Expert: Long Island Gardener - 5/26/2007

Question
Zip Code 01568.  My wife and I planted tulips and daffodils about 3 three years ago.  We planted them in groups.  About 4 bulbs, then another 6 feet away, we planted another 4 bulbs.  The first year we had tulips and daffodils.  Then last year some came up and some did not.  Especially the tulips.  The greenery leafs came up, but they never bloomed.  What causes this?  I was thinking I may have planted them too deep.  But the first year after planting, we got them.  I did dig them up yesterday.  I left them out in the sun to dry.  It was very warm, in the 90's.  I will take them in tomorrow.  What are my options?  Should I replant them in the fall?  How should I care for them until fall.  It looks like I have a lot more bulbs than when I started, but the tulips did not bloom.  Let me know what I should do.  Thanks.

Answer
ESPECIALLY the Tulips -- you hit the nail on the head there, Domenic.  Most of those Tulips -- I would even say All of those Tulips -- will never look the same after this year.  No matter what you do.

Many will have foliage, no flowers next year.

Many will have smaller flowers.

Some will have close-to-this-year's flower impact.  But Tulips bred for beauty DO NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES to bloom over and over again.

Surprising, hard to believe, but true.

It has nothing to do with your green thumb.  It's just the genetics of these things.  They begin to multiply and once that happens, they don't have the fuel to rebloom.

Which is a real pain the neck considering what you have to go through to get them in the ground every autumn.  This is very hard labor.

You express concern that you may have planted them 'too deep'.  Oddly, by planting them DEEP, you raised their chances of re-bloom.  They are just ever so less willing to build bulblets when you do that.  The extra bulbs you are counting, those are what your Tulips did with all their energy, instead of making flowers.  Some are not big enough to bloom, some are too weary to bloom.

Tell me, when you dug these up, had the foliage withered yet?  It seems a tad early to be doing that.  Tulip foliage is busy making next year's product, be it bulb or bloom; when you end that cycle prematurely, you compromise production.  If you keep them very cool and they were finished with the work, you have a better chance of more flowers next year.

Daffodils are a different story -- they SHOULD rebloom, they SHOULD multiply, and they SHOULD be dug up and stored if you can spend that kind of time and energy.

Agreed, the dying foliage is unsightly.  Squirrels don't care for Daffodils, but they can rot and they are a favorite target of the Narcissus Bulb Fly, which lays its eggs in the bulb and lets them hatch there and devour the inside.

Assuming you gave them time to build next year's flowers, and they were growing in full sun, you should have better luck with your Daffodils.

Thanks for writing.  Any more questions, I'm delighted to address them.