Tulip
Tulips are planted later than every other bulb, and the reason is a disease: tulip fire, whose spores are knocked back by cold soil. November, even December, is the right time, and October planting is the commonest cause of a bad year.
Most garden tulips are effectively annuals in heavy soil — the bulb splits into offsets too small to flower. Darwin hybrids and the species tulips are the ones that genuinely come back, and in a pot, treating the rest as bedding and starting again is not defeat, it is how they are grown.
Care
Full sun.
Dislikes waterlogged summer soil; needs a dry dormant rest.
Free-draining soil; heavy clay increases the risk of bulb rot — improve with grit if needed.
Not applicable — deadhead spent flowers and leave foliage to die back naturally for around six weeks to recharge the bulb.
If you intend to keep the bulbs, feed with a high-potash fertiliser as the flowers fade and keep feeding while the leaves are still green — that is when next year's bulb is built. Bedding tulips treated as annuals need nothing at all.
Lift the bulbs once the foliage has died down and detach the small offsets from around the base of each one; grown on in a nursery row they reach flowering size in two or three years.
Month by month
Months change with the climate: in southern Italy tomatoes go out two months earlier than in England.
- AprilDeadhead as flowers fade, leaving foliage in place. how ›
- JuneLift bulbs once foliage has died back if the bed will be replanted (optional — many leave them in the ground).
- OctoberPlant bulbs this month — later planting reduces tulip fire disease risk.
Months based on climate: UK. Your choice stays on this device.
- AprilDeadhead as flowers fade, leaving foliage in place. how ›
- JuneLift bulbs once foliage has died back if the bed will be replanted (optional — many leave them in the ground).
- OctoberPlant bulbs this month — later planting reduces tulip fire disease risk.
Months based on climate: Northern Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- MarchDeadhead as flowers fade, leaving foliage in place. how ›
- JuneLift bulbs once foliage has died back if the bed will be replanted (optional — many leave them in the ground).
- OctoberPlant bulbs this month — later planting reduces tulip fire disease risk.
Months based on climate: Central Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- MarchDeadhead as flowers fade, leaving foliage in place. how ›
- JuneLift bulbs once foliage has died back if the bed will be replanted (optional — many leave them in the ground).
- NovemberPlant bulbs this month — later planting reduces tulip fire disease risk.
Months based on climate: Southern Italy and islands. Your choice stays on this device.
Common problems
How to spot it. Scorched, spotted leaves in wet springs.
What to do. Remove affected plants; avoid replanting tulips in the same spot for a few years.
How to spot it. Dug-up, eaten bulbs.
What to do. Protect with mesh at planting.
How to spot it. In waterlogged soil.
What to do. Improve drainage.
Popular varieties
Questions
Tulip: is it hardy?
H6: Hardy in the vast majority of UK gardens. It survives down to −20 °C.
Can it grow in a pot?
A classic, very well-suited container bulb.
Tulip: when do you prune it?
Not applicable — deadhead spent flowers and leave foliage to die back naturally for around six weeks to recharge the bulb.
Tulip: when does it flower?
In the climate of UK it flowers in March–May.
When do you feed it?
If you intend to keep the bulbs, feed with a high-potash fertiliser as the flowers fade and keep feeding while the leaves are still green — that is when next year's bulb is built. Bedding tulips treated as annuals need nothing at all. Feeding months, UK: April–May.