Several of my tulips came up with just leaves, no flowers this year (this is their second spring). I know tulips are often short-lived, but this seems ridiculous! I dug a couple up, to see what was going on, and they had several little bulblets, each with one leaf coming out. Are they just multiplying, so I'll have tons of tulips in a year or two, or are they just finished? I don't want to throw 'em out if I'll have an increased supply later, but there's just not room in the garden for non-flowering tulips!!
Any thoughts?
tulip confusion (no flowers!)
Every fall and again the spring I would feed them with bone meal or a bulb food. That should help. Don't let them get crowded, and make sure the don't get to dry over the summer. They are multiplying so you will have more plants but it maybe another season before they bloom
I like Gardens Alive! bulb food. You can always find a coupon for them on the internet and get $20 off a $40 order. They have Organic products and the bulb food is a nice weight - it doesn't fly away when you put it down like the stuff you get from the big bulb houses. I do what Chicory31 says to do - feed twice a year - in the fall and again in the spring before they really start to bloom. I have lots of tulips, daffodils and the lillies are getting pratically invasive.
Any chance some critter bit the flower buds off your plants? I found that squirrels were jumping against my peony tulips and knocking the blooms off! Kinda a squirrel equivalent of "cow tipping", I guess.
Tulips are always at their best the very first spring. After that it's downhill. The one that always returns is the Perennial tulip: Pink Impression. Most nurseries carry them in the fall - several colors, not just pink. Dutch Gardens also has them.
Meg
All of the Darwin tulips are supposed to be longer lived. This conversation came up on another forum. I will see if I can find it. But I know that, in addition to being short-lived, other causes for this include:not enough sun and wetter soil.
Dave
That must be true, Dave. The former owners "bulb garden" consisted of one lonely yellow tulip at the edge of the courtyard. It's in a garden without the irrigation system (due to roses) and that one tulip has increased to two tulips in 15 years.
Hmm...these are all very helpful suggestions. I think what I'll do is transplant them to containers, where I can put them in their ideal spot and give them their ideal conditions (food, light, water) regardless of who's around them. Then, if they flower in another year or so, bingo! If not, well, I tried.
YankeeCat--those squirrels are wreaking havoc! They might be the same ones who munched my hydrangea...I still haven't gotten any corn for them, but I should. And thanks for the tip on where to buy bulb food--I could stand to save $20, esp feeding tulips that may or may not return the effort!!
Next year I'll try Darwin and Pink Perfection, and only buy small quantities of the really fun ones (my husband loves tulips and can even tell them from other flowers, which is saying a lot for him ; ) !!).
If you feed the squirrels they'll keep coming back and they'll bring their family and friends with them. Sprinkle cayenne pepper around the area. They put their paws to their mouth and will NOT like the spice. It's protein for the birds so no worries there.
This message was edited May 2, 2006 11:32 AM
wait, cayenne pepper is protein for the birds? that's amazing. i'd have thought it would hurt them too!
pirl - My cats really like to watch the squirrels and since they are house cats - I figure the least I can do is give them some entertainment. I know that squirrels are "rats in better costumes" but I still think they are cute. (Yes, I am from California - that is why squirrels are cute - we don't have them there - they carry bubonic plague and are exterminated on sight).
I have at least a hundred tulips and they are on their third year now and a few are less than I planted (remember the squirrels?) but some - the species tulips in particular are multiplying. The Westpoints are getting shorter and so are the peony tulips - but they all seem to be doing well. I bought tulips from every source imaginable (love those catalogs) so hang in Meg_fw you may have tulips yet. I do remove all the dead tulip seed pods and fertilize them and I must admit that I prepared the bed by digging down 18" to 24" and taking every #$@%& rock out of the soil and adding lots of organic stuff to it including pounds of bone meal. Not a mean feat for a 20" long bed. Of course now I have a mountain of rocks to deal with . . .
Meg - it's true.
AYankeeCat - love those peony flowered tulips and the verdiflora's. As for your rocks why not build a wall for one of your gardens?
I love the peony and verdiflora tulips too but I find them to be the shortest lived.
Yankee, you're right. Species tulips are another great choice. I've been adding them the past 2-3 years and really like them. They may not be what Meg's husband thinks of a a "real" tulip though (irony noted)
I have used some of the rocks to build a retaining kind of thing for the one garden that I built from the chips of the Oak tree that I had taken down because it was too close to my garage. Now I need to move them and change the shape of the garden because I want to start planting fruit and nut trees (little shrub ones) to "replace" the oak - and feed the squirrels. But there are SO many rocks - because I have to dig every single one out - even the little ones. I sort them in piles by size and shape and sometimes even color and textures. (Ohmygod! I am crazy!) Then I pick the pile up and move it some where else on my tiny lot; sometimes resorting the rocks into different combinations of size and shape and color. At my last house in Fairfield, CT - I figured that I moved every rock at least three times! It's is good exercise - right? I tried putting rocks in with my trash - but that didn't work. I dumped rocks in the empty lot across the street for awhile - but that didn't work out too well either - jeez you would think those people owned that lot! (It is a city owned street easement.) I'm just not used to rocks in my garden. Coming from So. California - I never had to deal with rocks - just a lot of red clay and sand. Burying them in pathways seems to be the only answer - I just hope I don't have to dig them up and move the pathways . . .
Yard sale? Maybe a sign that says: free rocks?
pirl - Hadn't thought of that! Thanks for the chuckle - I needed it today.
Oh no! You really thought I was kidding? :-)
Smaller rocks really won't hurt your garden. Perhaps you need paper... scissors ...shoot!
My Dad, who is a Master Gardner in California, made me promise to leave in all rocks smaller than my fist. I just can't do it. I have tried and the best I can do is smaller than a marble. Baby steps.
A rain barrel I ordered on eBay arrived yesterday while I was at work. It is really big and bright blue. Guess I will have to get a trellis to hide it, or put it behind the garage to water the blackberries. Eventually I want to get rain barrels for all the downspouts so that I don't have to drag 50' of hose over my plants to get them a drink. (Not to mention diverting the water that might decide to visit my basement again.)
I can't take the rocks either. I unloaded a few pails (nothing in comparison to yours) and put them under one outdoor faucet.
I know what you mean about dragging around heavy hoses! We have outlets in five areas but by the afternoon those hoses seem to double or triple in weight.
The ones I love (my DH hates because they get tiny flaws from scraping over the brick and they cannot be repaired - that we know of) are those flat (fire like) hoses called Flexi-Hose. You can get 50' for about $20.00 on ebay. WELL worth it even if it's an annual expense.
I appreciate the forum on Tulips that grow only the leaves. I had healthy tulips last spring with most growing average size stems and bulbs, all had healthy big leaves. Some had very short stems and normal size bulb and flower, I figured that it was their first spring and they would be fine. This spring I got one normal tulip out of 50. The other 49 had big leaves, no stem and no bulb. I am going to dig a few up to see if the bulbs are normal or small - like Meg did. I believe I will move most to a sunnier spot.
My home is on a new developed street and the top soil they brought in to fill the gardens I doubt was of best quality. I added fertilizer, sheep and cow manuer, peat moss and top soil from a nursery - it seemed to be fine last spring, summer and fall. I have added more manure, peat moss, fertilizer and flower soil this year.
Thanks for the forum - helps me alot. Happy gardening.
Buy only Darwins and feed when they first emerge in springtime. No more tears.