What is your zone?

Tulips are divided into groups. Some groups will naturalize and bloom year after year. Some won't. Try the Darwin group. Keep the pots on the dry side during summer. Use fresh soil each.year.

If you're in a warm winter area the bulbs will need a chill period in the refrigerator ~~ about 2-3 months ~~ before planting. Even then they may not be sucessful.

Tulips bulbs split. The small splits must grow to blooming size. The subsequent blooming in not as impressive as the first year.

If you are in a cold enough area for natural cooling, you don't have to pot your tulip bulbs. Just dig them leaving the leaves and stems attached and cure them on something like an old window screen, warm and dry, until the foliage completely dries off. Remove it then and store your tulip bulbs in a paper bag until it is time to replant them the next fall. Room temperature is just fine; just keep the bulbs dry.

Keep your beds fertilized and feed your tulips when they first emerge in the spring and then again about the time the buds start to stretch. Dig them after bloom is done about the time the foliage starts to yellow, but is still mostly green.

This works for Darwins, Darwin hybrids, Triumphs, the earlys, the lily flowered and the later May bloomers. These "Dutch" tulips respond very well to being dug annually, like we do with our garlics. The techniques are essentially the same, just the timing is a bit different. Your tulips should be well cured long before the curing racks are needed for the later garlics. It is very easy to get a decent increase as well. Extras to bed out for growing on or to give away is always nice.

Some of the species can be naturalized but the "Dutch" tulips run out if not well and regularly fed. They also tend to dig themselves deeper year by year if not reset annually, resulting in weaker and weaker bloom.

' ... I was wondering if, after they bloom, I could dig them up and put them in a pot - fertilize them and leave them in the pot. The next year they would bloom in the pot and I would not be bothered with the dead leaves in my garden. And if they don't bloom the next year, it is fine. Would this work?'

Yes, I think this would work.

You could select a pot which is deep enough to 'houzz' (sorry - I hate puns) them nicely.

The first 'planting' will be sort of temporary. The aim is to give them back their growing site, which is now the pot, because they didn't really want to be hauled out of the garden until they had completely died down. Place them in about 4 inches deep and fill in the soil around them. Doesn't have to be neat.

Water them in. And then maybe not water again.

Allow the foliage to die down naturally, and for the bulbs to take in any nburtrition they can. (When I did this some months ago now, I couldn't help but feel that even the dried foliage was given them something.)

When the foliage has completely dried off, you can dig them out again. You will find that you have many different sizes of bulbs. Some will be big enough to flower next Spring and many will not.

If you pot these bulbs straight away you will need to allow them to have a dry summer period - their dormant time. I do not know what happens in the bulb during this time but whatever it is, it is essential to their health. Perhaps it would be better to store them in a dry place out of direct sunlight, until Autumn (Fall).

Here in Australia, we plant out tulip bulbs in April - May. So I guess you would add six months to this for USA.

When you plant them, you might like to put all the flowering sized bulbs in one pot and all the small bulbs in a different pot. The little bulbs will once day reach flowering size. Just be sure to provide a dry period each summer.

One slight (huge, enormous) difficulty of allowing a soil to dry out is when it comes time to re-wet it. If it's potting mix, it will be very hard to re-wet. If it's soil from the garden, it should be okay. And it doesn't have to be bone dry but it absolutely cannot be wet, or the bulbs will rot. Depending on your rainfall, as long as the pot is not watered by you over summer, things should be okay.

It is Feb and cold. I love tulips and forget to plant any year after year. Is there any way I can plant some now with still 3 months til May? I have to try and remember to put some in for next spring, They are so darn pretty and energize me when I see them growing

sometwolips, whereabouts are you?