I wonder if they're throwing those perfectly good bulbs away? Or just cutting the tulips down... Hmmm maybe they'd give them to you.

Actually, I asked Larry Sagers about that -- he does the gardening column in the Des News. They do pull all those bulbs out, because they have to be sure the main displays the following year are the best possible flowers, and they only get that from new bulbs. They take the old bulbs and put them back in places where they don't care as much about the color and quality the following year. Still, you'd have to figure some of the bulbs get thrown out, because that's so many bulbs! And they're pulling them out before the plants could replenish the energy in the bulb fully, so perhaps some just don't look good enough to replant next fall?

Speaking of getting yanked, the high winds in Highwind, I mean, Highland, this week yanked many of the tulip petals off. So, a couple of questions for my first year of tulips...

In order to replenish the bulb, you keep the leaves but cut off the flower stem so it doesn't go into seed production. That way, the leaves will store energy in the bulb for next year instead of expending it on seeds, right?

Not that we are at this point, but no one, besides Temple Square or professional display gardens, really removes the bulbs, right? I mean, there are tubers that you remove after the first frost because they aren't cold hardy for our zones, but the home gardener is going to keep the bulbs in place year after year, even though there is probably a small chance of disease by keeping them in the same spot. What does everyone do about their bulbs?

I've noticed that some of the Liliums we planted last year are coming back with children! Tulips are supposed to multiply like this as well, so maybe you would space them out more, to thin a crowd?

I think some people pull their tulip bulbs out for the summer, because they like to be dry over the summer. They put them back in the fall so they will be ready for the next spring. I have read about this but I don't actually know anyone who does it! I leave mine in the ground.