Expert: Long Island Gardener - 3/31/2007

Question
we had some indoor bulbs, they were beautiful but now they are finished blooming. Is there anyway to trick the bulb so it will come up again in my garden?

Answer
This is, unfortunately, not the way Mother Nature works.

Tulips bloom one to a customer in the spring.

With many other spring bulbs, if you are patient, you can let the bulb grow outside in full sun, and wait 2 months while the foliage dies down.  Then you can plant it -- depending on your climate -- and see if it cooperates next spring.  That's for other spring bulbs.

Tulips are finicky.

They like to multiply.  They will do that in lieu of flowers.

Why?  Money.

Dutch growers just don't make Tulips like they used to.  These growers are businesspeople.  The profits are made
in big, colorful Tulips for the cut flower trade.  Fragrance is of no consequence.  No one cares if your Tulips will grow again.  Longevity is largely irrelevant -- in fact, by breeding short-lived Tulips, they are encouraging you to replace them.  In my case, that's a few hundred dollars a year.

Other bulbs stand a better chance.  Your present Tulips, set outside to enjoy the full sun treatment until their foliage withers (on its own with no help from you) and you can hardly tell there ever was a Tulip growing there.  Then whisk inside and wait 'til September (or October, depending on your location).  Print these instructions.  Some will be back, most won't.  You have to really love them to be able to accept these odds.