Any tulip gardeners out there?

For the past couple of years, the students at our Kindergarten have planted tulips in planters outside on the patio in November and then taken the bulbs out of the planters after they have bloomed and then tossed them and the dirt in the trash only to start over in November with new dirt and new bulbs.





Everyone seems to think this is necessary, but I think this is a tragedy. Aren't tulips supposed to produce flowers from the same bulbs year after year? And why can't the dirt be used over and over (with fertilizer added? Don't you just leave the dirt and the tulips alone and they (sleep) until the following year or do you always dig the tulip bulbs out after they have bloomed and replant in Novemeber? I could be wrong of course. Please feel free to comment!

Any tulip gardeners out there?
Botanical Gardens and other places with a large budget can afford to plant tulip bulbs and then throw them away after their blooming season....and the tulip growers love it....as would I





There are two types of tulips....one that can be a perennial and come back year after year and actually propagate itself through bulb regeneration....





The other is called a cultivar and they are the ones that I like and they are harder to come back year after year....but that is because most people don't plant them 14 inches down in the soil....so when it gets hot the bulbs cook and rot....





what i would suggest you do is let the plants turn brown....and dig up the bulbs and take them home and plant them 14 inches deep in your property....or somewhere on the school property that is ok to do that in ....and see what happens next spring....for the time of your effort....





the problem with using potting soil over and over again is sometimes it gets various microbes in it that are not good and unless you sterilize it they just accumulate and do damage to what you are trying to grow...what I do with mine is simple toss it on my one of my compost piles and let it get sterilized with the compost heat....
Reply:Tulips are planted in the fall and left in the ground. It would be best to leave them in the dirt and wait for the next springs new blooms. Daffodils or King Alfreds, one in the same, can be planted also in the fall. Leave them in the gorund and you will have blooms the following spring. The bulbs will multiply in the ground and produce bigger groups.
Reply:that seems like a huge waste. i have had tulips blooming for years, and i never do a thing with them except to trim off the top, well after it has turned brown.


some of the newer varieties of tulips may only last a year or two, but why not give it a shot to see what happens???


and yes, the dirt should be reused...
Reply:well you can tell them to take it home and plant them and to look ofter them,they can see how the plant grow. as they get older they will be happy about the project from your class. my kids have plants they planted when they went to kindergarten them self and they still talk about it and they are almost teen. i think is fun.
Reply:Tulips are perennials and come up ever year. They do recommend that after 5 years to dig them and then divide the bulbs , dry them and replant.That seems like a waste to toss everything.
Reply:You are wasting money - of course tulips will grow the following years but you have to let them die back naturally either where they are or dug up and put in some spare ground to die off rembering where that is of course
Reply:You're not wrong. Try to find a sollution like plant other flowers that only last a year, or have each kid take one tulip at the end of the year.
Reply:I agree with Wanda, and why not plant the bulbs in a perennial garden spot around the school.

pomegranate