Common Name: Tulips

Scientific Name: Tulipa sp

Tulip - Upright and Erect Growth Habit

Physiological Growth Cycle: Perennial        USDA Hardiness Zone: 2-10

Monocot

Size:

• 8" to 12" wide X 4" to 2' height

Growth Habit:

• Upright and erect

Foliage:

• Lanceolate, strap-like leaf shape
• Parallel venation
• Medium green
• May or may not have glaucous tinge

Tulip Inflorescence Cup-shaped		Tulip Stigma, Style, Anthers, Filament

Inflorescence:

• Cup-shaped with six petals
  • Shape varies from slender and pointed to broadly rounded, depending on variety.
• Singles or doubles
• Borne on a scape
• Generally one flower is produced per bulb
• All colors
• Blooms early spring to early summer

Tulip - Companion Planting		Tulip - Bulb Bed

Tulip - Mass Planting in Raised Beds		Tulip - Cultivation for Cut Flowers

Use:

• Bulb beds
• Container plants
• Cut flowers

Problems: 

• Pests
  • Bulbs in storage may be eaten by mice
  • Slugs (particularly young plants)
  • Aphids (particularly young plants)
• Diseases
  • Various mosaic virus
  • Blue mold on injured bulbs (particularly in storage)
  • Grey bulb rot

Culture:

• Full sun
• Well drained but moist soil with high organic matter
• Do not cut foliage back once flowering has ceased
  • leaves are needed to produce carbohydrates for bulb development

Propagation:

• Bulb (planted 6" to 8" deep at time of planting)

Notes:

• One of the most popular of all the spring bulb flowering plants
• Most tulips thrive in colder winters because of the long chilling requirement for bulbs
• Often treated as an annual
• First season in the ground produces a strong show of flowers but generally years following will produce weaker show.  Many bulbs will often rot after the first year  in the ground.