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How to Grow Tulip Flowers: The Complete Guide

multicolored tulips in a garden. red, pink, yellow, and orange
Botanical Name
Tulipa spp.
Plant Type
Flowers
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Part Sun
Bloom Time
Spring
Flower Color
Green
Multicolor
Orange
Pink
Purple
Red
White
Yellow
Hardiness Zone
3
4
5
6
7
8

Planting, Growing, and Caring for Tulips

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Long live the tulip! These beautiful jewels brighten our days in spring. We truly look forward to seeing those blue-green leaves start to emerge as the earth awakens from its winter sleep! Here are our tips on how to grow and care for tulips in your garden.

About Tulips

Tulips typically begin emerging from the ground in late winter or early spring. If unseasonably mild weather causes premature growth in winter, the danger is not as great as it may seem. Tulips (and daffodils, too) are quite cold-tolerant. If freezing winter temperatures return, it may delay growth, however. Snow is actually helpful in this case, as it can insulate the foliage from extreme cold. 

Plant in the Fall for Spring Blooms!

Tulip bulbs are planted in the autumn, 6 to 8 weeks before the ground freezes. You can have tulips blooming from early to late spring by planting varieties with different bloom times. Some types are suitable for forcing into bloom indoors, and most are excellent for use as cut flowers, too.

Tulip flowers are usually cup-shaped with three petals and three sepals. Every setting has a tulip, from small “species” tulips in naturalized woodland areas to larger tulips that fit formal garden plantings from beds to borders. The upright flowers may be single or double and vary in shape from simple cups, bowls, and goblets to more complex forms. Height ranges from 6 inches to 2 feet. One tulip grows on each stem, with two to six broad leaves per plant.

Are Tulips Annual or Perennial Bulbs?

Although tulips are technically perennial, many centuries of hybridizing means that the bulb’s ability to return year after year has weakened. Therefore, many gardeners treat them as annuals, planting new bulbs every autumn. The North American climate and soil can’t replicate the ancient Anatolian and southern Russian conditions of their birth. Gardeners in the western mountainous regions of the U.S. come closest to this climate and may have more success perennializing their tulips.

Read Next

Planting

Tulips prefer a site with full or afternoon sun. In Zones 7 and 8, choose a shady site or one with morning sun only, as tulips don’t like a lot of heat.

The soil must be well-draining, neutral to slightly acidic, fertile, and dry or sandy. All tulips dislike areas with excessive moisture. Prepare the garden bed by using a garden fork or tiller to loosen the soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches, then mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost.

Tall varieties should be sheltered from strong winds.

When to Plant Tulips

  • Plant tulip bulbs in the fall, 6 to 8 weeks before a hard, ground-freezing frost is expected. The bulbs need time to establish themselves. Planting too early leads to disease problems. See local frost dates.
    • A good rule of thumb is to plant bulbs when the average nighttime temperatures in your area are in the 40s.
    • In colder northern climates, plant in September or October. In warmer climates, plant bulbs in December (or even later).
    • To find the best dates, consult our fall bulb planting chart.
  • Nature never intended bulbs to loll about above ground, so don’t delay planting the bulbs after purchase.
  • In southern climates with mild winters, plant bulbs in late November or December. The bulbs will need to be chilled in the refrigerator for about 12 weeks before planting. (Bulb suppliers often offer pre-chilled bulbs for sale, too.)
  • If you miss planting your bulbs at the optimal time, don’t wait for spring or next fall. Bulbs aren’t like seeds. Even if you find an unplanted sack of tulips or daffodils in January or February, plant them and take your chances. See more about planting tulips in winter. 

How to Plant Tulips

  • Plant bulbs fairly deep—8 inches deep, or about three times the height of the bulb. Dig a hole deeper than that in order to loosen the soil and allow for drainage. In clay soils, plant 3 to 6 inches deep instead.
  • Space bulbs 4 to 6 inches apart.
  • Set the bulb in the hole with the pointy end up. Cover with soil and press soil firmly.
  • Water bulbs right after planting. Although they can’t bear wet feet, bulbs need water to trigger growth.
  • If you’re planning to raise perennial tulips, feed them a balanced fertilizer when you plant them in the fall. Bulbs are their own complete storage system and contain all of the nutrients they need for one year. Use organic material, compost, or a balanced time-release bulb food.
  • To deter mice and moles—if they have been a problem—put holly or any other thorny leaves in the planting holes. Some gardeners use kitty litter or crushed gravel. If ravenous voles and rodents are a real problem, you may need to take stronger measures, such as planting bulbs in buried wire cages.
  • Don’t lose hope if you’re planting your tulips later in the season—just follow these tips.

Yellow tulips in a tulip garden

Growing

  • If it rains weekly, do not water. However, if there is a dry spell and it does not rain, you should water the bulbs weekly until the ground freezes.
  • Rainy summers, irrigation systems, and wet soil are death to tulips. Never deliberately water a bulb bed unless in a drought. Wet soil leads to fungus and disease and can rot bulbs. Add shredded pine bark, sand, or any other rough material to the soil to foster swift drainage.
  • Apply compost annually to provide nutrients needed for future blooms.
  • In the spring, when leaves emerge, feed your tulip the same bulb food or bone meal you used at planting time. Water well.
  • Deadhead tulips as soon as they go by, but do not remove the leaves!
  • Allow the leaves to remain on the plants for about 6 weeks after flowering. The tulips need their foliage to gather energy for next year’s blooms! After the foliage turns yellow and dies back, it can be pruned off.
  • Large varieties may need replanting every few years; small types usually multiply and spread on their own.

Field of red-pink tulips

Types

Tulip flowers may be single, double, ruffled, fringed, or lily-shaped, depending on the variety.

  • ‘Cracker’ tulip: purple, pink, and lilac petals; midseason bloomer
  • ‘Ile de France’: red blooms on stems to 20 inches tall; midseason bloomer
  • ‘Marilyn’: large, ruffled, candy cane-color flower; late-season bloomer
  • ‘Spring Green’: creamy-white petals feathered with green; late-season bloomer
  • ‘Renown’: hot pink, egg-shape flower; late-season bloomer 

Wild, or “species,” tulips are small in size, ranging in height from 3 to 8 inches. They are tougher than hybrids. Rock and herb gardens are ideal places to plant them. They look stunning when planted in large groupings. 

  • For early to midspring bloom time: Tulipa bakeri, T. batalinii, T. humilis, T. kaufmanniana, T. turkestanica
  • For later blooming time: T. linifolia, T. neustreuvae, T. sprengeri, T. vvedenskyi
  • For multicolor varieties: T. biflora, T. greigii ‘Quebec’, T. praestans ‘Fusilier’ and ‘Unicum’, T. tarda, T. turkestanica
  • For a container: T. kaufmanniana ‘Goudstuk’
  • For (mottled) foliage: T. greigii (mottled or striped), T. fosteriana ‘Juan’, T. kaufmanniana ‘Heart’s Delight’
  • For fragrance: T. aucheriana, T. biflora, T. saxatilis, T. sylvestris, T. turkestanica
  • For warmer regions: Lady tulip (T. clusiana), Candia tulip (T. saxatilis), and Florentine tulip (T. sylvestris) overwinter in the South or mild-winter areas of the West (Zones 8 to 10) without the need of a chilling period

There are so many beautiful varieties of tulips. Explore catalogs and experiment in your garden!

Harvesting

Cut tulips just before the buds fully open. Leave some of the foliage behind to build up energy in the bulb for the next year’s growth. Recut the stems at an angle before placing them in a vase. Tulips continue to grow after being cut and are “phototropic,” reaching toward the light. Rotate the vase daily to keep stems upright. 

Change the water daily, and tulips will last about 7 days in a vase. To get a long vase life of at least a week, cut stems diagonally and wrap the upper two-thirds of stems (with flowers) in a newspaper funnel. Stand in cool water up to the funnel for 1 to 2 hours, recut stems, and set in fresh water.

Gardening Products

Pests/Diseases

Wit and Wisdom

  • Tulips, and the word for them, come from the Far East: “Tulip” comes from the Turkish word tülbent, meaning “turban,” and can be further traced back to the Persian word dulband, meaning “round.”
  • Did you know: If you dig up a tulip bulb in late summer, it’s probably not the same bulb you planted last fall—it’s her daughter. Even while the tulip is blossoming, the bulb is dividing for the next generation.
  • In 17th-century Holland, the new tulip was such the rage and fashion that a handful of bulbs was worth about $44,000.
  • Red tulips symbolize a declaration of love. Explore more flower meanings here.

Flowers
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Barry Wood</span> Tue, 02/18/2014 - 23:47
Right -- zone 4 is seriously cold territory; I'm thinking maybe Ely or Elko? That's is actually good for tulips. If you don't have any luck with the forced tulips bought for Valentine's Day, get some bulbs for fall planting and get those in the ground no later than October. They will have a chance to develop a proper root system. The ones you bought here recently may not have had that opportunity, and if so will be at something of a disadvantage in terms of storing food for next year's bloom. But if they survive at all, you may have a shot at some good blooms in 2016 from them.
<span>1Mlheines</span> Wed, 02/19/2014 - 14:07
Thank you Barry. it does get very cold here. The biggest struggle we have with planting in the spring is unexpected late freezes and of course the wildlife. There is nothing we can do for the cold except hope for the best. Do you know of a natural remedy for pesty quails? Any sprouts under 4 in. get eaten. It does not matter if they are flowers or veggies. We are allowed to shoot them if they are destroying food crops but I just want to repel them until our plants get big enough so that they will not eat them.
<span>Barry Wood</span> Wed, 02/19/2014 - 15:58
I wish I could help, but have no ideas about quail. We would see them from time to time in eastern Washington, where I grew up, but for whatever reason they didn't bother my garden much there. I could never understand how they were able to escape the neighborhood cats, since they spend so much time on the ground. Here in the East, the main enemies of tulips are deer, squirrels and chipmunks. I don't have much of a deer problem yet as for some reason they are reluctant to cross the street in front of my house. As to the rodents, a member of our local garden club told me to dust the bed with foot powder when planting the tulips. So far that seems to have worked. In your battle with the quail, I don't suppose that it would hurt to try dusting the new tulip shoots with foot powder when they come up. At least you would find out whether quail have the same aversion to it as squirrels and chipmunks do.
<span>Ms Jaguar In Fl/Al</span> Sat, 02/15/2014 - 10:09
Brown thumber here.I live in northwest FL.I'm wanting to plant my V day tulips in my two mailbox brick planters with other flowers. Any suggestions on what other flowers I could put around them. Also,will I need to dig up the bulbs after they are done blooming and keep them in paper bag till fall, or will these come back next season just leaving in ground? Can I plant other perenials on top of the them over the summer?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 02/18/2014 - 10:52

Seems to be a lot of interest in saving Valentine tulips, especially in warm climates. Our advice is this, as given to the next reader (above): Tulips bloom in the spring so they may not appear with hollyhocks.
Tulips need a cold period, so if you are in a year-round warm(er) climate, you may have to make accommodations. If you live in a cold-winter area, plant them after they die back in the container they are currently in. Then plant them, or plant them in the fall. If you do not live in a cold-winter area, you can try putting the bulbs into the refrigerator (not freezer) in a ventilated bag for  to 10 weeks. Plant them in late winter/early spring. Or try tricking them into planting at another time, although we can not guarantee success in any other season.

In the north, you can plant some perennials on top of tulips (ideally, perennials that die back, so that the tulips do not grow up through them—think large sedum; in fact, the tulips would probably be stunted just trying).

Being in Florida and, if you are going to try this, you will need to lift (dig up) and chill the bulbs every year, so you do not want to put large perennials over them.

Good luck!

 <span>Suni</span> Tue, 02/11/2014 - 21:27
Hi, I live in Ohio and want to plant tulips in the garden of my new home. Now its being mid February, can I buy tulip bulbs and plant them directly in the ground? or Should just buy potted tulips since fall is gone. Please suggest what I can do to have them bloom in my new garden.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 02/13/2014 - 12:25

To have blooms in your garden this spring you need to buy potted tulips that have been forced to bloom now. In the fall plant tulip bulbs for next spring.

 <span>Jeannied</span> Mon, 02/10/2014 - 12:40
I bought some tulip bulbs yesterday at a Lawn & Garden Show. I live in Kansas and we currently have about 10 inches of snow on the ground. I have absolutely no experience with tulips so I am thinking that I have made a huge error in my purchase. I have always loved tulips and I think that's what spurred my spontaneous purchase. What's the best way to get these bulbs planted? We are expecting temps in the 50's next week, but I fear the ground will still be too frozen to plant and if it's not, it's going to be too wet with all of this snow melting. HELP!!!
<span>Barry Wood</span> Fri, 02/14/2014 - 15:34
I am assuming that what you bought was just the bulbs, correct? These are not bulbs that already have foliage? If so, another option would be to plant them in pots right away. The ground may be frozen but you can buy potting soil at probably any garden center. Put the pot(s) in a cool spot, like the north exposure of your house, or (if you have room) in the refrigerator. If they get six weeks of cool temperatures (generally below 50), you may actually succeed in getting them to bloom. Last year, I planted dozens of tulips as late as the first week in February. Because the rest of February and early March were relatively cool, almost all of them bloomed. The only ones that failed were in pots without drainage; some of those got waterlogged and rotted, but all of the ones in pots with good drainage (i.e., holes in the bottom of the pots) came through fine.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 02/13/2014 - 12:24

Plant the bulbs outside when the soil is warm and not wet. Your tulips will probably not bloom this year. Leave them in the ground next fall and winter and they will then bloom next spring.