Hybrid tulips can be breathtakingly gorgeous, but they also have a bewildering number of limitations. To begin with, most don’t reliably return for more than two or three years, and even that much longevity requires optimal circumstances. Then, assuming voles, squirrels, and other garden predators don’t steal the bulbs before they bloom, there are the difficulties of hiding their fading foliage and filling the blank patches they leave behind.
However, growing tulips in containers allows you to avoid the majority of these inconveniences. Tulips are attractive, transportable, and safe when they are in pots. Regardless of whether they have had luck growing tulips in the ground, all gardeners should give this straightforward method a shot.
Early fall, just like when you would plant tulips in the ground, is the ideal time to pot them up. Prepare a number of containers with minimum outer dimensions of 18 inches and minimum exterior heights of 15 inches. Any less than that lessens the effect of the planting and the longevity of the bulbs.
Choose from the same class of tulips if you want a certain combination of colors to bloom at the same time. Short groups that blend nicely with spring annuals and won’t tower over their pot, including Single Early, Double Early, and Triumph, are logical options for containers. However, there is no harm in experimenting with taller or more exotic varieties like Viridiflora and Parrot.
Tulips of any kind and color can be used; just make sure to combine cultivars with comparable bloom durations together. Sequential blooming (six tulips blooming one week and another six blooming two weeks later, for example) won’t look quite as magnificent as a design that flowers all at once because you’ll only have room for 18 to 22 bulbs per planter.
Step 1: Plant bulbs so that they almost touch
Place an upside-down plastic growth pot at the bottom of each container to make it lighter and simpler to transfer. Any affordable, light-weight potting mix should be placed in the containers to a depth of two thirds. Put off using fertilizer. Ignore customary spacing recommendations and arrange the tulip bulbs in a close-packed circular configuration. The bulbs should be covered with potting soil and planted at the same depth as in the ground, which is often two to three times the height of the bulb.
Tulips grown in containers are less likely to be disturbed by animals than those put in the ground. Place a wire grid, such as a circular peony support, on top of the soil for additional protection (see photo below), and then cover it with a thin layer of potting soil.
Not all potted bulbs are forced
It’s simple to mix up container gardening with the age-old practice of forcing bulbs, yet the two techniques are very dissimilar.
Bulbs can be planted in pots and kept in a cold place to simulate in-ground planting; the flowers will appear in mid-spring. Bulb forcing is the practice of planting bulbs slightly below the soil’s surface, with the tips protruding (photo, above).
Forced bulbs that have been potted in the fall are kept at root cellar temperature (about 40F) in the dark for 10 to 12 weeks before being transferred from the cellar into a space with light and warmth. They bloom in the middle of winter, much earlier than bulbs sown at standard depths outdoors or in containers.
Step 2: Give them a sheltered spot to spend the winter
Place the potted pots in an uncovered garage if you live in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 7. Because of this, they are shielded from a freeze-and-thaw cycle, which would otherwise transform planted bulbs into mush. You won’t need to water them again until the spring, so water them when you put them in. You’ll need a different plan to keep the containers cold, dry, and insulated if you don’t have an unheated garage and live in an area with freezing weather. The planted bulbs need to be kept just above freezing.
Early in the spring, inspect your pots. Water them sparingly. Bring the tulips out and exhibit them once they begin to emerge from the soil. The tulips will blossom at the same time as those planted in the ground if you water them the same way you would any container plant.
All the restrictions surrounding inground planting still hold true when you gently move the bulbs onto a sunny bed after the blossoms have faded. The best and bravest course of action is to simply compost the used bulbs and begin preparing a new color scheme for the upcoming season.
Keep the show going
You can usually determine when a tulip will flower if you know which group it belongs to. The best technique to extend the tulip season is to create a few containers that contain tulips with various bloom periods. However, as this is not an exact science, be ready to enjoy your tulips if they bloom a bit early or a little late.
How far down should I bury tulip bulbs in a pot?
Plant your bulbs as deeply in your container as you would in the ground; for example, 6 to 7 inches deep for tulips and daffodils, and 4 to 5 inches deep for small bulbs like crocus and Siberian squill. Don’t use garden soil. After planting, thoroughly water your bulbs.
Keep the planted bulbs somewhere that will stay consistently cold but not below freezing, such as a garage or shed, if you are growing bulbs in a container too tiny to spend the winter outdoors or one made of a material like terra-cotta that needs protection from freezing temperatures. Bring your bulbs outside; most basements are too warm for them to grow properly indoors.
How are tulip bulbs placed in a pot?
All varieties of tulips thrive in a sunny, protected location with well-drained soil. Tulips should be planted in a border behind perennials because as the perennials’ foliage emerges, it will hide the dying foliage of the tulips. Before planting, incorporate a lot of well-rotted organic matter to amend heavy clay or sandy soils. You could add some horticultural grit to the bottom of the planting hole if your soil is particularly dense. Your garden’s conditions are not optimal. Learn how to grow tulips in challenging environments.
When to plant tulips
Although tulip bulbs can be planted as early as mid-October, experts believe that planting them in November is best since it lowers the chance of tulip fire, a fungus that is eradicated by cooler temperatures. Tulip bulbs can be planted as late as December or even January, and they should still blossom the following spring.
In the spring, you can purchase enough potted tulips in pots at the garden center to make one or two pot displays if you completely neglected to buy bulbs.
How to plant tulips
In the fall, use a garden trowel or bulb planter to prepare a planting hole, then lower the bulb into it pointed end first. Tulips should be planted 20 cm deep, or around three times the height of the bulbs, with a distance of 5 cm between each one. Plant tulips in large quantities for the finest effect.
In containers, tulips flourish quite well. Plant the bulbs three times their depth in the peat-free, all-purpose compost, leaving a few centimeters between each one, and fill the container with compost halfway. Increase with compost. Monty Don teaches how to plant tulips and evergreens in a container in the fall in this clip from Gardeners’ World:
For a longer-lasting show, you may also put tulips and other spring bulbs together in a container. Kevin Smith teaches how to arrange tulips and other spring bulbs in a container in this No Fuss video tutorial:
After putting tulip bulbs in pots, should you water them?
Water the container well so that the top of the soil is thoroughly damp after planting a tulip bulb in it. Milder winters allow you to keep the container outside during the winter, but the bulbs still require water. See if the top inch of soil, or about the length of your fingertip, is dry. If it is, add water to keep the soil moist but not muddy since too much moisture will cause tulip bulbs to rot. After blooming, water your tulips whenever the top 1/2 inch of soil feels dry.
How many bulbs are required for a pot?
Broken terracotta pots work nicely to fill the bottom few inches of the planter with to help with drainage and reduce the quantity of compost you require.
USE A GOOD COMPOST, please. Composts made from loam, combined with grit or crushed bark, and designed specifically for container growth are considerably superior to multipurpose composts.
FEED your plants frequently during the summer. During their blossoming season, flowering plants should be fertilized with a liquid fertilizer once a week.
DON’T add compostable crystals that hold water. Compared to a garden, soil in containers dries out much more quickly, and the crystals help hold water. Mulching will assist in retaining moisture.
DON’T hesitate to invest in high-quality terracotta pots and containers. During severe frosts, cheap terracotta pots will flake or fracture.
DO NOT FORGET about illnesses and pests. Because they are under more stress than plants in a garden, plants grown in containers are more vulnerable to pests. Regularly treat for mildew, snails, and aphids.
DON’T cut corners when it comes to pot or container size. The majority of plants look considerably better together in huge pots.
Remember that your pots and containers will weigh a lot, so plant them where you want them to end up or, alternatively, use pot rollers that are specifically made for this purpose.
DON’T utilize more plants than you need. Although a container may appear sparse when you first fill it with plants, the plants will quickly grow and spread to cover the space.
Recall that plants in pots and containers require far more watering than plants in the outdoors. water at least once each day on particularly hot days.
Inspiration for planting bulbs in pots
These three container displays highlight the lovely nature of bulbs. Some have been mass-planted for striking effect or gathered together to provide a strong sensation of springtime.
A bowl of Fritillaria
The tiny snake’s head fritillaries, Fritillaria melegaris bulbs, are used in this show. They can be elevated to a prominent location and their gorgeous checkered bell-shaped blooms can be fully appreciated by growing them in a bowl.
Fritillaria bulbs are extremely delicate and frequently dry out while being stored. Before planting, soak them in lukewarm water for a few hours to give your display every chance of success. In the spring, you can also purchase them “in the green.” If you’re planting bulbs in the fall, do so as early in the season as feasible in moist, humus-rich loam-based compost that is four times as deep as the bulbs themselves. Make sure the containers have drainage holes. Use chicken wire or plastic netting to protect.
When eventually planted outside, using small pots helps to avoid upsetting their roots, and if placed together on a window sill or table in elegant containers, they will still give the impression of being in a meadow.
Grouped hyacinths
Gardeners always rejoice when springtime finally arrives, but sometimes we can forget about some of the smaller flowering bulbs, like the gorgeous, traditional grape hyacinths. This arrangement blends the fragrant white Muscari aucheri “White Magic” cultivar with the ornamental seedheads and fragrant blue Muscari armeniacum blooms that bloom from April to May. Scilla siberica is also present. It is possible to appreciate muscari’s beauty in finer detail by growing them in pots to bring indoors. It is also a terrific method to test out new bulbs sparingly. The display has a fashionable edge thanks to the copper pots.
As the squills prefer humus-rich soil, pot the bulbs in the fall using a loam-based compost with additional sand for drainage and leaf mould. To promote early flowering, leave outside in a protected area and place inside a polytunnel in January. As the plants begin to bloom, you can move them into their permanent containers. For a polished effect, top dress them with garden gravel.
After the exhibition is over, grape hyacinths will benefit from a liquid seaweed feed because they need lots of light but not direct sunshine. Before establishing lawns or borders, allow the foliage to wither.
Daffodils en mass
Putting down a smear of color right when you need it is quite convenient when using pots. However, using narcissi makes it easy to create an arrangement that looks artificial or is overly yellow-biased. Planting narcissi in separate pots of just a few properly chosen varieties or, if the pot is spectacular enough, a single star, produces the greatest results.
Narcissus ‘Elka’ is used in this display. It’s a beautiful daffodil with ivory-white petals and a trumpet that is a light shade of yellow before turning china white. It also has a delicate, sweet fragrance. By September, narcissus bulbs should be planted, and if grown in containers, they require a lot of grit, usually one part grit to three parts John Innes No 1. Mid-sized narcissus bulbs can fit up to 75 in a planter with a diameter of 80 cm. Crocks should be placed over the drainage hole in troughs to ensure that it remains open.