Gardening Experts?

[imaprincess!]

I'm trying to figure out what happened to my tulips. I planted them several years ago; they bloomed beautifully the first year. After that, the green leaves come up every year, but never the flower -- not even a bud.

Is there anyone out there who knows why this would happen?

[offwego]

The next years flowers (or so the theory goes) dependant on this years leaves getting the chance to get old and icky looking. Often we trim them off and the plant hasn't yet stored enough "food" for next years bloom.

In some cases once this cycle starts it's hard to restart. You may want to try moving them and or adding fertilizer (blood meal works pretty well) to the area they are in. A few new ones mixed in may help as well.

[MNNHFLTX]

Are the tulips in an area that is getting enough light? They really need to be in full sun to do well. I've also heard that tulips buds are a favorite of bunnies--could be something is nibbling at the blossoms as they are coming up.

[MsMin]

We have to dig ours up and put them in the fridge to get adequate cold too. Don't know how much of a winter you had but I put my in the fridge for 6 weeks. Sometimes the bulbs that are starting to split need to be dug up and separated.

[imaprincess!]

Thanks! This gives me a direction to go in. Your answers support two factors I had already questioned .... I don't think the soil in the garden is very rich and the front garden (where they are no longer blooming) is mostly shady with some indirect sunlight. I'm still curious, though, as to why they would have bloomed the first year.

[offwego]

Thanks! This gives me a direction to go in. Your answers support two factors I had already questioned .... I don't think the soil in the garden is very rich and the front garden (where they are no longer blooming) is mostly shady with some indirect sunlight. I'm still curious, though, as to why they would have bloomed the first year.

The energy (from the sunlight) is stored in the bulb from one year to the next. The year you planted them (bought them) they had the energy from the grower's exposure of light and then bloomed. The following year (in their shady spot) they wouldn't be able to store enough energy to bloom again the following year (year 2)

[imaprincess!]

Oh, okay - thanks! This is very helpful.

[Magic Smiles]

This was a great thread and answered a good question. Thanks

[bibbidiboo3]

This year my tulips and hyacinths came up - then it snowed and was cold - so it stopped them from blooming. I've seen lots of tulips in the area blooming, but I guess mine didn't get enough sun.
They should come back up next year!