Tulips are annual or perennial. Tulips: care and cultivation of flowers. Change the location of the flower bed for bulbous plants

16.10.2023

7-10 days after the daffodils begin to bloom, which is usually at the end of April, one of the most beautiful perennial flowers - the tulip - blooms. You don't want to take your eyes off these flowers. Of particular interest are fringed varieties, of which a considerable number are now presented in markets and nurseries. They bloom late and abundantly.

In the landscape and flower beds

Perennial tulips look good in group plantings, along paths and as individual plants.

Flowers are used for decorative purposes, for cutting and forcing.

There are a huge number of varieties and types of tulips, with different colors, shapes and ripening periods.

The soil for tulips is prepared in advance. Add 3–5 buckets of humus, 50 g of superphosphate, 40 g of potassium salt per 1 m2 and dig up 2-3 times before planting.

In the fall, in October, when the ground temperature drops to 8-12 C, the bulbs are planted in the ground to a depth of 15-20 cm, the tap holes are 10 cm. Deep planting is required, since at a shallower depth the bulbs will still go deeper to the detriment of growth. It is advisable to cover the bottom of the planting furrow with sand 2-3 cm thick, plant the bulbs, and sprinkle them with sand and soil on top. In the sand, the bulbs suffer less, grow evenly and are easier to dig up.

In early spring, when seedlings appear, it is advisable to water the tulips abundantly.

Cutting and storing tulips in the refrigerator

When cutting perennial flowers, you must leave at least two bottom leaves. Tulip flowers, cut at the beginning of the coloring of the buds, can be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature of 1-3 C for a month (in the vegetable compartment), wrapped in paper and a damp cloth. To give the flowers a natural color, without unrolling the paper, place them in water for 5-6 hours.

Digging up tulip bulbs

In one place without digging, perennial tulips can grow for 3-5 years.

To obtain marketable bulbs and flowers, they should be dug annually. The bulbs are dug up after the leaves begin to turn yellow - late May - early June. Drying is carried out under a canopy. After 10-15 days, the onions are cleaned of roots and old bottoms, sorted, and the children are separated.

To grow large bulbs for the next year, you should take the largest baby, located closer to the middle of the root, and discard the rest.

Storing tulip bulbs

Store the bulbs in boxes with a lattice bottom in a ventilated room, protected from the sun at a temperature of 20-25 C until planting in the ground (October).

To obtain flowers by March 1-8, the bulbs are stored in June, July, August at a temperature of + 23C, in September - October at +17C and after planting (mid-October) at a temperature below 9C.

Planting bulbs

It is more convenient to plant in vegetable boxes (60x30x12), but for yourself it is better to plant in pots of 50 and 5-6 pieces, respectively. The soil must be structural so that it does not “float” when watering.

The boxes are installed in a dark place in the garden on an old film, 1 bucket of earth is poured into each box, onions are planted (weighing at least 30 g each) and filled with half a bucket of earth, watered abundantly.

If cold weather without snow is expected, the boxes are covered on top with leaves, paper, and film.

In early February, boxes with tulips are brought into a heated room with a temperature of 10-12 C and darkened. As soon as the sprouts reach a height of 8-10 cm, the shading is removed and the temperature rises to 16-18 C.

If flowering is delayed, in early March the temperature should be increased to 20-22 C.

And when they bloom early, perennial tulips are cut at the bud coloring stage and stored at a temperature of 1-3 C (as described above).

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Tulips are a luxurious decoration for the spring garden. The flowerbed with them is multi-colored and very elegant. Having learned in detail about tulips, planting and care in open ground, you don’t have to worry that the plants won’t bloom.

Growing tulips in open ground is quite simple and feasible even for a novice gardener. In order for plants to retain their varietal qualities from year to year, they must be dug up annually, dried and replanted. Without this, the flowers will quickly become crushed, lose their varietal differences, or even die.

Selecting bulbs for planting

The result of the gardener’s efforts depends on how correctly the bulbs are chosen. It is better to purchase planting material in mid-summer or at the end, since during this period the plants are at rest and do not experience stress during planting. In autumn, at the peak of bulb flower planting, it can be more difficult to purchase high-quality planting material. If you buy bulbs in the spring, they will be old and worn out from winter storage. In the spring, things are sold that were not sold in the fall.

When purchasing, you should choose those bulbs that have thin husks of a pleasant golden color. The presence of cracks in the skin is normal.

The bulb itself must be whole. If there is damage on it, then you should refuse the purchase, since in this case it will not be possible to obtain a quality plant.

Choose the medium size of the onion you buy, and when you take it in your hand, you should feel its weight. When examining the bottom of good planting material, small root tubercles will be visible. If the bottom is soft, or the roots have already sprouted, you should not buy the bulb.

Time and timing of planting tulips

The homeland of the plant is Central Asia. Under natural conditions, tulips bloom intensely at the beginning of spring, and after that they dry out and go into a dormant state. In gardens, their life cycle follows the same principle. Therefore, it is important to immediately determine the correct planting date, since an error in it will lead to the death of the flower.

in autumn

Autumn is the optimal time for planting tulips. Experienced gardeners plant bulbs only in September, and never postpone planting until summer or spring. It is advisable to choose a dry day for work. Details on how to plant tulips in the fall are described in the next section.

If you plant the bulbs too early, they will not only form roots before winter, but will also produce above-ground parts. As a result, the tulips will freeze and may die. Even if the plant survives after this, it will definitely not bloom.

Excessively late planting results in the bulbs not having time to take root. For this reason, the plant overwinters incorrectly and in the spring, after spending its last strength on rooting, it no longer blooms. Also, tulips that are not rooted before frost can easily rot or freeze.

If for some reason you have to plant plants at the end of October or even in November, when they do not have time to take root, the bed should be covered with spruce branches or mulched with a thick layer of sawdust. Fallen leaves are also suitable for shelter.

in spring

Spring is not the right time to plant tulips. The bulbs will be able to take root and even bloom in mid-summer, but their life cycle will be seriously disrupted. Because of this, they will have to be dug up quite late, and, therefore, the date of autumn planting will shift to late autumn.

It is best if you bought tulips in the spring to plant them in a container very early - even before the snow melts. After the onset of persistent heat, the plants are planted without removing them from the container, as this will make it easier to dig them up in the future.

How to plant tulips correctly?

When planting tulips, correct agricultural technology is of great importance, which allows you to provide the plants with the most comfortable conditions. Violations of it will lead to poor quality flowering and sometimes even rotting of the bulbs. Planting tulips requires compliance with certain rules.

Soil requirements, site selection

A site for tulips is selected in the fall after the leaves have fallen from the trees. It should be very well lit. Since the tulips will bloom before the trees open their leaves, it is not scary if the flowerbed is in the shade in the summer. For plants, light is important only until the end of flowering. It is better to place the flower bed on a level place where melt water does not accumulate.

Tulips need neutral or slightly acidic, loose soil. The fertile layer needs to be thick. High water permeability and air permeability are also of great importance for the plant. You cannot plant tulips in areas where bulbous or nightshade crops previously grew. This is due to the accumulation of pathogens in the soil, which can spread to flowers.

If the soil is heavy, it will require frequent loosening. Without this, it is impossible to grow fully blooming tulips.

Planting in open ground

You can plant only healthy bulbs that do not have areas of rotting and are not affected by diseases. Before planting, they need to be soaked for 30 minutes in a slightly pink solution of manganese. After this, the bulbs are dried for an hour and planted.

It is more convenient to plant bulbs in furrows rather than holes, as this allows you to plant the maximum number of tulips. The distance between the furrows should be at least 25 cm so that it is convenient to care for the flowers, and the bulbs can develop with enough soil and nutrients. The distance in rows between plants should be 10 cm.

At what depth should I plant?

If the soil is light, the planting of the bulbs is deeper than with heavy soil. In the first case, the bulbs are planted to 3 of their heights, and in the second - to 2 of their heights. On average this is 15 cm and 10 cm respectively. You need to know that rooted bulbs will go even deeper.

Caring for tulips

In addition to proper planting, tulips also require proper care, which will allow them to gain maximum strength for especially beautiful flowering. Despite all their unpretentiousness, varietal plants will not feel good if they are left to their own devices.

Watering and fertilizing

Plant feeding is carried out 3 times in the spring. Without this, the bulbs will not receive enough nutrients and will leave weakened during the dormant period. In addition, a lack of fertilizing will lead to the fact that high-quality buds and large flowers will not form.

First feeding. It is carried out immediately after the tulips emerge from the ground. Nitrogen fertilizers are used for it.
Second feeding. It is carried out when laying buds. Complex mineral compositions with a high content of potassium and phosphorus are used for it.
Third feeding necessary after tulips bloom. Potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are applied.

Tulips react very positively to wood ash, which can be sprinkled on the soil before watering at any time.

Watering during the flowering period is very important for tulips. Water is poured at the root.

Usually 2-3 waterings per week are enough. After the flowers have withered, soil moisture is stopped so that the bulbs go into a dormant state.

Loosening

Storage conditions

The dug up bulbs are dried in the shade under a canopy or indoors for a month. After this, they are placed in paper bags and removed until autumn planting. The temperature at the storage location should be between +15 and +18 degrees. If spoiling bulbs are found, they should be discarded. They will not sprout in the spring, but they will infect the planting area.

Protection from diseases and pests

Whatever variety of tulips is chosen, it may be susceptible to diseases and pest attacks. If the plant is affected by fungal diseases, then to save the flower it is necessary to transplant it to a new place and spill it with a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture.

Of the pests, the main danger to tulips is:

bulb mite;
slugs;
snails;
mole crickets;
rodents.

To get rid of mice, mousetraps and poisoned baits are used. For pests, special preparations are used that destroy insects and mollusks that attacked the flower.

Growing tulips is a fascinating activity, which, due to the variety of varieties, often becomes a real hobby for the gardener.

Of all the variety of flowers on earth, I love tulips the most. Refined beauty, brightness and tenderness at the same time, unpretentiousness and a huge selection of varieties and varieties make these flowers a real treasure for flower growers.

My collection began with a terry, low-growing variety unknown to me; its color was bright yellow with scarlet longitudinal stripes along the petals. And what was surprising for me, still a complete beginner, was the smell. These tulips smelled like honey, and this was a kind of miracle for me.

The harbingers of warmth and summer simply won my heart, followed by fringed, Darwinian hybrids, triumph and lily flowers, the list can be endless. Let's talk about the rules for caring for these beauties.

Growing tulips is not at all difficult, the main thing is to know the basic rules for growing these flowers, without which their bulbs will become small, lose their varietal differences, and then stop blooming altogether. In some cases, you may lose your pets completely.

The process of growing tulips begins with the selection of planting material.

How to choose the right tulip bulbs

The result of growing tulips largely depends on the correct choice of bulbs. It is recommended to purchase tulip planting material in mid-late summer, i.e. while the flower is in the dormant phase. Accordingly, planting will not be unnecessary stress for the plant.

Moreover, in the fall, at the height of planting work, it is difficult to find high-quality bulb material. Buying in the spring is even worse - after all, at this time, goods that have been stored since last year, old and weakened by winter storage, are sold.

Buy bulbs with thin, pleasant golden scales. There may be small cracks on it - there is nothing wrong with that, but the integrity of the bulb itself should not be compromised.

The presence of damage on planting material is a good reason for refusing to purchase, because you cannot get a healthy, fully developing plant from it.

A high-quality onion should not be very large and not very small in size, but its weight should be felt in the hand. Take a good look at it: healthy material always has small root bumps on the bottom.

A softened bottom or sprouted roots also indicate that the purchase will be in vain.

When to start planting tulips

In their homeland in Central Asia, tulips bloom in a continuous carpet at the very beginning of spring, and then gradually dry out and go into hibernation. They develop in our gardens exactly according to the same principle. Therefore, it is so important to correctly determine the correct planting time, because mistakes made can cost the flower its life.

Autumn planting

Autumn is the ideal time to plant tulips. Experienced gardeners choose a dry, clear September day for this purpose.

Sowing too early will cause the bulbs to form a root system and even form an above-ground green part.

This will mean that they, not being ready for winter, will freeze and most likely die. But even if they remain alive, you definitely shouldn’t expect flowers from them.

Late sowing will also not be beneficial, as it will not give the plants a chance to take root. This will affect the wintering; as a result, in the spring the tulips will spend all their energy on the rooting process and, of course, will not bloom. In addition, not having time to take root before frost, the bulbs may begin to rot and freeze.

Therefore, if, due to current circumstances, you have to plant tulips at the end of October, and you probably know that they will not have time to take root, cover the planting with spruce branches, a thick layer of sawdust, fallen leaves or straw.

Spring planting

In fact, spring is not at all a desirable time for planting tulips. Of course, the bulbs will take root well, in the middle of summer you will even be able to admire their flowering, but their life cycle will be hopelessly disrupted.

Because of this, they will have to be dug up much later than expected, and this in turn will significantly shift the date of autumn planting. As a result, the broken cycle will repeat again.

If you do purchase tulip bulbs early in the spring, you will have to plant the bulbs before the snow melts in boxes or containers.

The grown tulip seedlings are moved to the site after consistently warm weather has established itself outside. It is necessary to plant very carefully, preferably together with a container. In the summer, this will make it easier for you to dig up faded plants.

Proper planting of tulips

When planting them, correct agricultural technology is of great importance, providing the flowers with the most favorable conditions. Any violations will at a minimum have a negative impact on flowering, and at a maximum will lead to the loss of plants.

What should the soil be like?

It is best to choose a bed for tulips with the onset of autumn, after the leaves have fallen. The planting area needs an open, illuminated area. But at the same time, given that tulips are an early flowering crop, the place may be shaded at the height of summer.

These plants only need lighting until flowering is complete. It is extremely important to place the flowerbed on a flat place that is not flooded by melt water.

The soil for tulips must have a neutral or slightly acidic reaction, and must be loose with an impressive fertile layer. The permeability of the soil to moisture and oxygen is also important for this bulbous crop. If your site does not have light soil, then you will have to regularly loosen it.

You should not plant tulips in the area after other bulbous plants, as well as nightshades, since these crops suffer from the same diseases and pests.

How to plant tulips

Only healthy, high-quality planting material without the slightest hint of signs of rotting or disease is suitable for planting. Before planting, soak the bulbs in a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour. Then dry them for one hour and you can start planting.

It is much more convenient to plant the bulbs in furrows rather than in separate holes. There should be at least 25 cm between the grooves, so the bulbs will be provided with a sufficient amount of nutrition and moisture, and it will be much more convenient for you to care for them. There should be approximately 10 cm between plants in the same row.

Bulbs are planted slightly deeper in light soil than in heavier and denser soil. In the first case, the planting depth should be three times the height of the bulb, and in the second - two, approximately 15 and 10 cm. Keep in mind that during the rooting process the bulbs sink even deeper.

How to properly care for tulips

Proper planting does not guarantee luxurious tulip blooms. Correct regular care is necessary to allow the bulbs to gain maximum strength for full growth and development.

Despite the fact that this crop is quite unpretentious, varietal specimens without proper care will simply be crushed and die.

Proper watering is very important for these plants. During the time of growth and flowering, tulips are moistened generously three times a week. Water should be poured strictly at the root.

After the inflorescences wilt, watering is completely stopped, at which time the bulbs are preparing to go into hibernation.

Tulips are fed three times during the spring. Without additional nutrition, the bulbs will go into hibernation exhausted. Nutrient deficiency will also negatively affect the formation of buds and inflorescences later.

The first time fertilizing is applied immediately after the first shoots emerge; nitrogen-containing fertilizers are used for this;
The second feeding is carried out at the time of bud formation; now complexes with a high content of phosphorus and potassium are used;
The third time the tulips are watered with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers immediately after flowering.

Tulips respond well to adding the most common wood ash to the soil; this is best done before watering, regardless of the phase of plant development.

After each watering, preferably after rain, the flowers are carefully loosened while weeds are removed. Mulching the soil gives good results; in this case, you can loosen the soil much less often.

What to do with faded tulips

Stopping flowering does not mean that tulips no longer need to be cared for. First of all, taking care of them is to prevent the formation of seeds. To do this, completely remove the flower stalks of wilted plants, but not the foliage. On the contrary, the more leaves the tulips have left, the more strength the bulbs will accumulate.

When the green mass of the plant has completely turned yellow, it is time to remove the bulbs from the soil. Under no circumstances try to pull them out of the ground by the stem; it can easily break off and the bulb will be much more difficult to find.

In addition, tulip bulbs have the property of gradually going deeper into the ground, so at the time of digging they will be much deeper than at the time of planting.

The planting material removed from the soil is placed in a shady place for drying for a month. Then it is laid out in paper bags and stored until September. The room where the tulips will be stored should not be warmer or colder than 15-18 degrees.

Sometimes inspect the bulbs; if you see them starting to deteriorate, then throw them away without hesitation - they still won’t sprout and will contaminate the soil.

Tulips are delicate spring flowers that delight the eye after boring, gray winter days. To grow them in your yard, you need to know the rules for planting and caring for this crop.

The flower that conquered the world

Central Asia is considered its homeland. It owes its name to the Turkic word “turban” and was named so because of the similarity of the shape of the bud with this headdress. Researchers find the first mention of the flower in Old Persian fables dating back to the 11th-12th centuries. Its selection began in Turkey. People were so reverent about the flower that they even held holidays in its honor. These flowers came to Europe only at the end of the 16th century. The most optimal climate and soil conditions for them turned out to be Holland. At one time, tulips in this country were a kind of currency: a document confirming the purchase of a house for three bulbs of this flower has been preserved to this day. Europe was swept by tulip mania: houses were decorated with flowers, jewelry, dishes, forged and wooden products were made in the shape of a bud. Tulips were brought to Russia in the 17th century, and the Caucasus turned out to be the most suitable region for cultivation. Today, breeders around the world are working to develop new varieties, adapting them to the climate conditions of different countries. Even in Siberia these flowers are already grown.

Autumn planting in open ground

Flower growers often argue whether to plant tulips in the fall or should it be done in the spring? Just look at the life cycle of wild flowers and everything will fall into place. Anyone who was in Central Asia in early spring certainly admired the mountain slopes decorated with wild tulips. They grow at fairly low temperatures, when the sun's rays are just beginning to warm the earth. Heat is detrimental to this crop, so for most of the year, including winter, tulip bulbs are in cool soil, preparing for the next season. Breeding varieties are no different from their ancestors. Planting in open ground in spring is unusual for the plant, and even with the most careful care, the flower blooms very late.

In autumn, for regions with a temperate climate, the best period for planting is October. The average daily soil temperature should be +7-+10 degrees. You can start planting later, in November, but it is recommended to do this only in a garden where the flower beds are covered with shrubs and trees. Caring for a new flower garden in this case involves careful mulching with foliage or spruce branches.

Why is autumn the most favorable time? The life cycle of this plant looks like this: first it takes root and goes dormant for the winter. In the spring, a peduncle emerges, the plant gains strength, new bulbs are formed during the growing season, and the old ones die off after flowering. Summer is the period of formation of the future peduncle and flower primordia. It turns out that this crop simply needs to be in the ground during winter dormancy.

Spring planting

This method of cultivation is used mainly in the northern regions. Unlike tulips planted in the ground in the fall, the spring flower will appear a little later and will be less strong, but this will not prevent the plant from laying new bulbs and flower stalks to please the grower next year. Care will also differ somewhat.

If there are no frosts on the soil in April, then you can safely plant flower beds as soon as the snow melts. In this case, the bulbs are planted at the end of March. In regions with a harsher climate, when planting in spring, it is recommended to first germinate them in a container and only then transfer them to the ground. Some flower growers decorate their plot throughout the summer: 14-21 days are given for rooting, and another 14 for the first shoots to appear. Botanical tulips look especially beautiful in the design of alpine slides.

Attention! In order for the plant to complete its full life cycle and the bulb to prepare for the next season, planting is carried out no later than July 1.

Spring planting material is stored in a special way. Since this crop requires cold to ripen the flower bud, it is better to store the bulbs in a cool, dark place. This could be the vegetable compartment in the refrigerator or the cellar. The method of storage in a container with soil is often used. It is important to remember that for flowering in the first year, a cold environment must be maintained for 4-5 months, otherwise instead of beautiful flowers in the first year you can only get green leaves.

Planting garden tulips step by step

The soil temperature should be +7-+10 degrees. With earlier planting there is a risk of developing fungal infection with fusarium, and late planting will not allow the root system to develop.
It is better to lay out the flowerbed on a flat, sunny area, protected from the wind. You need to think about your neighbors in advance: tulips will not get along next to moisture-loving flowers. For planting under trees in the country, only strong varieties are suitable, mainly botanical ones, which are able to withstand cold and weeds. In the garden, you can arrange a flower bed next to perennials, which will produce greenery and flowers by the beginning of summer.
The soil should be quite loose (loamy or sandy), but clay soil will have to be diluted with peat or compost. In terms of pH level, it should be neutral or slightly acidic soil. If this indicator exceeds 7.0-7.5 pH, then you need to resort to liming.
If the area is waterlogged (high groundwater content), then it is necessary to use drainage and make high flower beds.
A month before planting, the soil is dug up, weeds are removed and it is allowed to settle. At the same time, fertilizers are added. Attention! Do not use fresh manure, as this may cause the bulbs to rot.
Before planting, the bulbs are pickled with a manganese solution (0.5%) for 20 minutes.
The grooves are made 5-15 cm deep depending on the size of the bulbs. So that the plant can develop freely, the distance between the furrows is 15-25 cm. The soil must be moist.
If fertilizer has not been applied previously, then dry fertilizer is poured into the furrows and covered with a layer of sand (2-3 cm).

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Tulips are planted bottom down, leaving a distance of 8-10 cm between them to allow the formation of children.
When planting bush tulips, the bulbs are spaced more tightly. This is due to the fact that by its nature this crop is monoflowered, so the buds are prepared for flowering one by one. Group planting will produce a more abundant bush.
Next, cover the furrows with the removed soil. Do not compact. If necessary, you can mulch the flowerbed with peat or fallen leaves (3-5 cm layer). This will retain moisture, protect against frost and prevent the earth from cracking.

Rules of care

Although the ancestors of these flowers grow wild, a lot of work will have to be done to preserve the species.

Watering. The tulip does not like waterlogging, and it needs water to form roots. The root system of this plant is small enough to receive moisture from the depths of the soil, so this crop needs regular surface watering, especially during budding, flowering and for 2 weeks after it. In this case, moisture should not get on the leaves so as not to cause them to burn. Bush (multi-flowered) varieties especially need water.
Triple feeding. When seedlings appear, phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium fertilizers are applied (30x30x20 g per bucket of water). The second time in the proportion of 30x20x20 g per bucket before flowering. The third feeding is carried out only with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers (30×20 g), when the tulip has faded.
One of the rules of care is to remove the seed capsule after flowering. This way the plant will concentrate all its forces on the development of the bulb.

Attention! The method of propagation by seeds is used only by breeders to develop new varieties.

Digging is carried out annually. If you neglect this rule of care, the flowers may degenerate. Every year, at least one new one will form in place of one old planted bulb, which will ultimately lead to their crowding. As soon as the top leaves become completely yellow and the two lower ones begin to turn yellow, the bulb is taken out of the ground and stored in a cool place.
Sorting of planting material is carried out after digging. Remove the scales and check the condition of the bulbs at the time of various lesions. For storage, lattice boxes are used, which cannot be covered, otherwise the ethylene released can kill the children.

Caring for tulips involves regularly changing the area. This usually happens once every 3-4 years, and for Dutch varieties every year.
It is necessary to carefully monitor the health of the flower. This species is most often affected by the variegation virus. Visually, this manifests itself in the appearance of spots and stripes on the leaves and petals. An infected plant cannot be cured. This species also affects mushrooms. The reason is a violation of the agrotechnical characteristics of cultivation. To avoid rot, you can carry out prevention by watering the flowerbed with fungicides.
The main pests of the flower are rodents, mole crickets, snails and onion root mites. To combat them, special drugs are used. There are also preventive measures: after digging, the bulbs are disinfected with karbofos and hot water.

Tulip fever, which began in Holland half a millennium ago and swept the whole world, continues today. There is not a single florist or gardener who would not dream of expanding his collection of tulip varieties and who would not be familiar with this special bulbous star. Tulips do not need any introduction, but this does not reduce the nuances in their cultivation, as well as the options for using them in garden design.

Growing tulips. © John Markowski

A simple portrait of a difficult tulip

Representing the Liliaceae family, tulips are, without exaggeration, the most popular and widespread bulbs. They can no less be called the most diverse, because the number of varieties and varieties of tulips is measured not in hundreds, but in tens of thousands, and the choice of shape, structure, and colors of flowers increases from year to year. And although the classification of tulips is not easy to understand, it is impossible to confuse tulips with other bulbous plants.

Representatives of the Tulip genus are bulbous perennials with a modified stem. All plant organs are laid in a pear-shaped or ovoid bulb. Generations of bulbs change annually: during the growing season, young bulbs are laid, and faded ones die off. The primordia of peduncles and flowers develop in the bulbs during the summer dormant period. In autumn, the bulbs take root, the process of laying a peduncle is completed, and after wintering active growth and flowering occurs, and the cycle repeats again.

The development of tulips occurs so rapidly that one cannot help but be surprised by the shortened, but amazingly active growing season of this bulbous plant. In tulips, not only leaves and peduncles develop rapidly, but also the bulb, roots, and daughter bulbs. On average, in regions with harsh winters, the entire growing season of tulips covers only 3 months from the formation of leaves to flowering and the formation of replacement bulbs. During a period of such active development, conditions and care are very important for tulips, which should compensate for any vagaries of the weather.

Tulip bulbs consist of a bottom and from one to six storage scales, covered with protective integumentary scales. The bulbs produce underground stolons, leaves and strong, succulent flower stalks. Each bulb hides the buds embedded in it, from which new bulbs are formed - the central one (replacement bulb), daughter bulbs (from buds hidden in the axils of the storage scales) and children developing in the axils of the covering scales.

The height of tulip flower stalks ranges from less than 30 cm to more than half a meter. The leaves are fleshy, clasping the stem, elongated-oval, entire-edged, quite rigid, becoming smaller from the bottom to the topmost leaf. There are up to 5 leaves on one stem, although tulips are often limited to just two leaves.

Tulips most often produce single flowers, in the structure of which five concentric circles can be distinguished, obeying three-ray or triangular symmetry. They are easily identified by the six-membered perianth: the flower always consists of six petals or the number of lobes equal to six in simple tulips. The distinctive features of tulips are the six stamens, also arranged in two circles, and the three-lobed stigma of the pistil. The flowers themselves of this bulbous plant are amazingly diverse - from simple to double, goblet-shaped, lily-flowered, cup-shaped, oval and even star-shaped - to parrot and fancy forms.

The colors are no less varied. Tulips come in single-color and multi-color, pastel and bright, exotic and classic. White, pink, red, purple, yellow, orange are not the only options. The color range of tulips includes blue, indigo, shades of green, and natural colors closest to black.

The flowering period of tulips starts with the first early varieties in April and ends only in June. Despite the extremely limited flowering period of each individual plant, the selection of tulip varieties allows you to extend the parade of this bulbous star for almost 3 months. After flowering, dense fruit boxes ripen.

The variety of tulips is simply unimaginable. More than 100 natural species, the crossing of which has generated more than 17 thousand registered varieties, which in turn are divided into classes, groups, subclasses, categories... Most tulips are bred from botanical plant species from the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. Traditionally, the market is dominated by Dutch tulips, but dozens of new varieties appear in many garden centers around the world almost every year.

The only correct criterion for choosing tulips is to buy plants in accordance with your tastes and preferences, choosing primarily according to aesthetic characteristics. After all, tulips really allow everyone to choose plants to their liking, making the collection as individual and bright as possible.

Growing tulips. © dutchgrown

Using tulips in garden design

Tulips are spring-blooming stars that have long become indispensable for decorating any garden. They are collected, used as small seasonal accents, or turned into the star of the spring garden. And they are grown only in groups, since single plants can easily get lost.

Tulips are placed in islands, spots, and strictly shaped “pockets.” If plants are planted separately, they are placed so that later it is easy to fill the area with annual stars, most often with the strict contours of a tulip area. In flower beds and in complex compositions, planting in strict shapes or lines is inferior in popularity to placing these bulbous bulbs in irregular groups - from small “spots” of 5-7 bulbs to larger islands.

Tulips in the garden can be used:

in flower beds and front flower beds;
in discounts;
in spring spots and islands on the lawn, under bushes and trees;
in borders and ribbon flower beds;
in beds of annuals;
in rock gardens and rockeries;
in potted gardens, containers, flower beds both in the garden and on balconies, terraces, and in indoor culture.

Tulips are a valuable cut crop. They are brought out especially for the holidays and early spring, and are used for complex arrangements and simple bouquets.

Selection of partners for tulips

The status of one of the most common plants leaves its mark on the choice of partners: these bulbous plants are luxurious blooming spring accents, small but stunningly beautiful stars that should always remain in the foreground. For tulips, there is no need to select partners to reveal their beauty; they go well with garden plants that can grow in similar conditions to them - from shrubs and trees to herbaceous perennials, other bulbous and tuberous plants, annuals and seasonal stars. If tulips are introduced into flower beds, then they are combined with plants that can fill the voids and then hide their fading greenery.

The best partners for tulips from among the herbaceous perennials are considered to be hostas, phlox, astilbe, garden geraniums, daylilies, cuffs, tenacious, arabis, and aubrieta. Among spring-flowering plants, tulips are most often combined with daffodils, forget-me-nots, violets, muscari and primroses, but tulips with hyacinths, anemones, and hellebores highlight each other’s beauty just as well.

Species and varietal tulips are plants that differ in the degree of decorativeness, size, variability, flower colors, and in their hardiness and unpretentiousness. With rare exceptions, species tulips are plants that can be “planted and forgotten.” Their agricultural technology is much simpler and deserves separate consideration. Varietal tulips are less persistent, they reveal the beauty of flowering most fully when dug up annually, and are vulnerable to diseases and pests. Growing varietal tulips is not such a difficult task. But there are many important nuances in plant care that you should never forget about.

Conditions necessary for tulips

Bulbous favorites can only be called undemanding plants conditionally: tulips bloom and grow only in favorable conditions; both lighting and soil characteristics are important for them.

Tulips are light-loving crops that are planted in sunny places or in diffusely bright light. The later a tulip variety blooms, the better it tolerates light shading, but for varietal tulips a sunny location is still more preferable. Tulips are not afraid of the proximity of large shrubs or trees, if the leaves of the latter bloom late and during flowering the bulbs will not suffer from strong shading.

Only high-quality, deeply worked garden soils are suitable for tulips. This bulbous plant is grown in sandy loam and loam, loose, well-drained, light and nutritious soils. The reaction of the soil for tulips is very important: this bulb does not tolerate an acidic environment, it is planted only in neutral or slightly alkaline soils. Before planting, the soil is adjusted to optimal texture and composition. Tulips do not tolerate fresh organic matter.

Areas for growing tulips should be flat or with a slight slope, warm, and well heated. It is better to protect plants not only from the risk of stagnant water, but also from drafts or winds.

When choosing a place to grow tulips, it is worth considering that when grown for five years in a row in the same place, the risks of plant infection by pests and diseases increase. Tulips are not planted after daffodils, lilies and other bulbous plants, which are often affected by the same viruses and diseases.

Planting tulips

It is better to prepare for planting tulips in advance. Any organic fertilizers, except compost and humus, should be added to the soil only a few years before planting, preferably under the previous crop. Pre-planting soil improvement comes down to several procedures:

deep digging (at least 30 cm, with sampling of weed roots);
correction of the composition of sandy and clayey soils;
adding humus or compost (2 buckets per square meter), wood ash (1 cup per square meter) and mineral fertilizers.

When improving the soil, a standard (40-60 g) portion of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers is added to it. can be poured into the bottom of planting holes or mixed with soil. It is better to apply nitrogen fertilizers immediately before planting. If mineral fertilizers have not been added to the soil in advance, then before planting, complete mineral fertilizers are used in a proportion of 100 g per square meter of soil.

The preparation of the planting site is carried out at least a month before planting the tulips. If there is an increased risk of water stagnation in the area or the groundwater is high, then a high layer of drainage must be laid under the entire bed.

Tulips are planted from the third ten days of August to the first ten days of October. Traditionally, September is called the “tulip” month, but if the weather is favorable, the planting time for tulips can be extended. For the middle zone, you can focus on the temperature: tulips are planted when the soil temperature drops to 10 degrees Celsius at a depth of 10 cm. Late planting dates are determined so that the bulbs have 20-30 days left before stable frosts for their high-quality rooting.

Before planting in the soil, all bulbs must be carefully re-inspected. Any deviations in appearance, signs of damage or decay serve as the basis for culling. Particular attention should be paid to traces of viral lesions and bulb mites.

It is advisable to plant the bulbs sorted by size separately, without mixing them with each other. Large and small bulbs are planted together only if they are not planned to be dug up annually.

Before planting, bulbs are also treated with fungicide solutions (the classic version is a solution of potassium permanganate with a concentration of 0.5%). Etching is carried out for half an hour or an hour. The bulbs are planted without drying.

Tulips are planted depending on how large the group will be and what the role of tulips in flower beds is. If tulips are planted in a small spot or island, then planting can be done in a large general shallow planting hole. When planting over a large area, planting is carried out in trenches. The depth of holes or trenches for planting tulips is about 20 cm.

The distance between the bulbs when planting tulips depends on their size and on whether they plan to dig up the plants annually. If tulips are constantly planted and dug up, then the plants can be placed compactly to achieve a decorative effect or at an optimal density of 10-15 cm. When planting with less frequent digging, the minimum distance between large bulbs is about 20 cm. Children are planted at a distance of 5- 15 cm. The optimal planting density is 50 large and up to 100 small tulip bulbs per square meter of planting.

If the tulip bulbs are the same size, then planting is carried out in one step. If large and small bulbs are planted on one site, then at the beginning they install (for planting) larger bulbs, lightly cover them with soil, and then lay out smaller bulbs between them. There can be 2 or 3 such “floors” when planting tulips.

Tulip bulbs are always placed strictly horizontally, bottom down. The planting depth ranges from 10 to 15 cm, but it is better to always use the universal rule and leave a distance between the bottom of the bulb and the soil surface of 3 times the height of the bulb on light and loose soils and 2 times the height of the bulb itself for heavy and dense soils. This guideline will allow you to find the optimal depth individually for each tulip. The maximum depth for tulips is limited to 20 cm. Small bulbs can be scattered, large and medium ones are always installed individually. When planting tulips, you need to act carefully and minimize the pressure on your bulb: pressing, applying force, especially after dressing in fungicide solutions, leads to injuries to the root primordia and even the bottom of the bulb. The tulips are carefully placed, the planting holes are effortlessly filled with soil and compacted by watering rather than compacting.

After planting, tulips are prepared for winter in the same way as plants that were not dug out of the soil, according to general rules.

Tulips are planted in containers and various containers at the same time as in the soil. Plants are planted in autumn in a high-quality, loose, nutritious substrate at an optimal depth, most often in tiers with smaller bulbous crops. Drainage is required. Bulbs in containers are stored in a cool, dark room or carefully covered in the garden. The containers are exposed to light and heat only after the first shoots appear.

Tulip moisture requirements and watering

Like all bulbs, tulips do not tolerate dampness and waterlogging. But it’s difficult to call them drought-resistant crops. During the active period of development and ripening of the bulb, tulips need stable, light soil moisture, because their extremely rapid development and structural features of the root system require a large supply of moisture and truly regular watering.

In the spring, before budding begins, the plant is watered only in dry weather. Systemic watering for tulips begins only from the budding stage. The classic frequency for a tulip is considered to be 1 abundant watering per week (from 10 to 40 liters of water per square meter of planting), but you should always focus on the condition of the soil at the depth of the roots. Watering is completed not immediately after flowering, but after two weeks, so that the plants do not experience problems with access to moisture during the formation of the replacement bulb.

When watering tulips, you should be careful not to soak the leaves of the plant and water between the rows. Water tulips early in the morning or evening according to standard rules, not with cold water.

Feeding for tulips

It is impossible to grow varietal tulips without fertilizing. In order to admire the luxurious flowers that fully reveal the beauty of each variety, it is necessary to create conditions in which the plants will not lack nutrients. But at the same time, tulips do not like excess fertilizers or accumulation of salts in the soil. Systematic but moderate procedures help to find the “golden mean” in feeding these bulbous plants.

Tulips prefer easily digestible fertilizers dissolved in water. It is possible to scatter mineral fertilizers over the soil, but only in combination with abundant watering and eliminating the risk of any fertilizer particles getting on the leaves, which must be dry, so you need to work very carefully).

Feeding for tulips is applied several times per season:

In early spring

The first fertilizing for tulips is carried out as early as possible, applying fertilizers in the snow or immediately after it melts. For early spring feeding, use a half-reduced portion of complete mineral fertilizers (15-30 g for each square meter of planting). Instead of universal fertilizers, you can use special mixtures for bulbs or tulips, a mixture of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers in a ratio of 2:2:1 in an amount of 40-45 g.

At the budding stage

The second fertilizer for tulips is applied at the stage of formation of the flower stem and bud, supporting their normal development. For this feeding, you can use only phosphorus-potassium fertilizers (25-35 g) or a mixture of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers with a different ratio - 1: 2: 2.

After flowering

This feeding is carried out to support the development of the daughter bulb and the optimal ripening of the bulbs for the winter. It is advisable to fertilize exactly a week after the plants have finished flowering, but it can also be applied at the peak or end of flowering. For the third fertilizing, only phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are used in the amount of 30-35 g per square meter of soil.

For small tulips and baby bulbs during growing, it is better to limit yourself to just two feedings - in the spring and at the budding stage.

Tulips prefer ammonium nitrate, double and potassium nitrate, complex preparations for bulbous plants containing not only macro-, but also microelements (boron and zinc are especially important for tulips).

Tulips, like many other bulbous plants, themselves signal about improper feeding and nutrient requirements. All three macronutrients are equally important for these bulbs. Therefore, it is impossible to reduce or exclude nitrogen to obtain better flowering in these bulbs. With a lack of nitrogen, tulips become smaller, become narrower and droop, leaf plates lose their elasticity, flower stalks turn red, and the process of bulb replacement is disrupted. If there is a lack of potassium or phosphorus, tulips also signal this with their leaves, along the edges of which a bluish color appears, flowering and the root system suffer. If you take timely measures and carry out additional fertilizing, you can prevent these problems in plant development and prevent the lack of certain nutrients from also affecting flowering and reproduction.

Trimmings on tulips

Tulips develop rapidly, but with the end of flowering they also quickly lose their decorative effect. Fading yellowing foliage will not decorate any composition, even in a natural style. But, like all bulbous plants, the leaves of tulips cannot be trimmed or removed until they die on their own, because otherwise the process of storing nutrients and ripening of the bulbs will be disrupted.

In growing varietal tulips, limiting fruiting plays a very important role. The formation of a seed capsule in tulips most often leads to the fact that a full-fledged replacement bulb is not formed; the plant “breaks up” into a nest of very small bulbs that can fully bloom only after a few years. To prevent tulips from becoming smaller, varieties should not be allowed to bear fruit, removing faded flowers in a timely manner after the petals begin to wither.

Trimming tulip flowers is not as simple as it seems:

Cutting for bouquets

It is carried out early in the morning, in a state of tightly closed buds, cutting the stem at an angle. For bouquets, it is preferable to cut off buds that have just begun to color. Store tulips in cool and partial shade; cut sections are renewed under water before placing the plants in water.

Cutting fading flowers

It is better to carry it out immediately after the petals begin to wither and without waiting for complete wilting. Unlike cutting for bouquets, it is better not to cut withered flowers with a sharp knife, but to carefully tear them off with your hands.

Decapitation

Removing buds and preventing flowering from tulips allows you to grow small bulbs or propagate rare varieties more effectively, stimulating the growth of roots and daughter bulbs. Flowers cannot be removed too early: decapitation is carried out a few days after the bud opens.

When cutting flower stalks, leaves should not be removed. At least two leaves must remain on the stem for the bulbs to fully ripen and form a flower bud.

Additional care for tulips

Important components of tulip care include the following procedures:

Loosening the soil

Starting from the first loosening procedures after the snow melts and the appearance of the first shoots to the procedures after each heavy watering or rain, regular loosening allows you to maintain an optimal environment for tulips and maintain water and breathability of the soil. For tulips, the formation of a soil crust should not be allowed, but the loosening itself must be carried out carefully, trying not to work in close proximity to the bulb.

Weeding tulips

The structural features of tulips require constant weed control. After all, they do not create such a quantity of leaves that would suppress weeds or hide empty soil between plants. Weeds need to be weeded frequently, destroying them at a young age, combining weeding with loosening. For large plantings, you can use special herbicides, but it is better to limit yourself to ordinary mechanical weeding.

Monitoring the development of tulips

Tulips need attention, and it does not always have to be in standard procedures. These bulbs need to be monitored, noticing the first signs of developmental disorders, health problems or uncomfortable conditions. Regular inspection of leaves, flowers, and peduncles will prevent any troubles at an early stage.

The most important procedure in monitoring tulip plantings is considered to be the spring one. After the plants begin to actively develop, they need to be monitored. Typically, the first assessment is made as soon as the soil has warmed and the first shoots have appeared, noting signs of stunted growth and removing plants that do not germinate. At the slightest sign of plant damage by diseases, such specimens are immediately destroyed and removed not only along with the roots, but also along with a fairly large lump of earth. After removing diseased tulips, treat the soil with a fungicide, at least a solution of simple potassium permanganate, to prevent the spread of diseases.

Inspections continue throughout the active growing season and flowering. Specimens affected by viruses and diseases are carefully removed, trying not to damage neighboring plants. A particularly thorough assessment is always carried out after flowering. But if you collect tulips and carefully control their varietal identity, then varietal cleaning should be carried out at the height of flowering, noting questionable specimens and impurities, in order to then separate the plants and restore varietal purity.

Any parts of tulips dug up due to suspected infection, as well as dry parts of plants, are not sent to compost, but destroyed.

Digging up tulips and keeping them out of soil

Any varietal tulips allow you to get “guaranteed” luxurious flowering only with annual digging. Varieties with unusual colors and flower shapes are especially capricious. Older varieties of tulips, like plants with “regular” flowers, can be grown not with annual, but with slightly more rare digging. But still, it is not advisable to dig up tulips less than once every 2-4 years. If you do not plan to dig up tulips in the summer, then feeding and planting depth are of particular importance for them.

Tulips are dug up when their leaves begin to turn yellow, but the tulips have not yet completely disappeared. Usually the simplest guidelines for digging are:

elasticity of the stem (it becomes soft and wraps around the finger);
The color of the bulbs themselves (scales) becomes light brown).

But it is quite possible to focus on the beginning of yellowing of the foliage. Early digging is dangerous, because the bulbs are not mature enough and will be stored, bloom, and reproduce worse. Late digging is complicated by the fact that the search for bulbs will turn into a lottery: small bulbs in the nests will “scatter” or deepen. The traditional dates for digging are the third ten days of June and the first ten days of July.

Tulips are carefully dug up, especially those plants whose flowers have been crushed or specimens that have not produced flower stalks at all, which can be considered a signal of either being “pulled” into the ground or being crushed. It is advisable to dig tulips with a large supply of soil in depth to eliminate the risk of damage to even the smallest bulbs. Excavation with analysis of groups and varieties (at least dividing into early, middle and late tulips) will simplify the process of sorting them.

The dug up tulips are scattered into boxes or containers in one or two layers to dry in the shade in a ventilated, cool place. After 1-2 days, they are carefully freed from the soil and cleaned of remnants of roots, old leaves, scales, and unbroken nests are separated. Before sending for storage, it is advisable to pickle the tulips in a fungicide solution in the same way as before planting.

Sorting tulips is a mandatory procedure when growing varieties. Tulips must be grouped not only by variety name, color palette and other flowering characteristics, but also by bulb size. Typically, there are six types of tulips according to the diameter of the bulb: extra size bulbs (from 4 cm), first type (3.5-4 cm), second type (3-3.5 cm), third type (2.5-3. 0 cm), children of the first category (from 1.5 to 2.5 cm) and children of the second category (up to 1.5 cm). But you can use a simplified system of large (from 2.5 cm) and small (less than 2.5 cm) bulbs. If the collection is large, it is better to make your own template for measuring the diameter of the bulbs.

Store tulips in boxes or ventilated drawers in a cool, dark room with good ventilation. It is believed that temperature is almost unimportant for tulips, but in fact, controlling storage temperature allows you to get much better flowering and ripening. Tulips should be stored for a month at an air temperature of 23-25 degrees, then for several weeks, in August, the temperature is lowered to 20 degrees, and before planting in September, the bulbs are kept cool at about 16 degrees Celsius.

During the entire period of storage outside the soil, the bulbs should be regularly inspected and any suspicious or diseased specimens should be discarded.

Wintering tulips

Tulips belong to the frost-resistant bulb family. They do not need protection for the winter, but only if there is a sufficient level of snow. To protect against temperature changes, unstable conditions, and snowless periods, it is better to mulch the plantings.

It is better to use compost, peat, sawdust, straw or humus as mulch for tulips. The optimal shelter height is from 5-8 to 10-15 cm. A mulch layer is created only after stable night frosts have established and the soil begins to freeze.

Removal of mulch in the spring is carried out only after the snow has melted and if leaves or straw were used (organic matter is left on the bed and incorporated into the soil when loosened).

Pests and diseases of tulips

Tulips are the most popular, but far from the hardiest garden bulbs. And for varietal plants, diseases are considered the main cause of bulb loss and plant death. True, it is worth considering that almost always diseases are the result of incorrect selection of conditions or care that does not correspond to the characteristics of the plant, including insufficient vigilance. If you follow the rules of planting and storage, water and fertilize on time, and inspect the bulbs and plants, then the risk of these problems will be minimal.

Very often, tulips suffer from fusarium (it manifests itself in yellowing and drying of leaves and peduncles, browning and drying of bulbs, a weak grayish coating), gray rot (usually on heavy soils, in wet weather it covers the above-ground parts of tulips like a fire), rhizoctonia disease and rhizoctonia (orange-brown spots and stripes).
Also found on tulips:

penicillosis (scales turn yellow, buds and flower stalks rot);
bacteriosis (bulbs rot and turn brown);
variegation (spots and stripes on the leaves, giving the plant originality, but leading to a slowdown in metabolism, delayed development, and rapid yellowing of the greenery);
August disease or necrotic spot (sinking spots on bulbs, brown cracking dry streaks on leaves);
root rot (almost invisible or, if severely spread, leads to dwarfism and loss of decorativeness);
botrytium rot (dull flowers, soft and dark bulbs) and other types of rot.

If the timing of digging and forcing plants is not met, other problems can be observed - drooping peduncles, blind buds, calcareous diseases, gum deposition, etc.

When tulips are affected by viruses and fungal diseases, the fight is carried out with highly specialized or systemic fungicides, repeated treatment and dressing of the bulbs. But still, the most effective method of control remains the destruction of infected specimens with preventive treatments of other plants.

Pests for tulips are far from uncommon. This plant can be affected not only by root pests - click beetles, mole crickets, onion mites, greenhouse aphids, onion hoverflies, wireworms, purple jays, they love tulips and slugs with snails. It is easy to determine damage from soil pests: the leaves on the plant turn yellow and dry out. Fighting insects is quite difficult. Cutting out damaged parts of the bulb, treating with insecticides, and isolating plants from the rest of the collection can save the plants. But it is usually easier and less risky to destroy damaged bulbs and replace them with new ones.

Tulip propagation

Vegetative methods are the main ones for propagating all tulips. The simplest option is to separate the daughter bulbs and plant them as independent plants. Daughter bulbs are formed in tulips every year, at the base of the scales. When transplanting, the nests are divided and all plants are used as independent ones.

The seed method is used only for plant selection and breeding new varieties, mainly for species of wild tulips; private gardeners use it very rarely. Tulip seedlings bloom only 4, or even 6-7 years after sowing. For the first few years, plants are grown in containers until at least a small bulb is formed, suitable for classical planting in the ground.