Expert: Long Island Gardener - 4/3/2008

Question
I received a beautiful pot of tulips for Easter.  They have finished blooming.  We live in Arizona so growing them outside is probably unrealistic.  Can I oversummer the bulbs in the refrigerator and then pot them in the fall to bloom again indoors in the spring?  Or what else would you suggest?  Thanks very much for any help you can give.

Answer
What is it about gardeners that makes us want to attempt the impossible?

Why do people in California and Florida and Arizona have this need to grow Tulips?  Growing Orchids, Jasmine, Oranges is a breeze in those climates.  Grow Tulips and you're not just swimming upstream, you're holding a bag of rocks in each hand on the way.

Me, I was in San Diego in February 1982 - trapped at the Marriott hotel, in a room overlooking the yacht club, while the rest of the country fought major national snowstorm.  I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven.   With those beautiful, warm, Pacific breezes and perfect weather, it did not seem possible that I would have to pick up the phone and tell my editor that I would not be able to make it back to New York for several days.  Airports and trains and buses were shut down.  I was in Heaven.

And so it stuns me that someone living in Paradise -- the promised land of Retirement, the artist colonies, the perfect weather -- would have any desire to reach for plants that are just not made to grow in that kind of weather.

Tulip DNA evolved in high altitude weather, in Sandy Soil, surrounded by Snow, atop mountains where temps never climb higher than 60 degrees F.  The Fiskars website describes Tulip-forcing basics:

http://www.fiskars.com/US/Garden/Dig+In!/Gardening+Topics/Gardening+Topic+Detail...

'Tulips need at least 12 to 16 weeks to bloom if started in September or October, but only 8 to 10 weeks if started in December.'  Simulate Winter, they say, 'by placing the potted bulbs at 32 degrees F to 50 degrees F in a dark area such as an unheated garage or basement.  A refrigerator crisper works well.'  Only problem here is that the crisper is VERY damp (to keep vegetables crisp).  That much moisture is begging for an attack of Bulb rot.  The only way to avoid it is to make sure you have good air circulation down there, which is hard to do in a crisper inside a refrigerator.

Remember too that the fridge is good only as long as there are no fruits or vegetables in the fruits-and-vegetables drawer:  'Never put them next to fruits such as apples that emit Ethylene, a gas that hinders flowering," they warn.  Ethylene gas comes in small but fatal doses from ripening produce, as well as from dieing flowers and other unexpected places.  Watch out.

Arizona being a big, diverse state, you should also know the following:  'In warm areas, you can even leave them outdoors as long as the temperature doesn't go below freezing or above 50 degrees F.'

Once the big chill is over, you'll need a Sunny and cool, but unfrozen, spot to grow and bloom your potted Tulips.  We have an unheated basement with no light whatsoever.  Forcing pots of Bulbs involves bring the pots outside on unseasonably warm mid-Winter mornings and taking advantage of as much Sun as possible, then stuffing them back in the unheated basement or refrigerator at dusk to keep them from freezing.

That said, I can tell you that every tedious minute of care was worth it.  There is absolutely nothing like a collection of clay pots sitting on the front steps with Hyacinths, Daffodils and Tulips you have forced yourself all Winter long.  A single pot as a gift is unforgettably beautiful.  A few steps of pots stop traffic.  Your mail carrier will love delivering your mail.  Years later, people will be admiring them from way back when.  This is a great idea.

L.I.G.