If your potted tulip bulbs keep rotting over winter, you’re not alone! I struggled with this for years but now I’ve found what finally worked to keep my tulip bulbs alive so I can actually see flowers in the spring.
I garden on a rooftop deck in a cold climate, so overwintering tulips in containers can be tricky. I’ll walk you through what didn’t work, what finally did, and what I do with the tulips after they’re done blooming.
How I Transplant Tulips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlxQek1aNmc
Copper Image Tulips: dutchgrown.com/products/tulip-copper-image
Tulip Daytona: https://www.dutchgrown.com/products/tulip-daytona
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#containergardening #tulips #gardeningtips #urbangardening #springbulbs #balconygarden #zone6gardening
21 Comments
This is so helpful!
I love this! I want to try putting them in the fridge when they arrive in the fall and plant them indoors in January for winter flowers. Thank you so much for this encouraging video!
I have also been trying to grow spring bulbs in large containers in Zone 5, but have had no success so far. A couple of years ago, I tried forcing them at temperatures of around 4 to 7°C and found that some tulip varieties perform better than others, with early flowering types being the most reliable. Overall, hyacinths have been the most successful for me.
I had a similar experience as you. My husband bought some allium bulbs in the fall & never planted them. I put them in the fridge over the winter & planted them outdoors when the ground was workable. They grew and are now ready to bloom! I will try this method again, planting tulips in pots, so the rabbits don’t eat them.
This method makes me think of my days in Columbia, Maryland nearly 30 years ago. I had a job at a landscape company, and my boss had stored bulbs in our shop, it must have had conditions similar to this garage. He sent some of us to a customer's place to plant them in the spring… I remember him bragging and how pleased he was when all those bulbs had bloomed.
Wow, amazing discovery.
Old fart here. I THINK I missed something. You’re going to let the bulbs naturally die back in the containers, dig them up, relocate them to an in ground spot then dig them up in fall, store the bulbs in the garage then replant them in March back into the containers ?🤔🌷💚🙃
In z9b, you either have to buy pre-chilled bulbs or chill them yourself if you want tulips otherwise they cannot achieve the required vernalization. When I grew tulips in z4b Montana, I had great success naturalizing the Darwin Hybrid tulips. If perennializing your tulips for some level of repeat bloom, you do have to pay attention to the group of tulip you are purchasing. I know that group 4, 8, 13, and 15 are the most reliable for returning. I think why they liked Montana so much is that tulips enjoy ample moisture in early spring and bloom cycle, but prefer dry/hot summers under ground — and south central Montana is basically that, lol.
My bulbs rotted this winter 🥺and that was going to be the last time I tried them in containers. I can’t plant them in ground unless their planted in wire baskets, voles,and squirrels 😡so if I want some early blooming flowers on my deck I have to TRY containers, I’m going to TRY your method for one last shot at having some flowers on my deck 🤞🏻I’m REALLY hoping this works. 🌷💚🙃
Every year I spend a couple of hundred on bulbs. And about 60-70% emerge and bloom. It's worth it, but maybe I should try the California method for some of my problem species.
I love happy accidents in the garden and am glad you found a way that works. Those tulips were worth it! Makes me want to try the refrigerator in my Zone 9 garden just for that bit of gloriousness next spring 😊.
Same thing with me!!! I had a trip in November and when I got back we had an abnormally cold early December so I never planted my bulbs. Left in the cold garage and planted them in early March. And the are blooming. All except the ones the squirrels 🐿️ dug up are blooming beautifully. Crazy!
Some bulb companies like Colorblends will cold stratify them for you and ship at the end of the year in December.
Gardening can be trial and error. Thanks for the reminder❤
Thanks so much, from a fellow Chicagoan! I was so excited about the allium and tulip bulbs I planted in pots on my 3rd floor balcony last fall…only to be disappointed when they all rotted. 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
I'm trying this method next year.
Thanks again!
Love this! I also accidentally forgot to plant my tulips last fall and I planted them in march in ground and pretty much all of them flower. I left mine in the garage as well! Zone 6b Indianapolis. ❤
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I'm so excited!!! Tulips have me stomped too!! 😂
Ugh. NONE of the tulips I planted in November survived. The tulips in smaller pots I stored in the garage the year before survived but were eaten by rabbits. So I had the brilliant idea to put it into a huge/taller planter I cannot move at all. No rabbits eating anything out of that pot but the tulips died. 🙁
I’m glad I’m not the only one whose player tulips didn’t survive the winter in/around Chicago. Next year I’ll try to store the bulbs in the garage to overwinter and plant in the spring when the soil in the planters thaw.
You invested a lot of money in your tulips 🤔🌷🌷🌷💐🌷🌷🌷💐 Good that you found a way to overwinter them.
Once you placed them in the pots, how long did it take them to grow and bloom?