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planting tulips in pots
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Posted by roxanna z5b MA (My Page) on Wed, Sep 30, 09 at 19:45
| Can tulips be planted in containers (2 ft diameter, 18 inches tall) in zone 5 (Massachusetts)and survive the winter outdoors? I am running out of room for the "Blushing Beauty" bulbs in my gardens, as I inadvertantly bought (online) 130 of them! [I won't even mention the 400+ daffodils I have yet to come....] |
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RE: planting tulips in pots
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- Posted by maryl Z7 Okla. (My Page) on
Thu, Oct 1, 09 at 0:52
| The thought of potting that many bulbs by myself makes me cringe. But if you succeed how beautiful will that be.... Well, I pass this on to you because it may be relevant to your question even though we are in different zones. I called Brent & Becky Bulbs with just that question about Tulips; "Can I pot up tulips and overwinter them outside for next spring". Again, the answer he gave was geared towards a warmer zone, but the method is contained on BB's website under the subtitle "lectures". You will have to do a little searching as I don't have time to look it up for you, but under the Lectures subtitle I think it was the lecture about living arrangements or something like that. |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| Roxanna, I'm in Kansas but a couple of years ago I got tulip bulbs too late to plant because the ground was frozen. So I put them in a brown paper bag and stuck them in my crisper until early spring. I planted them and they actually bloomed, a little later then the rest but hey it worked. |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| ํAotner choice is to pot them up and bury them pot and all in the garden. Dig them up in spring and set them wherever you want. |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| I was told that they will freeze in the containers if left outside (they will not stay as warm as they would in the ground.) I am also in zone 5 and planted them in pots, and am keeping them in my attached garage. I'm hoping it will work, as I planted over 100 tulips too :) |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| 'Blushing Beauty' Tulips are supposed to be hardy to z.3, which is two zones hardier than your z.5. This seems to be the recommendation for planting perennials, shrubs or bulbs in containers to have them overwinter. Drainage is a very important factor in overwintering, so extra perlite, gravel or course sand in the container is a good precaution. Even so, it seems to be a a bit of a gamble to get fall bulbs to overwinter outdoors in conainers in z.5 or colder. Some people have succeeded and others have failed. Because your containers are so large, you might be successful, where others have failed due to using much smaller ones. |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| I planted about a dozen tulip bulbs in pots last year. Three of them came up in the spring and they were beautiful. However, the others either didn't come up or sprouted too early and died. I planted them on a rainy and snowy Halloween weekend and thought that was late enough in the season. It then got unseasonably warm and many sprouted 2-3 weeks later. When they got to be about 3 inches tall, the cold weather came back. |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| thanks, everyone, for the replies. since i had a major senior moment last april when ordering my fall bulbs, and placed one order, forgot about it and placed another order, i have enough tulips (130) to experiment using some in the containers. [we shall NOT discuss the remaining 450 daffodil bulbs that will soon be arriving with those tulips... LOL] |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| Thanks for asking this question! I have a similar question too, and I found this thread after doing a search... I am also trying to plant tulips in a container and I am in zone 5b too. I did plan to leave the container in my unheated but insulated garage. My question is, my garage usually stays in the 40's during winter. Is that too warm for the container with tulips? I doubt that my container with tulip bulbs will do well outside on my deck, so my only option pretty much is the garage. I would appreciate your advice on this! Thanks. |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| Around 40 degrees F. should be OK to overwinter most bulbs such as tulips or narcissus. If one is forcing bulbs in order to have them bloom indoors, that is the temperature they should be kept at during their chilling period. |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| ontnative, thank you so much for the answer! In general, is it better to put the tulip bulbs in the pot now, leave it in the unheated garage, or just put the bulbs in the refrigerator and plant them in spring? Which is a preferable methods so that they will bloom better? |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| I'd love the answer to that too! Although, mine are already planted in containers in my garage. A total experiment... I will admit that even though I'm expecting the worst and hoping for the best I will be heartbroken if they don't bloom this Spring :( |
RE: planting tulips in pots
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| How often do you water those containers in the garage - weekly - keeping them moist? thank Carrie |
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