Learn when this is, and how to best set up your bulbs for beautiful blooms.
It’s a good idea to wait until nighttime temperatures remain in the 40F range for two weeks.
September is usually a suitable time inUSDA zones3, 4, and 5.
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Plan to plant bulbs during October if you live in zones 6 and 7.
Tulips bloom starting in mid-March in a season that runs until mid-May depending on tulip variety and temperature.
Early Blooming Tulips
Mid-Season Blooming Tulips
Late Blooming Tulips
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Quick Tips
Tulips grow best in climates with moist, cool-to-cold winters and warm, dry summers.
Here are a few tips for how to give them thebest care.
These flowers tend to look their best when planted in groups of around 10 bulbs.
Ideal locations are under deciduous trees and shrubs, and in rock gardens.
Another remedy is to plantalliumsaround the tulips to deter pests.
If all else fails, simply plant more bulbs than you need.
Do Tulip Bulbs Come Back Next Year?
The main bulbs form bulbets which continue to spread although many types will eventually peter out after several years.
Technically perennials, tulips aren’t necessarily naturally so and hybrids are usually single-season bloomers.
One exception is Giant Darwin Hybrid tulips.
Other types with strong staying power are Emperor, Greigi, and Kaufmanniana.
Let the plants die back naturally before raking away dead leaves and stems.
In this case, you should probably plant pre-chilled annual bulbs and dig and dispose of them following bloom.
North Carolina State Extension
The art of planting the bulb.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Planting bulbs.
