Well, it sure isn’t like spring outdoors today – very wintery with snow and freezing rain and everything is cancelled for today, so these tulips make it feel more like spring. I guess March is coming in like a lion, as they say. But, at this time of year there is always a sea of potted tulips in grocery stores, department stores, hardware stores, and of course, nurseries.
With spring officially arriving this month I wanted to pick up some potted tulips for indoors and I found some at Walmart, of all places. The soil was completely dried out and crumbling to pieces, as their plants always seem to be, but I felt a strong desire to bring 4 of the potted plants home with me. The tulips already being further along in their life, I always like to preserve the blooms for as long as possible. Normally by keeping the plant as cool as possible and the soil slightly damp will help with that. I like to keep my potted tulips on a windowsill with the window cracked open ever so slightly, just enough to keep the window area cool without the cold winds at night killing the plant.
I planted them together in one large planter.
I have always discarded the plant after blooming has finished, but I am curious to see how well the tulip bulbs will do if I plant them in the garden this spring. I have read some articles that say they won’t bloom the following season, but will the next. Other sources say they can’t be planted outside after being forced to grow indoors. I guess it won’t hurt to plant them anyway and see what happens.
Gardening in the Lines 