About Long Island Gardener Expertise Growing Tulips? Dahlias? Daffodils? Gladiolus? It doesn't get easier than bulbs and tubers. Once in a while, something goes wrong: The dreaded Narcissus Bulb Fly, which resembles a honeybee. Mosaic virus, which can ignite a field of tulips in a single season. Nematodes, lurking underground. Here on the North Shore of Long Island, the garden is full of surprises. If you live in the Northeast/Atlantic Coast, I can help you pick the right bulb for every season, indoors and out, and help you fertilize, bloom and harvest for home or work. How: I have degrees in related fields, but my best understanding is all learned from trial and error. For most of my 53 years I have been gardening somewhere. No matter what the problem, I've learned the best answers are always Organic -- Earth friendly, less expensive, healthier for people and pets, easier and cleaner than toxic liquids and powders that big chemical companies sell so smoothly.
Experience Besides degrees in related fields, and a few favorite horticultural societies, I work as a docent at our local botanical gardens -- but it's the years of work in the garden that's the real test.
Question I live in Hong Kong and would like to grow tulips in pots. I have a very sunny rooftop. I got some tulip bulbs (the early bloom type) in Canada in Oct. I've been keeping them in the veggie compartment of the fridge for almost 4 weeks. I will plant the bulbs in a porcelain pot around mid-late Dec. I already read your suggestion to other people about force flowering. But my question here is if I could keep the bulbs alive for more blooming. What will I need to do to perpetuate these bulbs under weather conditions in Hong Kong?
Thank you very much and your suggestion will be very appreciated.
Answer Sounds like gardening is in your blood, Wendy. There's a gene for that, I just know it.
Unfortunately, even the largest, greenest thumb will not get Tulips back every year. These plants are bred for beauty, for stem length, for timing, but not for deja vu.
The only way to push your luck on this is if you purchase a very limited Bulb selection of Tulips labelled, in catalogs, as 'Perennial Tulips'.
Most Tulips won't bloom more than 3 years, if that. It's just not in the cards. Or the DNA.
Post-bloom Sun and Phosphorus fertilizer, plus a Cool, Dry Summer will tilt the odds in your favor. But those are long odds, Wendy. Nothing to reflect on your skills, whatsoever. You have a better chance of being a winning Republican in the 2008 U.S. elections.
I don't know how long you're 'stationed' in Hong Kong. But friends I have there describe it as a delightfully tropical climate that supports all kinds of plant life that we cannot pull off back here. And you won't have to fuss with the fridge to get them to bloom.
And that's not the only hard part about this. Getting Tulips to re-bloom is just part of the work. Is your H.K. weather cool enough to keep the buds from blasting? Are you prepared to watch pots of flower-less green Tulips leaves, slowly turning to brown over MONTHS on the roof, taking up space, wearing out their welcome well into JUNE or JULY?
There's a lot of work involved in fooling Mother Nature. Tulips are beautiful, of course -- I would miss them too. But while you're staying busy with this crop of plants you acquired, I encourage you to take on new challenges, given the opportunity, at the same time. There's a LONG list of fragrant, exquisite tropicals you will find a breeze in your latitude. Here on Long Island, those fragrant tropicals are a full time job, and odds are they will never be as successful as the ones you grow with one arm tied behind your back in Hong Kong.
Good luck, and keep me posted. Thanks for writing.
