In the fall of 2020, mired in the uncertainty of the world and convinced we might never venture off the farm again, my daughter and I ordered some tulip bulbs. Tulips, while beautiful, have never been a mainstay of any of my gardens. They are too expensive to be treated like annuals, and yet that is how they have always performed for me. But we had so much fun looking through the bulb catalogs, starring the ones we wanted, and in the end, we had some pink and purple ones, some yellow and red ones, and a smattering of species tulips.
We ordered, we planted, and we waited with anticipation.
Some people have tulips, but not me.
Not a single tulip came up.
We were bereft. Was it the squirrels? The voracious moles? Chipmunks? All of those critters plus karma from the tulip gods?
So bright, so cheery, and not mine.
I have planted THOUSANDS of daffodils and jonquils. Their blooming period is my favorite time of year.
But tulips – they defy me and my gardening desires. Do I need to employ chicken wire? (Or underground bombs to foil the moles and voles?) Maybe I just to come to peace with my envy and enjoy the tulips I see flourishing in other gardens. No other bulb has proved resistant to my gardening efforts, and my family would claim I have an unsettling effect on perennial tall garden phlox, which grows vigorously and quickly (a bit too vigorous in some places). But it’s like a madness, this impasse with the tulip – though nothing like the tulip mania of 1634-1637. I’m nowhere near risking financial ruin in my wish to succeed with tulip plantings….
I guess I will just plant more jonquils.
Tulips can be fussy. I remember having an old red variety when I lived in Camargo. It is probably the old varieties that would be the least fussy. What may be best though is to occupy the space with more plants of what does grow well for you. Maybe Daylilies?
I am planted them where I thought they would do well – in-between some jonquils and daylilies – good drainage, full sun – and nothing. I wasn’t prepared for them to last one more than one season, but I thought they would at least come up for one spring! Sigh. The heartbreaks of gardening…
When I lived in Kentucky, almost everything I stuck in the ground would grow. But now that I live in Florida… I have the same problem. I see people growing things that I can’t grow, or have to grow in a pot.
You are not alone.
After year- two failure of tulips, I planted specie tulips. They are supposed to be more perennial. And they are! All four of them.
40 years of gardening in KY has taught me to always consider tulips as annuals! I usually splurge on a pot to enjoy indoors for a few days. I grew up in Albany, NY, founded by the Dutch, and there is a huge Tulip Festival with thousands planted in the public parks; I do miss them.
Abandon those ungrateful tulips and plant a patch of hellebores and primroses, which will bring the promise and bloom of spring into your garden 6 weeks before tulips will even think of stirring. You won’t be sorry.
I’ll have to share a photo of my lenten roses and yellow primroses! The latter is a hand-me-down plant from my grandmother and I can’t have enough! I need to investigate how deer resistant they are, as I have a larger shade garden further from the house, but that means it is closer to where the deers dare venture.
Delighted to know you share my love of hellebores and primroses. Your yellow primroses sound like mine, the English woodland ones. And how lovely to have had them handed down. The deer have never nibbled them here. Perhaps they have too many hydrangeas to chew on.
I would say, don’t give up…
Maybe I will try planting some in cages this fall!