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omooya

Weather Forecast

omooya
16 years ago

Hi all,

Is anyone else in Charlotte and surrounding areas on the verge of tears (ok - no, not literally LOL!) about the 30 degree weather we're supposed to get later this week?

All my tulips are up (250 of them *sob* ) and I fear they won't make it. Is there anything I can do to save them?

Comments (9)

  • omooya
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Oh - also - does anyone know how long tulips are supposed to last in this region? My gardener also said that they are supposed to come back next year, if I cut the stems when the flowers begin to wilt. Has that been the experience of the more experienced (anyone is more experienced that me *smile*) here?

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    16 years ago

    You'll be very lucky to get tulips to return another season. They are very much a more northern bulb. If some do return, it is likely to be a spotty display.

  • buford
    16 years ago

    I have some tulips come back up, but unless you have the ones that are meant to return you will get a spotty show next year.

    I saw the forecast,and yes, it is upsetting. But your tulps should be OK. I remember a few years ago I had my tulips in full bloom and it got down to 27 one night. I put an old bed sheet over the tulips and they were fine. 30 shouldn't be so bad.

  • omooya
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks so much for the advice. I've got old bedsheets. It's certainly worth a shot! :)

    I'll look up some perennial (?) tulips species also. I may add some to what I have and see what happens next year. My lawn guy seems convinced....

  • jqpublic
    16 years ago

    Our tulips have been coming up for 5 years and Hyacinths for 7. I've posted pics before. It depends on where you place them I guess?

    As for the cold. They will be fine! I don't cut the stalks back or anything. I let the flower die and the foliage too. I may snip a few here or there just to take inside.

  • omooya
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    jq - that's great to hear! I wonder why there doesn't seem to be a consensus on it? Maybe it just totally depends, as you said....

    I threw the bedsheet over them and broke two of them and bent the rest. I think tomorrow I'm going to just leave well enough alone and see what they want to do.

    I appreciate all of the responses tho. Thanks.

  • bluesgarden
    16 years ago

    Never never cut back your tulips! The bulbs need that to rejuvenate. Like daffodiles they will die down .Tulpips MUST be kept cool. I dig mine up after they die back and store them in paper bags in a fridge that I use only for storing sodas etc. Then I replant them in Nov.The bulbs will eventually no longer produce. We in zone 7 do not have enough cold weather for tulips/ But I love them, so i do all I can to keep them coming Back. Good luck!

  • hairmetal4ever
    16 years ago

    Tulips don't even come back that well here in the colder regions of zone 6, quite honestly. The species tulips do well.

    As far as the freeze, I've got some with unopened buds that appear alive, albeit tattered, after 4 nights in the lower 20s.

  • littledog
    16 years ago

    Even under the best circumstances, it's more realistic to think of Tulips as annuals. I figure the point of Tulips isn't whether they may or may not come back every year, but that, properly chilled, they will come up and bloom in glorious living color the first spring after they have been planted. After a dull, cold winter, that's all the reason I need to get out there in the fall and get them into the ground.

    That said, it's been my experience that tulips will come back if they're planted in an area where you will *not* water during the summer. That is, not in the flower beds, unless perhaps you are talking about a rock garden; Tulips like it dry. Mine are usually planted under a tree, or out in the grass (I don't do "lawn"), and even the big fancy ones make it several years. Most people can't tolerate the unattractive, yellowed foilage phase the bulb must go through and cut them down, but if you can be patient, you'll be surprised at how many will make another show.

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