How to grow Tulip

Tulipa gesneriana · garden tulip, Didier's tulip, Tulipa

Spring bulb flower planted in autumn. The bulb needs 12–16 weeks of winter cold to flower and blooms in mid to late spring. Large-flowered hybrids usually flower well for only three or four years.

Quick facts

Type	Flower
Family	Liliaceae
Light	Full sun
Soil pH	6–7
Frost	tolerates light frost
Germination	150 days
Where it grows	Open ground

When to plant

Plant in autumn, about a month before your first autumn frost, so the roots grow before winter; it flowers or crops the next season.

Dates for your city are on the frost dates page.

Frost dates · When to plant

Care

Open ground

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Growth	every 7 days	—	balanced (NPK), at the start of the stage; potassium, 14 days into the stage
Flowering	every 7 days	—	—

Growing notes

Light

Full sun, though part sun is tolerated. Out of the midday sun the flowers last longer.

Soil

Fertile, well-drained soil that never waterlogs; pH 6.0–7.0. Bulbs rot in wet, poorly drained ground.

Care

Plant in autumn once the soil has cooled, up to a couple of weeks before the ground freezes, three times as deep as the bulb is tall. Feed when the shoots appear and water in dry weather while the leaves grow. Remove faded flowers but keep the leaves until they yellow, so the bulb refills. To keep hybrids, lift the bulbs when the leaves yellow, about six weeks after flowering, and store them dry in a warm, dark, airy place until autumn.

Sources

Figures checked against these sources.