newbie needs help with easter tulips- what now?

hi,
my darling husband gave me two pots of tulips for easter. they blooms have just about passed. Do I plant them outdoors now, zone 5...we still have frost... or what?

help..........
debi z

Hi debi,
There are many varieties of tulips. The Species variety and the Darwins usually come back for a few years. Many others do not. The only way you can tell is to plant them. I would plant the ones you have complete with the soil they are in, trying not to damage the roots when removing them from the pot. Water them a little and invert the pot and try to take the whole bunch with the soil out. Prepare the bed with some nice humus but don't fertilize for about 2 weeks. Plant them no deeper than they already are in, in the pot. Keep them watered.
If you haven't pinched off the dead bloom head, do it ( and you may see a swollen place just below the bloom which is a forming seed pod) and be sure to get the seed pod. Making seed depletes energy that you want to go into growing the bulb bigger for next year's bloom. Keep growing the leaves and fertilize after the plants are comfortable with their new home, maybe as early as a week after transplanted. All this growth will enlarge the bulb. Next year's bloom forms in the bulb THIS YEAR.
For a good source on bulbs to plant this fall for next year's blooms, I reccomend www.johnscheepers.com

thank you, thank you , thank you :-)

there is no name for the type of tulip on the tag, so i will plant them tomorrow and hope for blooms next year.

sincerely,
debi z