether you are growing taller tulip varieties or tulips with large heavy flowers, staking your tulips is an easy and beneficial way to care for your plants. This will help keep your plants supported through windy weather or heavy spring rains.

Gather your tools before you get started. You will need one stake per tulip. Your stakes could be anything you have on hand such as green plastic stakes, or bamboo stakes. You will also need something soft to tie the tulips up such as twine, velcro, or extra fabric.

Before the tulips bloom insert your choice of stake a few inches into the ground and close to the stem. Secure the stake with garden twine. Be sure to tie the twine gently, if you tie it too tight you run the risk of snapping your tulip stem.

Keep Critters Away

Without fail, every spring, I find at least one perfect tulip step that has been bitten off at the base and then just left in my garden. I would almost rather the critter would have eaten the whole thing! Suffice it to say, little critters can be an issue in a spring garden. They are hungry and they are not particularly picky.

If you notice chipmunks, rabbits, or squirrels nibbling on your tulips there are a couple of things you can do to keep them away. These animals do not like intense aromas.

Add bone meal to your gardens or sprinkle some cayenne pepper around the base of your tulips. All-natural animal repellants are also available at garden centers or big box stores that are strongly scented and will help repel animals.

Be Prepared For Insects

Just like any other plants in your garden tulips can struggle with insect infestations. Aphids and slugs can all be found on these spring beauties. If you are ready to treat them you will be ahead of the game.

Aphids are tricky on tulips because they can transmit a disease called the “tulip-breaking virus”. This can cause streaks and discoloration in the tulip flowers, as well as other spots and lesions on the leaves and stems of the plants. Control aphids by gently spraying your tulips with your garden hose, be careful not to knock off the flower petals!

Slugs are found in really moist areas of the garden and are usually hiding under some leaves or other plant material on the ground. Keep your gardens clean and on the drier side to keep slugs away. If you find slugs in your garden any way you can use a product such as sluggo.

Bring Them Indoors

Another excellent way to continue enjoying your tulip blossoms is by cutting them from the plant and bringing them indoors and arranging them in a vase. Using a garden knife or sharp garden sheers cut the tulip stem close to the ground.

Once the stem is removed, bring the tulip inside and cut at an angle under running water. Remove any dirt and extra leaves from the stem, and place in water. For long-lasting cut stems, change the water daily and give the stems a fresh cut.

In terms of the health of the tulip bulb, try to leave some leaves attached to the bulb. These leaves will continue to photosynthesize and create food for the bulb which will help the bulbs survive dormancy and produce beautiful flowers next season.

Plant Fresh Bulbs

Over time, bulbs can lose some of their vigor and will not perform as well as they should. This can even be true of bulbs you have just purchased from a store.

For example, you may feel tempted to shop at a spring bulb sale at your garden center. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a plant bargain.

However, if you are looking to give your plants the best shot at having a longer bloom period I would suggest you wait until the fall to purchase your bulbs. This will help to ensure that your bulbs are fresher rather than dried out and tired.

Choose High-quality Bulbs

There are so many options when it comes to purchasing your tulip bulbs. Choose a company that, first of all, has the variety of tulips you want to plant. Secondly, look for a company that will ship to your home when the season is correct. These companies will often ask for your zip code to determine the best time to deliver your bulbs.

Your tulip bulbs should arrive very close to the time that they should be planted in the ground. This will ensure that your bulbs are nice and fresh right when they go into the ground!

Try Viridiflora Tulips

Viridiflora tulips are later blooming tulips, and they are also noted as being the longest blooming tulips, lasting up to three weeks! These tulips are unique in that each variety of viridiflora tulips has a green streak through each of their petals. Plant these tulips with early blooming tulips for a long display of beautiful bright flowers.

There are many different colors and shapes available of viridiflora, ranging from white to red with many shades in between. Try ‘China town’ if you are looking for a blush variety or ‘Formosa’ for a bright green tulip.

Pair these tulips with other spring bulbs, or make a statement and plant a large swath throughout your garden.

Plant Early-Blooming Varieties

There are many different types of tulips you can grow in your garden. Early-blooming tulips will begin blooming shortly after your crocuses, around early to mid-spring. There are many different types of early-blooming tulips, but here are a few to get you started!

Plant Late-Blooming Varieties

Similar to planting early-blooming tulips, planting late-blooming tulips will extend the length of bloom time in your tulip garden. Late-blooming tulips will bloom, well, later in the spring in April and will last into May. Here are a few options for you to try!

Use Soil That Crumbles

In Holland, the land of the tulip, these beauties grow in sandy soil. Now, that does not mean that you need to amend your soil so that it is sandy. But it does mean that your goal for planting tulips should be to amend your soil so it is not holding too much moisture. This moisture can lead to bulb rot.

When you did your holes or trenches, loosen the soil around with your trowel so that it is crumbly and not too dense. Backfill your nice loose soil around your bulbs. If you have clay soil, add some compost or other organic material which will help the water drain easily through the soil.

Plant in Cool Temperatures

Fall is the time to plant your bulbs. When it comes to tulips it is better to wait even a bit later in the fall. The cooler your temperatures are, the less likely you are to come across any fungal diseases. The cooler temperatures will also help to keep your bulbs safe from the harvesting critters in your yard.

 This timing will differ depending on where you live, but use the month of November as a guide. Try to get your bulbs in the ground before Thanksgiving, and your bulbs will be off to a great start.

Provide Plenty of Sun

When you are choosing where to plant your tulips, look for an area with full sun or at least partial sun. This can be hard to determine in the fall since many deciduous trees will have dropped their leaves by the time you are planting your bulbs.

Sunshine is important to tulips because it will help your stems grow straight up rather than lean to reach the sunshine. The benefit of partial shade is that the flowers will not fade due to sun exposure, and will last a bit longer.

If you plant your tulips in too much shade they may not reach their full height, however, they will likely still produce beautiful flowers. The deeper the shade, the more likely you are to run into fungal diseases which will negatively affect the bulb’s ability to produce flowers year after year.

Plant New Bulbs Each Year

While tulips are considered to be perennial bulbs, the truth is that they will not perform well forever. For example, I have bulbs in an abandoned garden of mine that produces lovely foliage each year but no blossoms.

To keep your tulip gardens looking pristine each year, it is always a good idea to plant new tulip bulbs each fall.

While your tulips are in full bloom note where the bulbs are and plan for where you could add new bulbs in the fall. You will want to be careful where you plant new bulbs so that you do not disrupt the tulip bulbs you already have in your garden.

You could plant the same type of tulips you already have growing in your garden, or you could spice it up and add a different color tulip, or a tulip that will bloom later or earlier than your current tulips. Have fun with it!