Because that's the nature of those bulbs. Very few places in the world that they actually stay as vigorous and/or improve with time. And the commercial growers may or may not remove the flowering stems to get more growth on the bulbs (which I'm sure you're not doing..since what would be the point of bulbs with no flowers in the home landscape).

Because both have been hybridized so extensively that perennialization has been virtually bred out of them.

In many cases, tulips are almost considered annuals, being replanted from fresh bulbs every year. Various species tulips (no one mucking about with hybridization!) will return and flower very reliably for many years. And a few of the hybrids, most noticeably the Darwins, can put on a few good years before they too start to peter out :-)

With the hyacinths it is less about hybridization and more about nourishing the bulbs. Although I seldom ever fertilze bulbs once planted, hyacinths do seem to benefit more than most others afa flower development is concerned. But even with routine annual fertilization, the flower size and density does diminish over time.

Be sure to let the foliage age and ripen in place after flowering as its ongoing photosynthesis after flowering is what energizes and recharges the bulbs for the following season.

I have found that to be true with every tulip bulb I have ever planted. Pretty good on year one, so-so on year two, pitiful on year three, a few leaves in year four.

Plus, if you cut off the leaves, you are almost guaranteeing that there will be no flowers next year (like gardengal above just said).

Thanks and yup!! I will even actually let the leaves grow out all summer until they die back on their own when they look hideous and still stingy flowering the following year, worst year after year even with good fertilizer. I tore out half the tulips I planted just two years ago since they did nothing and about to tear out my others if they do the same. Time to consider early annuals for color or just be patient and wait for the true perennials to do their job(

Or plant perennial minor bulbs, like muscari, cyclamen, anemone blanda, eranthis, ipheon, etc.
And daffodils, never forget them..permanent.

Wood hyacinths seem to be an exception to the rule for me. Maybe the spot they are in is just right for them (in a bed with dappled shade from a large honey locust, and some direct sun late mornings), but I can't even remember how long ago I planted them, and the clump is still enlarging. They don't have the fragrance of dutch hyacinths, but having the reliable flowers is worth it. I never fertilize them either.

In my previous home I planted lots of tulips and daffodils. The squirrels managed to eat most of the tulips, but my daffodils did very nicely multiplying and coming back every year. I'm a lazy gardener and I don't like replanting the same thing over and over. I gave up on tulips several years ago for the same reason. Plus, I hate to see the dying foliage after they are done blooming.

I've been thinking of planting tulips again, but in containers instead of in the garden. When they are done with flowering I can just move them to another spot.

Wood hyacinths, aka bluebells, are an entirely different type of bulb and naturalize or perennialize well....almost to the point of them being a garden pest!! But they have neither the scent or flower density of Dutch or garden hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis).

Yes, Spanish bluebells -- they look more like in between dutch hyacinth and virginia bluebells. No problem here with perennializing well enough to be a pest though!

I read that planting tulips deeply, like 9 inches, will cause them to come back for more years. It works for me! Some have been returning for up to 10 years.

My understanding was that bulbs such as tulips get crowded after about 3 years or so and need to be dug up and thinned out otherwise they stop flowering because of the overcrowding. I have not had much luck with my recent tulip investments - some came up the first year only! I thought it was because my soil was so poor (mostly sand and gravel from an old river bed or stone quarry - not sure which). I have been amending my soil each year in hopes they would improve but with the comments about hybridization I have to wonder!

Many tulips by nature live in hot dry areas, so having them in a fertile, well watered environment isn’t necessarily a plus. And deeper planting can help IME. But the biggest difference in their perennialization is as GG48 said choosing the varieties you plant with an eye to likelihood of return. A lot of what is currently sold was developed for the cut flower market rather than long term garden life, so they are gorgeous for only a single year. Some bulb catalogs discuss which of their tulips are perennial for them, and as GG48 mentioned, there are certain groups more likely to perennialize such as the species tulips and the lightly bred greggii tulips. I still have a few tulips that grow and bloom every year, something like 10 years after planting, because I specifically looked for ones that were labeled as likely to be perennial. In my garden, most of what didn’t come back was due to voles eating them rather than not being perennial. As alenm3 commented, critter predation makes a difference in many gardens since some bulbs like tulips and crocus are favored by squirrels and voles, while others such as daffodils are poisonous and are left uneaten. So my daffodils and Alliums have only increased in number and size while many of the tulips, lilies, and crocus have been eaten unless planted in protective cages.

in the garden... there are many things that are called 'short lived' ... for a variety of reasons ... over the years ... i have just come to accept that tulips ... are one of them ...

over the same years ... i too became cheap ... lol .. and just gave up on the foo foo plants that required replanting year after year ... there is just so much out there that will not require the annual investment ...

and.. as noted above .... if you move from the foo foo heavily hybrid plants.. back toward the species ... you will find the ones that live much monger ....

one thing i did to offset the loss of certain plants ... is to just visit gardens or shows.. where are old favorites are shown off ... like the tulip festivals that many areas have each spring ... you can get your fix ....without the aggravation ... many regional local arbs have such flower shows ...

move on from them .. lifes too short to fight a losing battle ... not to mention the budget in some cases ...

ken

Bruce, what you describe with tulips is typically the advice given for narcissus/daffodils. IME, tulips do not become overcrowded and certainly not in 3 years. In fact, they seldom multiply (bulbs) in a garden setting at all!! And your soil conditions sound almost ideal. Very loose, grainy soils with fast drainage are preferred....they do not require enriched conditions and those can be counterproductive.

And Babs brings up a good point. Tulips' origins are from warm and very dry summer climates and the bulbs appreciate that dryness during their summer dormant period. So planting them in a mixed border or with plants that require regular summer irrigation can be a detriment to the bulbs' longevity and performance.

Wow! Thanks gardengal48! I didn't know any of that (and I thought I knew everything [haha]). I have lots of other stuff in with my tulips that bloom in the summer and the fall which I water throughout our summers (which are not too hot but very dry usually). Maybe that is why my Tulips aren't doing as well as I have expected!

I'm not big on tulips- I've had them off and on over the years, but most peter out. I do have a few odd lone ones that pop out in random spots on the property year after year. Don't know where they came from, but have been around for over eight years so far.

I have hyacinths that are quite plush. Come back every year nicely for several years now. They sometimes produce great seed clusters, and I scatter them around to encourage the area to grow out more.

Daffodils and muscari grow like mad for me. A few patches of crocus that came with the property and slowly expands.

Wow. I’m definitely going to save this thread. Not even my local nurseries had a clue. Thanks A bunch. My favorite are fragrant ones hyacinths in particular. Wish they did as well as when first planted the year after (

Horticultural tulips do not do well at all in my area. 2 years of bloom on average and then downhill. They don't all die but can't get enough strength to bloom. I have one which has been returning as a single leaf for over 20 years but never blooms. I have a couple of species tulips which bloom sparsely every year, but are hardly worth it for the space they take. Narcissis, colchicum, and hyacinthoides plus minor bulbs like scilla and chinodoxia are my mainstays in bulbs.

I didn't mention earlier, but I do have several clumps of dutch hyacinth that have been blooming for years. I couldn't tell you why. I also have species tulips and one lone tulip that I'd guess is Ivory Floradale. There are some tulips that push up leaves now but never bloom, or bloom once every 5 years or so. But like most of the posters above, tulips generally last 2-3 years at most. I buy them when they are on clearance late fall -- planting them is really not hard, shovel out a couple of holes & toss them in -- so replacing them is not a problem for me. I love tulips enough to make it worth it.

My friend from Ukraine says everyone there digs up their tulips and stores them, as I do my amaryllis and cannas. Maybe that would be the key to keeping them year after year.

My guess is your friend digs them for the summer, right?

My MIL always lifted her tulips after the foliage was pretty much dead then hung them in the shed until replanting in late autumn. She did this year after year. The dahlias took the place of the tulips in the ground and they went in the shed when the tulips were in the ground.

Hmm, nice rotation there ;)

You all got me thinking about what all bulbs I got and not since my last post.

I have the most trouble with frittarila. Which is a shame, because I love them. Just can’t get them to go for more than a year, either in pots or in the ground. I like the big ones that are orange and yellow, tried snakes head that just totally pooped from the start. Got some of the tiny chocolate yellow tipped ones in 2017 that I’ve coddled in a pot. Keeping my fingers crossed they come back again in the spring.

A few snowdrops that have struggled along with a bloom or two for a few years. It’s ok, I still appreciate seeing their leaves in the winter too.

I have some botanical tulips, the yellow ones, that have bloomed nice for 2 years. A bunch of different fancy alliums that were planted between 2014-2016 that are still doing well.

Do red hot pokers and Lucifer’s count as bulbs? I got those in 2014, held in pots till 2017 blooming gloriously the whole while. Then into the ground and 2018 was an extra nice bloom.

Bulbs (and corms and tubers) are essentially storage organs for times of scarcity - usually water but not always...and as such, they desperately need the same cyclical situation (of times of scarcity) to be replicated in our gardens. While I have read all the stuff about planting tulips deeply, in truth, unless the particular tulips are already genetically disposed to growing in situations far removed from their natural habitat (such as the old cottage tulips which have thrived in the bulb-fields of Holland, East Anglia and a particular US area I have forgotten (Skagit valley???), you could plant them as deep as Australia - they are not coming back...because they actually need a period of dormancy...which by happy accident, they more or less get in my dry, sunny gardens with a rainfall level roughly equal to their middle eastern, high altitude roots (less than 20inches a year). Without total dryness and a surface baking in summer (not too dissimilar to the cultivation requirements of bearded iris), most tulips, even the so-called 'botanical' types will tend to diminish...hence the value of special bulb frames. I never plant mine with other flowers now. I either naturalise some bulbs in rough grass (so I tend to go for early flowering types)...or grow them in special cutting beds, plunge-pots (alpine types) and coldframes. They are just not suited to the hurly-burly of a mixed border imo but I realise this is a minority view.