Tulips Did Not Bloom

Question

Just wanted to know why my tulips didn’t bloom this year. I planted them last year and the did fine. This year they just have leaves, no blooms. I live in California, so I left them in the ground. My other bulbs in the ground did fine.

Answer 1

Tulips are finicky. If you are lucky enough to live in an area that is their perfect environment, they will bloom for years, but if you don’t, they mostly only last a year or two. In some areas of the country, they are simply treated as annuals.

Tulips like dry, hot locations in the summer and cool locations in spring and fall. If they do not get this, they don’t like to rebloom. If the area you live in does not get this kind of weather, you can increase your chances of getting reblooming tulips despite the weather by avoiding newer hybrids and going with the old fashioned varieties. They may look a bit plainer, but they are better at dealing with a wider variety of environments.

Answer 2

I have had this happen a time or two. Sometimes it is caused by too much high nitrogen fertilizer in the soils or a fertilizer that tends to put a push on the leaf growth and leaves behind the bloom production. At times we can have some temp dips at tulip time and it nips the bloom pods before they can form well and bloom. The squirrels here have been known to make short order of them as well….. If you did not feed them at all, I would recommend buying a good bulb food and giving it to them now, then next season things should go better. Just any fertilizer does not seem to do well for bulbs in my gardens. In my grandmothers day, she used to give them a good dose of bone meal each season.

Stan