- Remove the tulip heads by cutting them at the base as low as possible using clean pruning scissors. Avoid removing the tulip leaves during pruning.
- Deadheading is the process of taking off the bloom of the flower to preserve its development.
- Cut the stems at a 45-degree angle using sharp, clean scissors or pruners.
- Use garden shears or scissors to snip off the spent flower heads.
- Trim the tulip plants to encourage them to grow back next year.
- Trim the bottom inch of each stem at a gentle angle.
- When cutting off the fading blooms, the plant can redirect energy back to the bulb, allowing it to grow back.
In summary, maintaining healthy tulips involves removing the heads, cutting the stems at a 45-degree angle, and trimming the plants to encourage growth. Trimming the tulip plants after the blooms fade and trimming the bottom inch of each stem at a gentle angle are essential steps to ensure the plant’s growth and health.
📹 What To Do With Tulips After Flowering // April 2021
After tulips finish flowering, deadhead the tulips. Take a pruner and cut off the flower head from the stem once it’s fully spent.
📹 🌷 ~ Tulip Care after Bloom ~ 🌷
In this video I will be talking about tulip care after they are done blooming. Come say Hi! Instagram: …
Hey thank you for article… I’m working in tulip factory and I can give you some sort names of tulip sorts that are super beautiful like flash pont, columbus, verona, marie joe, largo, blue diamond, world bowl they are just some of them which are blooming like pheonies and we call the double sorts since they have such a massive bloom…
Thank you! I got my first tulips in a raffle and I’ve never had these before. We live in an apartment so my bulb is in a ceramic pot. They hadn’t bloomed so they were just large leaves all summer long. I didn’t know what to do with them for the winter but after perusal this, I think I’m going to replant it in a plastic container with some fertilizer and snip the leaves as they yellow.
This was great information! Tulips are so expensive and I’m glad to know that they will come back following your method. I wasn’t aware of this. I’m in Texas Zone 9 and to my surprise my tulips have bloomed beautifully and weathered the winter storm here. Is it too late to fertilize with bone meal if almost all are already bloomed?
Thank you for explaining the process simple. Your tulips are gorgeous. I live in Florida and I’m trying out tulips for the first time this year so I have bought some and the tulip bud died fast. And the foliage is light green to yellow with the tips burnt. I moved it from full sun because I think that is what caused it. What I don’t understand is why mines can’t tolerate heat when I see tulips in gardens with full sun. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you so much for all the great information and tips! I would like to know if if I plant the tulips in containers, can I save them for next year using your method? Do I still have to water them after I cut the foliage down or just leave them in the containers and keep them in the shade? Thank you in advance!
Thanks for your instructions for tulips. My husband and I are just getting into more landscaping with flowering trees and with bulbs (we’re in our early- to mid-70s). Can the bulbs just be left in the ground over the winter, after deadheading and cutting back and adding some fertilizer? Do they have to be removed? It seems at my family of origin’s house, they grew every year, but my mother didn’t do anything special to them.
Hi I’m growing tulips from bulbs planted late last fall. I’m also in Zone 6 in MA. In my front yard they are about 6 inches tall, and in my backyard about 2 inches tall (the ground was frozen longer back there). No blooms yet, but it’s still early. When should I start watering them? And when should I start using a fertilizer? Thank you
Hi! Summers are hot (excruciating) & pretty dry in S. Louisiana (Zones 9 a&b). I bought blooming tulips a few mths ago: 1) Can the bulbs lie dormant in the original planters/soil (8 in diameter X 2 in height)? 2) Do I water/fertilize bulbs during dormancy? (I will buy blood meal) 3) Which resources for bulb info have been most useful to you? Thank you so much, Monique
I found your article very helpful, thank you! Also reading the questions in the comments, I was happy to find you answer them very quickly, thank you for that as well. Would you be able to tell me how to find out what zone is Long Island, New York? So I can best follow your advice in taking take of my tulips, thank you again!
I’ve always let the seed pods fully mature, being told the enzyme production in the pod is better for the bulb. I understand what you’re saying about the energy usage in creating the seeds/pod. I hope I haven’t been doing it wrong the whole time! Next year I’m going to try your method on some of my bulbs. Thanks for the info, the Fox Trots are beautiful!
Day lilies ARE something you can pull the dead leaves off of after they have fully died. Make sure that the old flower stem and leaves are completely dead or you may yank out some of the plant along with the spent stems and leaves. Give it a short (fast) hard pull and it will be much prettier in the garden. This also helps to keep the plants from giving energy to dead leaves and your plants will grow bigger and healthier the following season. Fall is also a great time for a little yank on iris leaves too, and watch how grateful your plants are next year! 🙏 We don’t pronounce the “i” in foliage we say fo-lage. Love those tulips peonies, step back and admire your tulip friends!
Hi, I love your website! I desperately need your help. I received a pot of tulips (from a big box store). The leaves are done. I cut them down. What should I do with the bulbs? Should I remove from the pot with the dirt? How do I cure them? I do want to put them outside in the spring. Please help. Blessings Lisa from Catskill NY
Hi Yulia. Thanks for the article. After you cut back the foliage and plant the (golf) tee, do you always plant the tee to the left or to the right or above or below…? How do you know where the tulip is in relation to the golf tee? Also, you said in zone TWO you have to dig up your bulbs but you don’t have to do that in your zone (zone 6). I know you don’t, but you didn’t say that you don’t have to dig your bulbs up (where you live now). Right?
I have not read all the comments to see if somebody else asked this question… I did not know about the seed pods until I saw them and all their glory and now I worry about my bulbs spending all their energy on the seed pod. Can I still cut them off? And what are the seed pods for? To replant and grow new tulips?
Lovely! Thankyou for the great tips! We are in zone 5 and planted a small area with tulips. I think it’ too shady. Nothing has come up. Looking for a spot to transplant them. What and how do you recommend for plants to have with the tulips-so that spot won’t just be bare once tulips are finished? Thanks!
I live in the midwest of Missouri, my husband brought home some tulips that the gardeners were pulling up at his work location. the flowers on them are gone and I don’t know what I should do with them now. Do I replant them and leave them to bloom next year or do I dry and store them? If I store them, what is this process?