What a wonderful display, Cynthia! The hyacinths are my fav now. My hyacinths are returning reliably and I know the tulips are a one time fling.

I do have a handful of tulips, just can't resist them, despite what I know.

These are not quite in full bloom yet.
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Mine never all bloom together this is the other side of the rocks, about three weeks ago:
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Nell

Wow, the two of you are both well into tulip season. The pictures look great! I'm guessing both of you need to pre-chill right?
Looks like it's worth it.

We're still under a couple of inches of snow. Based on the weather forcast it will stay that way for another week at least. I know my bulbs are under there somewhere!
I'm envious.

Gorgeous. You are looking into spring already. I am rather green with envy.
We are thawing out bit by bit, but my backyard is till under a foot of snow. This is my front last week. We still have half of that snow left:
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talk about shoveling! I grew up in OH and do miss the white thick snow. The rich color of the deep red brick and thick alyer of white is as beautiful as a garden, but I'm glad I don't have to dig out any more. We just dread August!

I'm glad we could remind y'all that spring is coming.

Nell, good to see you here. I love your photos.

yes, I do pre chill for 12 weeks. Some folks have a beer fridge, we have a bulb one....

I also pre-chill for 12 weeks. Prechilling is not a burden if you have a separate fridge. Tulips can be planted here mid-January with good results.

'Bing Crosby' succumbed to voles and so did some of my purple tulips. I read this weekend to plant daffodils around the tulips to discourage the voles. Now I'm planning for next fall: a ring of jonquillas around each of those purple tulips I vow each spring not to plant, ever again.
Nell

So gorgeous to see blooms - I'm envious!

I see some of my tulips (who must be totally confused about what season it is after all the warmth this winter) have started pushing through.

I also see that we're expecting around 6" of snow this weekend.

So I need to do anything to protect them?

That's a lot of gorgeous bulbs over there in Texas - of which tulips are my favorites. Having travelled a bit I can tell you that I would NOT miss the snow if I moved south from zone 5. The leaves of my earliest tulips are only 6 inches tall by now, the late spring varieties are not yet visible at all. We have not had much snow or low temperatures this winter at all, it's been mostly bare ground and some rain. Spring is here already, we have snowdrops, crocuses and corylus bushes in bloom and green leaves are beginning to show on spireas.

A bit of a cold spell is scheduled in the coming week but luckily it will be wet, too, so a good time to fertilize the bulbs.

Cynthia, are those tulips still in bloom today? What variety was it?

here is a picture of some of our tulips from last year (2006) notice the dying hyacinth foliage.

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Here are our hyacinths from this year (03/2007) notice the tulip foliage coming up strong.

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All of the beautiful pictures of the tulips make my envy grow and grow. I have tried to plant tulips but have never been successful. I live in the Houston,Tx. area and have tried for 2 years because tulips are my wifes favorite of all. I have bought the potted tulips and transplanted them into a bed but it just isn't the same as planting the bulbs. If anyone could provide some information on what I need to do for next spring I would be very thankful. It would also make my wife very happy as well.

cajumo

The steps to tulips in Texas.

1 look in the mirror and check your reason at the door. Tulips don't want to live in TX so we need to persuade them.

2 order from a grower / importer like Van Engelen, John Scheepers or Brent & Beckys bulbs. There are others, but I know these are reliable. You can request catalogues. They'll come in the summer and tempt you.

3. have a spare fridge for the persuasion. The tulips should arrive early in October (when you order check the box that says you need them early to prechill them). Put them in the fridge until Christmas. At the end of Dec. or very early January plant them. They now think that it is springtime in Holland. Don't wait too long or they'll think it's too hot and bloom a very short time.

4. Plant them shallowly: the big beauties won't return so no need to dig deep holes. I plant about an inch below the top of the soil, you can mulch if you like on top of that a little.

5. They like some moisture but don't want to go swimming.

Well, that's all there is to it! NO need to add bulb food, they won't be here to grow again next year, so everything they need is in the bulb.

You might try some species tulips. My clusiana cynthia have returned twice, so 3 springs of little flowers from one planting.

just sign my blissfully mad with tulipa mania in Texas.
cynthia

6. In January begin saving for next year´s batch

7. You need to go either to the therapist, to Garden Anonimous support groups or put that stubborness into growing things that will come back year after year like Glads, Amaryllises, Callas, Cannas or Dahlias, no lifting required.

8. You can grow many varieties of daffodils, those won´t bloom unless chilled ( persuaded ) but you can grow many big fat bulbs.

Cynthia,

Thank you very much for the info. I can only hope that next year I will have as beautiful tulips as you have this year. Very good instructions I must say, I have no questions about what to do next year or where to get quality bulbs. I did the chilling process with some bulbs but I had my doubts with the quality of the bulbs and I did't let them stay cold long enough. Thanks again!!

Hi cajunmo,
I also live in Houston, Tx & this year had great success with the number of bulbs that grew, though 2/3 of them had rather weird flowers. (I decribed them in another posting to query re short tulips...)
Unfortunately I didn't take photos and the blooming time is very brief here - around a couple of weeks!
Good luck for next year's crop - Cynthia's directions are spot-on....