Tulips Flowers Bulbs Holland bulbs flowers yellow tulips red tulips.
Tulips Flowers Bulbs Holland bulbs flowers yellow tulips red tulips.

Ideally bulbs should be planted as soon as you receive them in the fall. So be prepared - have your soil loosened to the proper depth, ready for planting!

Soil Preparation: Provide the bulbs with well-drained, loose, porous soil. The addition of compost, sawdust, peat moss, and other humus-rich substances can improve heavy clay soils. Addition of the same materials helps excessively sandy soils to retain moisture. Be sure to work these materials to depths of 12 to 18 inches so that the new root systems have a chance to thrive. Have bulb fertilizer on hand for planting day to mix into the layer of soil on which you place the bulbs.

How to Plant Bulbs in Your Garden:

• Prepare the Bed. Dig out the soil to the proper planting depth. A shovel is quicker and easier than a trowel.
• Condition the Soil. Loosen the soil an additional 4 to 6 inches and add bulb fertilizer. If your soil is sandy, mix it with peat moss or leaf compost. For clay-based soil, add coarse sand or peat moss. This helps improve drainage.
• Plant the Bulbs. Place the bulbs firmly in the soil, pointed end up. Plant bulbs in clusters of 10 or more to produce the best effect. Tulips, Daffodils, Iris and Hyacinth bulbs should be planted about 8 inches deep and about 4 to 6 inches apart, while Crocus, Muscari and other Specialty Bulbs like Snowdrops should be planted about 5 inches deep and about 3 inches apart.
• Cover with Soil and Mulch. Cover the bulbs with soil, water well, and then add a thin layer of mulch. Colder climates may require thicker mulch.

Where to Plant. Easy-to-plant spring-flowering bulbs can be planted almost anywhere in well-drained soil, full sun to partial shade. Warm climates are more challenging and may require pre-cooling of the bulbs each fall prior to planting. Use in unlimited combinations as spectacular borders and groupings. We package our bulbs in what we consider to be the minimum grouping quantities so that you attain a dramatic effect.

TULIP Bulb Care: In the spring, at the end of the season, be sure to top the blooms off of your tulips before they start to fall. We recommend that you dig your tulip bulbs each year, after the foliage has died down completely. They may be dug and stored away from direct heat and cold, with adequate ventilation, and re-planted with a good fertilizer in the fall, along with any new bulbs you plant.

PLANTING IN CONTAINERS: Take special care with bulbs planted in containers like barrels or pots:

• Use a container that is at least 24 inches across for best results.
• Containers need adequate drainage - several holes in the bottom and a layer of pea gravel is helpful.
• Use fresh soil - not soil that has been used and re-used for several seasons.
• Water bulbs when planted and keep moist throughout the winter.
• Cover with a layer of mulch (2 inches) in areas where freezing occurs.
• Bring inside if weather gets extremely cold, and continue to water while the container is inside.

Note: Bulbs planted in containers can freeze much easier than bulbs planted in the ground.

Tulips  sends a planting guide with your order describing special considerations that are pertinent for particular varieties. Please feel free to call or email us with your planting questions (866-4TULIPS / info@tulips ).

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Tulips are classified as a perennial flower. This means that a tulip should be expected to return and bloom year after year. But we all know that this is not always the case. If tulips are perennials, then why don't they behave as perennials?

The answer is really quite simple. Tulips are native to Eastern Turkey and the foothills of the Himalayas. They will perennialize best in conditions that match the cold winters and hot, dry summers of their native region. In addition, species and botanical tulips perennialize best. Hybridizing sometimes diminishes a tulip's ability to perennialize, other times it enhances this ability.

Growers have been able to succeed in places like Holland and the Skagit Valley by digging their tulips every year and giving them temperature treatments in the summer months that manipulate the tulips and somewhat replicate what they would be receiving in their native region. These treatments have been developed over hundreds of years and they are still being modified today as new varieties are being developed. Using this knowledge helps growers to expand their stocks and grow big bulbs, while the home gardener may have less success.

Understanding Tulips: A further explanation of what happens to tulips during the growing cycle would help us all to understand tulips better. To begin with, tulips are planted in the fall and they immediately start to root. They root slowly in the winter months and are receiving cold temperatures that stimulate them to sprout in early spring. (In warmer climates, we artificially give them these cold temperature treatments in our coolers.) As the temperatures get warmer, the tulips start to grow rapidly and eventually they bloom. At this time, the bulb that was planted is totally used up and actually starts to disintegrate. New bulblets form and start to grow - this period between blooming and the plant dying is referred to as the GRAND PERIOD OF GROWTH. This is when the energy flow reverses and starts to go downward to build new bulbs instead of upward to form flowers.

When deciding which varieties to raise, growers must evaluate many qualities of each cultivar. Some of these are color, height, stem strength, plant structure, whether it forces, disease resistance, skin quality, how it grows, etc. Growing qualities are very important to the grower and every variety has different qualities. Some varieties make many new bulblets for every bulb planted. Others make very few or even only one bulblet for every bulb planted. Varieties that make many bulblets are not desirable because they usually don't produce many saleable bulbs. This is because the energy being received from the plant is divided into too many bulbs. Others that make few bulblets are not desirable either because they may yield plenty of saleable bulbs and not leave enough planting stock to keep the stock going. The grower has to pick varieties that meet all the other desirable qualities and at the same time have the growing qualities of producing big bulbs and enough planting stock to continue the stock.

Experience has taught us that the best varieties for home gardeners are ones that make fewer bulblets. These bulbs tend to perennialize better because the energy from each plant goes to fewer bulblets and these then stand a better chance of growing big and returning year after year. This is especially true in gardens where growing conditions may not be as ideal as in a grower's field. Species and botanical tulips also perennialize well because they are very close to native strains and have high disease resistance. They are usually smaller and less spectacular, however.

Other tips are:

• Always plant tulips in a well-drained and airy soil. Wet soil promotes fungus and disease and can even rot bulbs, especially tulip bulbs. Wet soil can also cause bulbs to drown out which is actually due to suffocation. Suffocation can also be caused by tight soils that don't hold much oxygen. Adding compost and coarse sand to a soil will make it more airy. We recommend raised beds in wetter areas and suggest that you have at least a 10-inch depth of loose airy soil. Proper soil drainage is very important when planting bulbs.
• Fertilize and water bulbs when planting. Though too much water is not good, sufficient water at the time of planting is necessary to get them growing and to ensure the start of a strong root system.
• Plant tulips about 6 to 8 inches deep (see our planting guide), measuring from the base of the bulb. If you add mulch after planting, include this as part of your overall planting depth.
• After the tulips have passed their peak, top the old blooms and let the plants die down normally. This will help the new bulblets grow bigger.
• Fertilizing in the fall with special bulb fertilizer is always a good idea, especially if you haven't dug your bulbs and are trying to get them to perennialize.

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First, walk around the flower to see how it looks with light coming from different directions. Watch carefully when the light (usually, the sun) is behind the flower, coming toward the camera. Often, the petals will glow with beautiful iridescence. This is called "backlighting" because the light is coming from the back of the subject (in this case, the flower). Backlighting is often the best type of lighting for translucent subjects like petals.

However, don't despair if there is no sun. Gray and overcast days provide great opportunities for flower photography. The lighting is more even and there are no shadows. Rain turns colors more intense. You can even carry a spray bottle to create rain droplets on the sunniest of days. Even night photography is an option. You'll be surprised at how attractive a flower photo can be when illuminated by flash.

Second, to make a flower picture come alive, wait until something adds life to the flower - for example, a bee alights, or a spider crawls into it, or a hummingbird pays a visit. It takes patience, but it pays off if, for example, after you wait a few minutes, a butterfly lands on your flower. Shoot! The picture you get will be great.

Three, try interesting angles and backgrounds. Consider getting down low on the ground or shooting with the wide angle setting on your lens. Don't despair if the background behind the flower is unattractive. Try replacing it with a colored piece of paper or fabric. There are lots of different ways you can experiment when photographing flowers!

You'll find articles on both Basic and Advanced Flower Photography along with some great pictures at New York Institute of Photography. You'll learn how to handle wind, determine exposure or chose the right camera angles so that you can create those extraordinary flower photos.