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.
planting tulip bulbs
In late October, November, or December, plant your tulip bulbs. The cold weather aids in the eradication of viral and fungi illnesses that can infect bulbs and lurk in the soil. Traditional disease prevention strategies include planting late.
I enjoy planting tulip bulbs far deeper than the recommended depth of most gardening guides, which is double the bulb’s depth—in this example, 8 cm (3 in). Tulips are less likely to try to reproduce and are more likely to bloom year after year if they are planted deeply.
Tulips can be arranged singly or in small groups amid perennial plants in your borders, but if you’re planting a lot of bulbs, it could be simpler to dig a trench or hole that is approximately 20 cm (8 in) deep. Cover the base of your garden with 5 cm (2 in) with cleaned sharp sand, horticultural grit, or decomposed compost if you are gardening in heavy soil. In order to promote the growth of next year’s blooms, you may also add a little amount of bone meal and mix it with the grit and soil at the bottom of the hole or trench.
The tulip bulbs should be spaced about 8 cm (3 in) apart, pointy end up, and covered with soil. Again, you can mix grit at a ratio of around one-third grit and two-thirds infill dirt if you garden in heavy soil.
If you don’t have enough room, put a layer of earth over the bulbs first, then add another layer of bulbs before covering the hole. You can still overplant the tulips without harming them because there is still adequate soil above the bulbs.
Use a conventional bulb planter or bulb planting trays to make the process of planting tulips easier. A bulb planter is wonderful if you’re planting among grass or herbaceous plants and bushes. When you press it into the ground, it acts like a huge apple corer and removes a core of soil. Put a little amount of grit or used compost in the bottom of the hole, insert the tulip bulb, and then backfill the hole with grit and compost as you would in a trench.
planting tulips in a pot
In the final weeks of October, November, and December, plant tulip bulbs in containers. Make sure your pot has sufficient drainage and use high-quality, peat-free compost.
It’s best to layer bulbs in what the Dutch refer to as a bulb lasagna—multiple layers of bulbs, one on top of the other, with compost in between—to achieve dense and floral spring pot displays. The biggest and most recent flowering bulbs are planted deepest, followed by the tiniest and most recent on the top layer. Emerging shoots from lower layer bulbs simply curve around anything they come into contact with that is seated over their heads and continue to grow.
When done this way, the bulbs should be spaced about 2-3cm (1-11/2in) apart rather than the single layer they would be in a pot. Before adding the next layer of bulbs, cover the first layer with 5 cm (2 in) of potting compost and bury it up to 28-30 cm (11–12 in) deep.
Remove the bulbs after flowering and put them in the ground before summer. To prevent the tulip from wasting energy trying to make seed, leave the foliage alone but prune away any dead flowers.
Is it possible to grow tulips 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:
Can bulbs be kept in pots during the winter?
I consider the beauty and drama they will bring to the landscape the following spring when I plant bulb containers in the autumn. These planted pots will not only serve as focus points around the garden but also serve as a welcoming sight for guests at the entrances and a splash of vibrant color in the spring garden.
Any bulb can be grown in a container, but tulips are by far my favorite due to their straightforward shape and virtually limitless color options. Different types of bulbs can coexist in the same container as long as they bloom at the same time. Otherwise, the later-flowering bulb’s display will be spoiled by the earlier bulb’s fading foliage. For the most impact, I like to plant only one kind of bulb per pot. By selecting bulbs with varying bloom periods, we can enjoy a succession of blooms from the beginning of March until the middle of May.
Plant bulbs in containers in fall
Our bulbs are planted in well-draining containers in late October. I can grow 50 tulips, 30 large-flowered daffodils, 50 tiny-flowered daffodils, or 100 small bulbs, such as Crocus, Muscari, Scilla, or Iris species or cultivars, in a 24-inch pot. In order to keep the bulbs in soil that is moist but not soggy, I fill the container with a soil mixture that drains extremely well. I plant the bulbs at a soil depth twice as much as the diameter of the bulb, precisely as I would in the ground.
I layer the bulbs when planting different types of bulbs in the same container if their planting depths differ (illustration at right). I place the larger bulbs in the container once it is filled to the correct level, cover them with soil, then wait until it is time to plant the smaller bulbs. I then add soil to the container, being careful to allow at least a half-inch space between the soil’s surface and the top of the container for watering.
I thoroughly water the planted container and continue to water it throughout the winter. The soil shouldn’t be too wet for the bulbs to sit in, but you also don’t want it to be completely dry.
Layering bulbs in containers
Put the larger bulbs first, cover them with dirt, and then plant the smaller bulbs in a container to grow a variety of bulbs. Just below the rim of the container, add soil.
Overwintering methods depend on where you live
In containers, overwintering bulbs is rather simple in Seattle gardens. Since stoneware pots may be kept outside during the winter, I primarily use them. Our mild winters enable us to tightly combine the pots in our nursery and leave them outside for the whole of the year.
For colder winter climes, more robust containers composed of stone, cast concrete, fiberglass, cast iron, or plastic are appropriate. In colder regions of the country, you might encircle the pots with firmly packed straw or bury them in sawdust before covering them with a thick layer of mulch (18 inches or more). Alternately, you may keep them in a garage or outbuilding that won’t get too cold but also won’t become hot during the day.
You have another choice if your winter is simply too harsh to risk leaving the bulbs out or if you wish to utilize bulbs in a container that cannot be stored in the cold. Plant your bulbs in 6- or 8-inch plastic pots, and protect them from the elements by storing them outside (in a cold frame, for example) or in a cold garage.
The pots can then be inserted into bigger display containers as they begin to bloom in the spring. When the threat of a hard frost has gone or the underground bulbs have begun to sprout in the spring, move your containers outside.
I put all the bulbs in the garden, excluding the tulips, after the flowers have faded and the spring festival is done. I compost tulips since they don’t grow nicely in later years. Then I start planning the kinds I’ll grow in the fall for the show the following year.
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How late can you plant tulips?
But you can plant bulbs as long as the ground is usable! If you can dig a hole deep enough to plant, you can plant bulbs as late as January. Till the end of January, plant tulips and daffodils! They will grow roots this way throughout the spring and bloom later than usual.