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Tulip Novice - Perennial?

Dilip_UKDilip_UK Posts: 114
in Plants
First time growing tulips in pots. Good results I think. I got the bulbs from a local garden centre. The bag simply said 'Perennial Tulips'. I have no idea of variety I have, mixture of sizes and colour have appeared. Welcome ideas on variety, so I know what I actually have. 

Also being perennial, does that I mean I deadhead, then wait for the leaves to die off. What next, do I remove the bulbs and store or leave them in the pots. I live in S. London if that is a factor. 

Thank you


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Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Unfortunately, many of them aren't perennial, despite what labels say. You'd need to give them exactly the conditions they need in order to come back reliably each year, and that's quite difficult in the UK. The exception being the species/botanical tulips and a few other types which are more adaptable. 
    Certainly, when the flowers finish, take them off, and you can take the actual stem off too if you want, then let them die back, feeding a couple of times to help the bulbs get enough nutrition. In pots, they need more help than in the ground.
    Then just put them somewhere sheltered where they won't get waterlogged. You might be lucky  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @dbhattuk With care you may get them to flower year two but I wouldn't rely on it.
    Large Country Houses dig them up by the thousand after flowering and start again.
    I don't think you have any of the species tulips in your lovely photo.
    I
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    It's definitely worth a try though - nothing to lose. Some may be related to 'Apeldoorn' which is not a species tulip but, in my experience, is very perennial. I planted maybe 6 bulbs a few years ago and every year more come back. This is not a great picture but you get the idea. I do nothing to them. They're in the ground, also in South London.


    Other cultivars are long gone, but not 'Apeldoorn'. 
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @LG_ That is interesting my Mother in Law grew a red tulip for years in the ground. It was a red, the soil was well drained, in Oxfordshire. I think it might have been the same as yours looking at the photo. Thankyou.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I have several different colours of tulip of that type, planted over the years … some have kept going for around ten years and still look lovely, others only lasted a year or two before they faded away to nothing. 

    I leave them planted in the ground and just let them get on with it, adding dome slow acting general fertiliser to the whole bed a couple of times a year (early spring and then in summer) for the sake of the flowering shrubs etc that also grow there. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    edited April 2023
    @GardenerSuze , quite possibly - these ones are well known for lasting well, apparently. When I planted them I didn't realise that, I just wanted a classic red tulip. Every year I am amazed by them though! 
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited April 2023
    The Apeldoorns are fairly reliable - yellow as well as red. They eventually disappear here though.
    I don't think there are any species tulips in the photo, but if that's Ronaldo bottom right, and in the centre [the dark purple one]  that can come back quite well.    :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    LG_ said:
    It's definitely worth a try though - nothing to lose. Some may be related to 'Apeldoorn' which is not a species tulip but, in my experience, is very perennial. I planted maybe 6 bulbs a few years ago and every year more come back. This is not a great picture but you get the idea. I do nothing to them. They're in the ground, also in South London.


    Other cultivars are long gone, but not 'Apeldoorn'. 
    Thank you for the photo and name. This tulip has just come into bloom here... I planted the bulbs a few years ago for previous owner, now passed away. He loved red flowers! It feels like a hello from him every time they come back.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    There's a clump of Apeldoorn in my parents' garden (in Sheffield) that has been there as long as I can remember, so at least 50 years and probably close to 60 because parents weren't gardeners back then so I think they were planted by the previous owner, which puts it before 1965. I'd say that's perennial :).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'd say that's persistently perennial @JennyJ ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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