What should you do with tulips after they’ve bloomed?

[Alm0nd1]

Do you cut them back, dig them up?

If you want to leave them for next year wait until they die back and pull the leaves off when they come away easily without pulling up the bulb. I did this least year and they have all come up again (not quite flowered yet as I’m in northern Scotland!)

Deadhead them, but leave the leaves on.

are they in a pot or in the ground? In the ground feed them and let the leaves die back naturally. In a pot do the same but put the pot somewhere shady and make sure it doesn’t dry out.

Don’t have massively high expectations - tulips are notorious for not surviving/not doing as well the following year.

If you plant from pot into garden break them up and plant them spaced out, they will look very silly if they are in a clump and do come up next year (ie do as I say, not as I did…)

I got Spring Green and Negrita which are supposed to flower again. Some sites are saying lift after flowering.😩

You're meant to lift them and store them in a suspended net bag in a cool dry place. Otherwise they may rot. Then replant in November.

But who has time to do that.

I chuck mine and buy new ones each year. I've experimented with keeping them and planting again in pots but they are never as big and some don't come up at all.

I think Monty on Gardeners World usually says they are not as good second time around.

I’ve done both - left in the ground or pots and pulled up and stored and replanted

It is a PITA leaving them in pots as I want to use the pots for other things and never remember where they are. Lifting them and reporting in Nov has had average results with plants coming back much smaller in general. Leaving them in the ground works OK - especially if they are in very sheltered spots near the house. (We are SE, south facing so warm).

Not had luck with spring green, but negrita came back really well for at least 5 years for me. Deadheaded and nothing else. If they are in well drained soil they should be fine. Ballerina also comes back really well.

Not me. Can’t quite believe it would work. Might do the pit ones as nothing to lose but where would you keep them?

Not sure all my Spring Green bloomed. What on earths do you do with the ones that didn’t?

I do have Negrita back for 2nd year in pots again. Unfortunately the heads are so heavy that they just flop over and have had to support them.

This year I bought some called Banjul Luka, they are absolutely gorgeous, bright red and yellow stripey single heads. Will definitely look for those next year. I also bought Daydream, a yellow single that changes colour to a apricotty orange, they too looked fabulous in large pot with narcissi Minnow.

I never saw my spring green - only one came up! And no sign of it the next year. I have tried storing the bulbs but I am far too forgetful. So I plant some in the ground and some in pots, so I know I'll get some flowers. I plant the bulbs from the pots into the ground after flowering, then put new bulbs into the pots again in the autumn. But this is the method I've arrived at because I am so disorganized.

Also I only deadhead I don't cut the leaves. Yes they look scruffy but there is so much growing in the garden at that time that they quickly disappear.

Yes only 1 of my Spring Greens bloomed.

We put two varieties in last year, can’t remember the names. Had loads. We left the leaves and left them in the ground. I would say about 1 in 10 has come back this year. I think we’ll just have to put fresh bulbs in every year as we’ll never get round to the lifting business.

I believe the shorter, more wild versions come back better, but they are also a bit less spectacular.

I’d never planted bulbs before. Planted my tulip bulbs in Autumn 2020 and they looked great in spring 2021. I deadheaded them as and when each one started to drop petals. I left the leaves to draw in as much rain as possible and only pulled them when they came away easily - it looked a bit messy for a week or two, but didn’t bother me much.

I then kind of forgot I’d even planted them. So was a nice surprise when they started to poke back through again - and they’ve looked great again this year. I’ve got new plans for the round beds, so I’ll be experimenting with moving those bulbs later this year. Fingers crossed!