Tulips failure to flower

Question

I have four different varieties of tulip planted in my Costswolds lawn. Although all emerged normally, precisely none have shown any sign of a flower stalk. I have seen no significant infestation of slugs. Can you suggest what’s happened?

Answer 1

Rabbits love tulip buds but I think you’d see the chewed flower stalk if that were your problem. Tulip leaves must die down naturally to rebuild the bulb for next year’s bloom. If the grass was cut before the tulip leaves turned yellow, it may be that there just wasn’t enough energy stored for blooming this year. I don’t know the effect of various lawn chemicals on bulbs. In general, too much nitrogen in a flowering plant leads to green growth at the expense of flowers.