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Tulips and Daffodils

andyhamilton2andyhamilton2 Posts: 11
in Problem solving
Ok, so we planted Daffodils and Tulips in the Autumn of 2019 in two tin baths. Both came up magnificently last Spring. This year, the Daffs came up, but were poor in flowers and no Tulips appeared at all! Both Tulips and Daffs came up well in other parts of the garden, where they went direct into the ground. Anyone have any ideas why the baths were pants?

Posts

  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    Maybe the bulbs cooked in the tin baths. Metal containers can cause the soil to get too hot in summer.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Check that the baths have good drainage holes and they are not clogged up. Many tulips don't flower year after year. Professional gardens tend to put them in new every year. Species tulips are better at repeating annually. As the bulbs now die back, feed them a liquid seaweed to give nutrition for next years flowers.
  • SophieKSophieK Posts: 244
    In addition to above suggestions, are they in a sunny or shady location? If it's shady, it may be the issue, especially for tulips. Other possibility: did you freshen up the soil in the tub?
  • andyhamilton2andyhamilton2 Posts: 11
    Thank you all for your comments. Food for thought I think. The drainage is good, the soil is relatively new, so possibly for the Tulips I need to bite the bullet and plant new ones every year. Shame about the daffs, but maybe they need to be new as well. Thanks again. 
  • Dirty HarryDirty Harry Posts: 1,048
    Daffs don't need to be new. I have some in pots and baskets I've had for a couple of years now. I just make sure to feed them once the flowers are spent and while the leaves are still green until they've died back.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I've got daffs planted over 30 years ago that still flower every year. They don't get special feed, just a sprinkle or two of chicken poo pellets along with the rest of the borders.  Of the tulips that I planted the same year, only the species one, Tulipa bakeri "lilac wonder", has survived (and multiplied).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • ga00ga00 Posts: 5
    I read that you can lift tulips once the leaves have withered, store the bulbs somewhere cool and replant in the autumn. It seems a bit of a hassle, so I've never done it. I'd be interested to know if that has worked for anyone. 'Red Riding Hood' lasted a few years. The one that does come back every year is Tulipa tarda, which is white, star-shaped with yellow centres. Unfortunately, that's not the one I like best!
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    We inherited quite a few daffodils in our current garden, some are quite fancy doubles and they come back year after year. I suspect they have been in the garden at least 20+ years going off conversations with neighbours.

    We also inherited a clump of tulips which I think are Queen of the Night, they come back every year and as the garden wasn’t tended for two years prior to us moving in that’s at least 8 so far. They are planted right against a walnut tree in grass and get lots of sun in Winter and Spring but shade otherwise, it will however be dry.

    I haven’t had much success getting tulips to come back each year elsewhere in the garden. Our soil is too rich and damp. I did get two years from Purissima but don’t think I’m going to get flowers this year just some floppy leaves.

    I have managed to get three years in pots, from Parade and Van Eijk. The second year was as good as the first but not as many flowers this (third) year. However I don’t store them properly just decant them into an old tub behind the greenhouse and given them a feed and water (when I remember) until the leaves completely die down.

    When I was at Pershore college they had beds with Shirley and Gavota. They came back year after year very well and they recommended them as good perennials. Unfortunately, they’re not two varieties I particularly like.

    I haven’t managed to get any of the gorgeous new varieties to repeat. Parade and Van Eijk are old ‘standards’ which I can buy quite cheaply loose from our local garden centre.

    It does seem extravagant buying tulips for only one (guaranteed) year but I usually have them as my Christmas present off OH.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    These tulips have flowered faithfully for the past several years. They are probably not a colour I would have chosen but the story behind them makes them very special. Over the past 15 years my wife’s health has not always been good (six cancers, two brain aneurysms) and through it all our health insurers have been wonderful and, a while back, we wrote to tell them so. They asked if they could do a publicity video featuring Mrs Cotto and in the course of it, almost no more than a throwaway comment, she said she remembered on getting her first cancer diagnosis sitting in the hospital grounds staring at a bank of tulips and wondering if she would ever see tulips again. As a thank you present the company sent a big bag of tulip bulbs.
    Rutland, England
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