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Tulip
Tulipa

Tulips come in a wide range of colors and varieties. Colors range from bold deep reds, violet, purple, golden yellow,and orange to pastel pink, lavender and white. I love blue flowers, but I have never seen a true blue tulip. I suppose it will be developed soon. Many tulips have bicolor blooms like red and yellow or the flowers may have a contrasting eye or center. The most familiar tulips have cup-shaped blooms, but bowl-shaped and double-flowered cultivars are available.

Tulips also have fringed petal edges and ruffled petals. Tulips are part of the lily family and have the same flower characteristic of six petal-like tepals. There are about 100 species of tulips and they have all been organized into divisions based on flower shape and origin. Garden centers and other bulb retailers and catalogs label the tulips to ensure that gardeners have a variety of shapes and sizes of flowers to enjoy. Bloom times typically vary from division to division. If you are a tulip enthusiast and you pick your varieties carefully, it is possible to have your tulips in bloom for several months in the spring.

Squirrels love tulips. So, if you are like me and have tons of squirrels in your hard, you may want to forgo tulips and concentrate on other bulbs such as hyacinths, daffodils, and grape hyacinths, which squirrels seem to ignore. However, if you do choose to grow tulips, they are easy to grow.

Tulips need to receive at least 5 hours of full sun daily. Morning sun and afternoon shade is ideal because it protects the flowers from heat. Tulips will grow well in just about any soil although they prefer a rich, well-drained soil. Plant tulips in the fall as with other spring-flowering bulbs. Dig a hole about 8-10 inches deep (if you want to have them bloom as perennials) and work in some organic matter. To discourage, squirrels, chipmunks, and other rodents from eating the bulbs, I've found that working some blood meal into the soil helps.

It's important to purchase fat, fleshy tulip bulbs with no signs of mold or black rotted spots. If you avoid purchasing cheap bulbs, dig your holes deeply, and add plenty of organic matter, you should be successful with your tulip garden. It is also to let the foliage turn yellow naturally and feed the bulbs annually in order to have them as perennials. You can hide the yellowing foliage by planning your garden and planting perennials that bloom and cover the yellowing foliage.