Taking some time to prepare your tulip garden for winter may make for an easier time in the spring. This is basic information on how to keep your soil healthy through the fall and winter. This process works for tulips, all flowers, plants and vegetable gardens as well. As the days get shorter and the cold sets in, it’s time to get your garden ready for its long winter’s nap. Here are some ideas as to how to do that.

Prepare for Pests and Diseases

While freezing winter temperatures kill many insects, many of them are just lying low in dormancy. Insects, after all, have been surviving year after year for millions of years! Plant diseases, too, may seem to be vanquished only to reappear in the warmth of spring. So prepare your garden in order to decrease pests and diseases next year.

Remove dead plant matter, as this can harbor insect eggs and fungal spores. For annuals and vegetables, remove the entire dead plant; for perennials, cut them back to several inches above the soil.

Remove any other plant matter that does not belong – dead leaves (insects love to overwinter under leaves), weeds, and tree fall-out.

Compost

Work some compost, hummus, or other organic material into the soil. If you have chickens, let them roam in the garden area and leave their little “gifts.” Over the winter, the manure will break down and be ready for spring planting.

Green fertilizer – or a cover crop – is another option. Rye, winter wheat, red clover, and/or rapeseed can be planted over your garden as each bed dies back. In spring, these crops can be tilled under to enrich the soil.

Mulch

Many gardeners take the time to mulch in the fall. This protects roots against freezing temperatures and, if using cedar mulch, discourages pests. Mulch also holds in moisture during a season when most gardeners do not think to water. You can use chopped leaves or the needles and boughs of evergreens. It’s a great way to use your old Christmas tree if frost comes late in your area, or if you need additional mulch protection later in the season.

Covering the garden with newspaper and weighting it down with rocks is another possible approach to protecting the soil and perennials. Cut slits in the newspaper around the perennials. This prevents winter weeds and discourages pests. The newspaper breaks down and makes excellent worm food when it’s tilled under in the spring.

Trees and Shrubs

Fall is a good time to cut back trees and shrubs that need hard pruning – just make sure it’s late enough in the season that new growth won’t start. If you apply pesticides, consider a systemic pesticide that can be applied to the roots of your trees and shrubs so that the plants will be “armed” when spring comes.

What do you want your tulips to do?

Will the tulips be for your outdoor gardens or will you cultivate them to be used indoors as flower arrangements? If you are using tulips for your garden, plant in the main beds near your house. If the tulips are being used for bouquets then plant them in straight garden rows just like you would vegetables.

What kinds of tulips do you need?

You should decide on what colors and shapes you want. Short or tall. Early or late, or all of the above! Some people like all of one variety and others like to go crazy. Again. It’s all about what you want for your own landscaping preferences.

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The neat thing with tulips is you can plant them all by themselves or with other flowers. Tulips and daffodils go well together. Pansies and forget-me-nots are all good choices as companions for tulips as well.

Tulips can work as an outer border for your flowerbeds since they are first to bloom in the spring. You will have beautiful flowers while the late bloomers are getting started behind them.

Tulips are also wonderful accent flowers. You can plant 4 to 5 bulbs together in small clumps, circles, crescents and ovals for a stunning visual effect all throughout your yard.

• Soil should be rich, moist, and well drained.
• Tulips thrive in full to mostly full sun.
• During the hot summer months tulips are dormant so the soil should remain dry.

{Tulips should be planted in the fall, to maintain a regular blooming cycle, in raised flower bed with sun to partial shade. Plant tulips that will come back year after year with tips from a professional gardener in this free video on gardening.}

We had a film clip here but it is no longer available.

What I never realized, though, is that over-watering can actually kill mature – and otherwise hardy – trees. In fact, it seems to be a pretty common problem in some areas of the country. But how do you know when enough is enough? Do you withhold water until the leaves begin to droop? Until your grass is crispy? Until the ground begins to turn to dust and blow away? When is the right time to break out the sprinkler?

Probably the best way is to monitor the condition of the soil. You can do that with a simple little device called a moisture meter. Simply insert the probe into the soil and you’ll know instantly if you need to water or not. Be sure to buy one that includes instructions for many different plants, because every plant has different needs.

Or if low-tech is more your speed, you can use this handy Colonial Williamsburg Parrot and Tulip Rain Gauge to keep track of how much rain you’ve received. Your local cooperative extension office should be able to tell you how much water the native plants in the area require, and then it’s just a matter of adding more if necessary.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Simply plant complimentary plants alongside your tulip beds. But how do you know which plants are compatible? If you’re not careful in your choices, you might just end up killing one plant to save another.

You need to know a bit about the life cycle of a tulip to make a good decision.

First, the reason you can’t cut back or otherwise restrain those yellowing tulip leaves is because the tulip is gathering energy through photosynthesis and storing it all up inside the bulb. The very same bulb you are hoping will bloom again and again. Without those leaves, the bulb won’t have enough stored energy to produce a bloom next year.

During this time, your tulips need water and sun and food just like any other growing plant. Once the leaves have yellowed and withered, though, they require a dormancy period, preferably a dry one. This is why tulips tend to fare better in areas with hot, dry summers. You won’t find tulips in the rain forest!

Here’s where the problems come up. Say for example you’ve planted some annuals along side your tulips so that you can have some summer color in your garden as well. Those annuals are not going to take well to the hot dry conditions your tulip bulbs need, and unless you water them well, you’re likely to end up with withered and dying annuals. But, if you do water them, you’ll be drowning your tulip bulbs.

There are a couple of possible solutions to this dilemma. One, you might want to lift your bulbs after the leaves have yellowed and been removed. Store them away someplace dark and dry until fall, when you can replant them. This plan works, but it’s labor intensive.

You might also just decide to buy and plant tulip bulbs again in the fall. This is how a lot of people do it, and it does work, but again it’s labor intensive. The advantage to this method over the last is that you don’t have to let the leaves die off on their own. You can cut them down as soon as the flower is gone, since you’re not worried about the bulb storing up energy for next season.

If you truly want to naturalize your tulips, though, you need to find plants that are compatible with the conditions required by dormant tulip bulbs. Look for plants which are known to be “drought tolerant” or “drought resistant.” Many varieties, such as coneflower and Caryopteris will flower mid-summer through autumn, making them the perfect companions to a spring tulip bed.

Each variety of bulb is discussed in-depth, starting with an overview of the plant and which cultivars to try. Ms. Reich teaches us when and where to plant each type of bulb, how to lift and store them for the summer, how to grow them in containers, and tips you need to know to get the most out of your bulb garden, like how to know if you’ve planted your tulips too shallowly.

Of course, you won’t do that, because included with the book is a chart that tells you exactly how deep to plant each type of bulb. You also get her Seasonal Planting Chart, to help you determine the best time to plant each bulb in your area, and a bulb gardener’s progress chart, so you can keep track of where, when, and how you planted each section of garden. This is a must-have for serious gardeners, since you need to be able to replicate what worked – and avoid what didn’t – in your garden for next year.

How to grow bulbs also gives you a good primer on pests and diseases specific to bulbs, and what to do about them, along with a troubleshooting guide to help you solve bulb growing problems before they get out of hand.

For the beginner bulb gardener, this book is a fabulous overview of different kinds of bulbs, where they will grow, and how and when to plant them. Advanced gardeners might find the information a little too basic, but you’ll probably still discover some varieties of bulbs to try out in your garden. Overall, I highly recommend every bulb gardener get a copy. You’ll turn to it again and again when faced with questions about bulbs.

UPDATE! This book is no longer available, but here is another one that you might like.Growing Bulbs

Plant hardiness zones are simply a way of classifying plants and regions of the country so you can tell at a glance if you’ve made a good plant choice for your garden. Think of Garanimals for Mother Nature. If you live in zone six and your plant is tolerant of zone six, you have a match. If your plant is only tolerant to zone eight, you can try it, but it’ll be a bit like wearing stripes and plaid.

Hardiness zones were first defined in the 1920s, and were based on the average low temperature for a region. Each ten degree variance in temperature denoted a new zone, with zone one being the coldest, and zone ten the warmest. The USDA printed the first hardiness zone maps in 1960, and in 1990 they updated the map with more current data and added Mexico. They also added a zone eleven, and further subdivided the map into five degree increments by adding a suffix of either a or b to each zone.

No Map is Perfect

Because the current version of the hardiness zone map is based on temperature data collected from 1974 through 1986, the USDA is in the process of overhauling the map again, which means that some areas will find themselves in a whole new zone.

Another problem with the map is regional. If you live in the Midwest or in the eastern third of the United States, the zones are pretty clearly defined, looking something like crooked stripes drawn by a four year-old. In the western part of the country, though, mountainous regions have an effect on weather patterns that is not seen in the flatlands of the Midwest. Those rather orderly stripes become chaotic and difficult to decipher. So difficult, in fact, that Sunset Magazine has developed their own system of defining growing regions based on length of growing season, timing and amount of rainfall, winter lows, summer highs, and humidity. Sunset’s system is very successful in the West, where it is used even more frequently than the USDA system, but it fails in the eastern half of the country.

Don’t think that all you have to worry about is the average cold temperature of a zone, though. The average warm temperature can be a problem as well, especially with cold hardy plants like tulips. This led the American Horticultural Society to develop the AHS Plant Heat Zone Map. This map, like the plant hardiness zone map, divides the United States into regions, but instead of basing those regions on average cold temperature, they are based on the average number of days in which the temperature peaked above 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

Zones Are Really Just A Guide

Does all this mean that we can’t rely on hardiness zone maps at all? Of course not. But it may mean that they are best thought of as guides instead of laws.

Bananas, for example, grow best in zones eight through eleven. If you live in Atlanta and you plant a banana tree, you’ll probably still get bananas, even though you’re in zone seven. You might have to take a little extra care, especially if your weather turns unusually cold, but otherwise you shouldn’t have any problems with your banana tree.

If you try to grow bananas in Duluth, though, you will be disappointed. Zone 3b is just too far removed from the banana’s native climate.

The key to successful gardening is to know your zone, keep it in mind when planning your garden and shopping for seeds, but remember too that nothing is absolute. With reasonable precautions, you can enjoy many varieties of plants which are not native to your region. If you are in doubt, ask for advice from your local garden center or cooperative extension office.

Tulips have a unique life cycle. Photo by Delphine Devos.

Tulips might only bloom in the spring, but their growing season actually begins in late summer or early fall, depending on your location. Knowing what’s happening with your tulips all year long will help ensure a plentiful spring garden.

Tulips need to be planted in the fall to allow them to begin their life cycle. Ideally, they should be planted early enough so that they can begin to form a good root system before the ground freezes, but late enough so warm weather doesn’t cause them to try to bloom. Generally speaking, the best time to plant tulip bulbs is about two weeks before the average first frost date in your area. Check with your local Cooperative Extension Office for first and last frost dates where you live.

Tulips need several weeks of cold weather to gear up for bloom time in the spring. On average, the soil temperature needs to be below 50 degrees Fahrenheit for about eight weeks. If you live south of USDA Hardiness Zone eight, you will probably have to “force” your bulbs, or fool them into thinking the weather is colder than it is.

Depending on the variety you’ve planted, tulips will begin to bloom from late winter into late spring. If you are growing hybrid tulips, once the bloom begins to fade you should remove it. This will allow the plant to put all its energy back into the bulb so that it can produce another flower next season. If you are growing wild or botanical tulips, however, you should allow the flower to go to seed, so that your tulips will spread.

In both cases, you will want to allow the leaves to yellow and die off naturally, keeping the plants well watered during this time. If you plan to replace your tulip bulbs every year, you can skip this step, but if you are trying to naturalize or perennialize your tulips, this time is important, as this is when the tulip stores its energy for next spring. Avoid cutting the greenery, or braiding or tying the leaves. Allow them to wither and die off, then gently pull them away from the bulb.

Once the leaves have yellowed and been removed, you should stop watering your bulbs. Tulips need a dry warm period in the summer months. For hybrid varieties you might choose to lift, or dig up, your bulbs and store them elsewhere. This isn’t strictly necessary, however, and most people find it to be a hassle. As long as your summers are dry, your bulbs should be fine if left in the ground.

Wild, botanical, or species tulip varieties are particularly adept at spreading and returning year after year. Some hybrid varieties, such as the Darwin Hybrids and Emperor Tulips are bred to return for several years, needing replacement only when they stop producing flowers. Most hybrid tulips, however, should be treated as annuals and replanted each fall.

By knowing a bit about the life cycle of tulips and what tulip varieties you plan to grow, you can be sure to get the most out of your tulip beds this year, and for many years to come.

Knowing how to plant tulip bulbs will help make your garden look like this. Photo by Jackie.

Before you get your garden all settled in for the fall, you need to put some thought into where and how to plant tulip bulbs for next spring’s first color show. Depending on your USDA zone, tulips should be planted sometime in early to mid-fall. The bulbs need temperatures warm enough that they can begin to develop roots, which will protect them from the freezing winter ahead, but not so warm that they begin to grow.

Generally, this means for zones four and five you should plant tulip bulbs in October; zones six and seven should plant bulbs in November, and zones eight and nine in late December or early January. Ideally, the soil temperature needs to be below 60 degrees. If you live in zone eight or higher, you will probably have to refrigerate your bulbs for several weeks before planting to ensure blooms.

Decide on the area to be planted. You should avoid planting tulips all in a straight line, as they will look best clumped together in groups of five to fifteen, or in large beds with blocks of color. Since each bulb produces a single stem and just a few leaves, you don’t need to allow a lot of space between them. A few inches is more than enough.

Once you’ve decided on where you want your tulips, the next step is to prepare the soil and actually place the bulbs.

Tulips really aren’t too picky about their soil. Think about their natural habitat. The windswept hills of Afghanistan aren’t exactly a nurturing environment for a fragile plant, so tulips are pretty hardy by design. You really just need to make sure the soil is well drained and has adequate organic materials to support life. If you’re not sure about either, mix in some sand and peat or compost, and you’ll be all set.

Next lay out your bulbs. Check each one over to make sure it’s not damaged in any way. Check for soft spots or bruises, cuts, and missing tunics. Any of these could result in diseased flowers, or even no flower at all. Discard any bulbs you’re not sure of.

The general rule of thumb is to bury the bulb twice as deep as it is tall. For most tulips, this will be about six to eight inches, so you’ll want to make sure you’ve worked the soil down to a depth of a foot or so to give the roots room to grow.

Always plant tulip bulbs with the pointed end up, and cover them loosely with soil. Give them a little water and some bulb fertilizer to get them stared, and then settle in and wait.

If burrowing or digging pests are a concern, you might want to cover your planting beds with one inch chicken wire to prevent your bulbs from being dug up for dinner by the local squirrels. For Moles and other underground pests, consider building chicken wire cages to protect your bulbs.

Covering your beds with an organic mulch such as chopped leaves will help improve the soil over the winter. Be careful though not to use too much. More than an inch or so and you will have to move it aside in the spring so your tulips can find the sunlight.

After a cold and dreary winter, a bed of bright tulips is a welcome visitor. Careful planting of your bulbs in the fall will help ensure you have a beautiful display in the spring.

There are around 4,000 named species of tulips, but you don’t need to know them all to have a beautiful garden. The important thing to know is that tulip species are divided into groups based on two main criteria: when they bloom, and the type of flower they produce.

When you plan your garden, the first thing you want to consider is when your bulbs will bloom. There are three categories tulips will fall into: early, mid, or late season. For maximum bloom time, be sure to choose bulbs from each category. You can cluster different types of bulbs in different locations, or mix them up in a single large bed. Just as the early bloomers are losing their color, the mid-season tulips will be opening.

Another easy way to maximize your bloom time is to plant tulip bulbs in layers, with larger bulbs buried deeper, and smaller bulbs closer to the top. The larger bulbs will take longer to reach the surface, allowing the smaller ones to bloom first.

Tulips look best when planted in clusters of five to fifteen bulbs, or in large beds with plants bunched together. Unlike annuals, you don’t need to give each tulip extra space to spread out, so don’t be stingy with the bulbs. You only need to allow a couple of inches between them.

The next thing you will want to consider is flower type and size. Tulips range in height from six inches to 32 inches, and can have blooms as large as eight inches at the base. You can choose from an instantly recognizable cup shaped tulip, or a more exotic looking lily, parrot, or fringed variety. In between you have the peony types, so called because they more closely resemble a peony than a tulip.

Of course color is a concern as well, and often the first thing people think of when planning a flower garden. Tulips are available in nearly every color from white to deep purple or black. For a casual garden, try planting random colors. Clusters of tulips along a fence are perfect for a cottage garden look, and the riot of color in a bed of variegated tulips is sure to be a welcome sight in the spring. For more drama, try large beds of single colors, with contrasting colors in other beds. Pastels might be traditional spring colors, but bright reds, yellows, and oranges are a welcome change after the gloom of a long winter.

If you prefer a more formal look, beds of single color flowers are a good choice. Try a bed of yellow tulips surrounding a fountain or birdbath, for example, or edging a walkway with tall and stately Darwin Hybrids.

You really can’t go wrong with flowers. They will complement each other regardless of the colors or styles you choose. And if you don’t like the arrangement this year, tulips are easy to rearrange for next season’s garden.