The Joy and Frustration of Planting Tulips in Oak Park, which I think I should make an annual post, since new gardeners in our area don’t know this (and how should they?)
– tulips are marginally hardy in our zone; most (esp. the fancy hybrids, such as parrot tulips) should be treated as annuals, rather than perennials. If you plant a dozen tulips in Oak Park, they’ll typically reduce in future years, to perhaps 7 the next year, 3 the year after, and then disappear entirely
– you CAN lift them at the end of the season, putting them in winter storage and replanting the following year — that’s a lot of work, though, and most people don’t opt for that — here’s an article talking about it: https://food52.com/blog/27011-how-to-store-tulips
– to maximize their likelihood of return, deadhead as they finish blooming, but leave the leaves to yellow and wither; that’s how the bulb gathers energy for next year; typically, you’d plant perennials nearby to camouflage yellowing leaves with their emerging growth
– be sure to plant at the appropriate depth for tulips (rough calculation, 2-3 times the size of the bulb, or about 6-8 inches deep for mid-size tulips) to maximize likelihood of them coming up; tulips are fussy!
– there are some tulips that are reasonably hardy for us! Your best bets there are the species tulips (which are very short and adorable — it’s a different effect, but charming), or the single early or single late tulips, such as the Darwin hybrids line.
– you may also get lucky if your microclimate is perfectly suited to them — hard to predict, though!
– my own strategy is to pick a color scheme, and then add more complementary tulips in that color scheme each year. As a result, my tulip display changes a little from year to year, which I find fun. But if you want the same tulips year after year, then just plant a few more in that spot every fall.
– and of course, plant lots of daffodils, which are reliably hardy in our zone, and will even spread over time — my favorites are the white Thalia daffodils, a smidge smaller than most yellow daffs; they’ve at least doubled in numbers since I first planted them; when they start looking crowded, I lift them, separate into smaller bunches, and replant.
– finally, deer love tulips; they leave the daffodils alone. So if you’re in a deer chomping area, there’s another vote in favor of planting lots of daffodils!
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Any other tips?
(Photos of my Oak Park tulips from previous years.)
