Expert: Long Island Gardener - 2/10/2007

Question
i'm new at the whole gardening thing...i am just curious on how to deadhead tulips.  do you have to cut the whole top off or what?  i just didn't want to harm my plant.  thanks!

Answer
Your plant? I have to guess here... this is in a pot? Or is there something growing in the ground and blooming now?

Short answer: Deadheading is something you do after a flower is finished blooming.  The idea is that you don't want the flower to bother making seeds. This takes a lot of energy. You want the plant to make leaves, roots, more flowers.  Once the flower is spent, which means it just is not so pretty anymore, then you cut off the dead flower - petals, and especially the parts of the plant that will make seeds. And this is very good for the plant.

In the case of Tulips, most people don't like the Morticia look, stalks reaching up in the middle of two leaves with no flower at the end.  Tulips go another 2 months or longer before their leaves are finished.  So we usually deadhead the flower and the whole stalk.  The stalk is green so it is making chlorophyll, but most people don't think about that. I do, but I am strange. Most people don't bother.

Thing is, Tulips often don't bloom again, or don't bloom at the same level as they did the previous year.   These are Perennials. They should return.  They often don't.  Often, no matter whether you have never seen a Tulip or if you have a PhD in Tulips.  This is just the way it is.  I can get technical but you would fall asleep.

Tell me where you are writing from.  We can get a little more detailed and more helpful if you can i.d. your location.  That way I'll know what to tell you.