Tulips

[jinman]

I know it's not much, but this is the first bed of tulips I have ever grown. Many of them are still just sprouting despite the fact that we carefully planted them all at the same depth. Anyhow, they are pretty and signal a certain change to spring. My deer netting fence makes sure they are preserved for us and not a meal for some hungry doe.:thumbsup:

 

[Western]

I know it's not much, but this is the first bed of tulips I have ever grown. Many of them are still just sprouting despite the fact that we carefully planted them all at the same depth. Anyhow, they are pretty and signal a certain change to spring. My deer netting fence makes sure they are preserved for us and not a meal for some hungry doe.:thumbsup:

Nice Tulips Jim! I have bad luck growing them for some reason. Your photo may inspire me to give them another go.

Love the rocks too, where did you get them? off your place??

Also, you must have short deer, or mine are just more determined!:laughing::laughing: Every once and a while they'll get in the dog pen, don't know why. Greener on the other side I guess.

 

[jinman]

Also, you must have short deer, or mine are just more determined!:laughing::laughing: Every once and a while they'll get in the dog pen, don't know why. Greener on the other side I guess.

Ha! Dennis, you make me feel good. The netting is drawn over the top of the bed. It's mesh guards from the sides and top. You can't see it very well and that is exactly why we use it. It doesn't take away from the pretty flowers.

Yep, the rocks are just random rocks I gathered up to define this flowerbed. They are not very consistent, but at least they define the space. Actually, there was some wild blue sage growning in this spot and I surrounded it with the rocks so I would not mow it down. After two years, the sage didn't come back and I tilled the bed up and planted a wildflower and zinnia mix. Last December, I added six bags of cotton burr compost and tilled it in good before planting the tulips. When the tulips go, I'll lightly rake the top of the soil and sew zinnias. I just like having this little bed of flowers up near the gravel road. I hope the neighbors enjoy it as they drive by. I know my mail carrier does because I saw her taking pictures of the flowers last year when they were surrounded by bluebonnets. This year I am watering the area so I'll have some bluebonnets, but they are not going to be good because our drought has been too severe.

 

[NSBound]

Nice looking tulip bed, Jim. :thumbsup: My tulips have barely emerged from the soil. In fact, they were up an inch or so, then it got cold again and they pulled back down into the earth. Just the tips are showing now. We're still below freezing in the daytime for the next week or so, so you're waaaaay ahead of us!

 

[Western]

Ha! Dennis, you make me feel good. The netting is drawn over the top of the bed. It's mesh guards from the sides and top. You can't see it very well and that is exactly why we use it. It doesn't take away from the pretty flowers.

Your right, in the photo you can't see the net on top!!

Jim, I think your the 1st person to have a "Deer Trampoline"

I prefer the native rocks. On our place we would like to use allot of rock, but I shy from the standard Austin type stuff, it is everywhere. We try to get them from the creek bed as long as we don't get to much at a time since we have erosion problems.

10-4 on the Bluebonnets! they sure are behind this year, huge lack of rain and probably habitat too, I know the KR Blue stem is getting pretty invasive for Bluebonnets. I've tried planting seed with no luck also.

 

[jinman]

10-4 on the Bluebonnets! they sure are behind this year, huge lack of rain and probably habitat too, I know the KR Blue stem is getting pretty invasive for Bluebonnets. I've tried planting seed with no luck also.

Dennis, to get my bluebonnets to grow and bloom this year, I've been watering the whole area (1/4 acre) with impulse sprinklers and soaker hoses. That is just wrong!:ashamed: Unfortunately, we are having the driest March ever for as long as records have been kept. It's water my wildflowers or do without this year. While the midwest is getting flooded, we seem to be in the grips of La Nina. A couple of years ago, I scooped up bluebonnet plants, seeds, roots, and all with my loader and spread them over this 1/4 acre. Last year it was beautiful. I actually had people not whizzing by, but slowing down on the dusty county road to look at my bluebonnets.

 

[WayneB]

Jim we still have snow-up's here will be another three weeks or so before we will see anything coming up I fear.

Nice pic though....

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Nice stand of Tulips Jim. Not exactly the kinds of flowers I think of when thinking of Tx.

The ease of which one can grow flowers varies greatly with locale. Here in the PNW (West of the Cascades) flowers and all thing organic grow with ease . Down around Salem Or. there are a number of flower farms with a good percentage being the largest in the nation for the kind of flowers that farm grows.

Hope yuo can keep the critters away and the Tulips come back year after year.

 

[EddieWalker]

I was watching a show about Tulips in Holland and some of what goes into the planning of their gardens. They said that for the most impact, to not mix your colors. Plant the entire bed in one color. Then if you have room, do another bed in another color.

Eddie

 

[dcyrilc]

I was watching a show about Tulips in Holland and some of what goes into the planning of their gardens. They said that for the most impact, to not mix your colors. Plant the entire bed in one color. Then if you have room, do another bed in another color.

Eddie

You mean something like this?

 

[EastTexFrank]

Well Jim, you've found my soft spot. Tulips, along with roses, are the only flowers that I've ever enjoyed growing and strangely, I've never tried them in East Texas but you might have inspired me. Many years ago, I used to grow them in beds against the house. You can get many varieties that grow different heights and stagger them in beds with the taller ones in the back, medium one and short ones at the front. It makes for a spectacular display of color against a wall.

 

[jinman]

I was watching a show about Tulips in Holland and some of what goes into the planning of their gardens. They said that for the most impact, to not mix your colors. Plant the entire bed in one color. Then if you have room, do another bed in another color.

Yeah Eddie, I waited half the day for the Dutch Boys to show up to help me, but they didn't show, so I planted them the way Kathy and I wanted instead. Actually, the center of the the bed is all deep red and the outside ring has multi-colored bulbs. I'm not really happy with how the timing and size of the plants has turned out. Nothing on the bags of bulbs was there to tell me how to identify the bulbs nor what I could expect as far as differences in height. We've noticed the pink tulips are 4" to 6" taller than the rest. The red tulips seem to take longer to sprout (We raised the center of the bed hoping to make the red ones stand out. Even at that, the pinks in the outside ring are taller...sigh!). The yellow tulips are the shortest and the orange/red multi-colored ones are yet another height. If I had identifiable bulbs and multiple beds, ensuring all the tulips of each color were in each bed would be a perfect way to keep all blooms at the same height. Even so, I could let these grow until they die back and then dig the bulbs and put them into identified bags for next year. I don't think I'll do that this year. I want to just leave them all in the ground and sew zinnias on top of them for the summer. I want to see if my tulips sprout earlier and get bigger if they alread have established root systems around the bulbs. ETFrank is right. They are beautiful flowers and nothing on my road, from the highway to the end over a mile past my house, has anything as pretty as my spring tulip bed, even with the multiple colors and heights.:dance1:

ETFrank: I bought two big bags of tulip bulbs at Sam's Club. If I plant more, I will probably try to buy single-color bulbs as Eddie suggested. I want to build a short retainer wall along my driveway on the yard side. Behind that retainer would make a perfect spot for a long flower bed that could be broken into several 25' segments all with densely planted tulip beds of single colors. Now that I know I can grow them, I'm gonna be outta control.:laughing:

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Here are a few pics from a nearby Tulip farm. Looks to be about 100A.

The town has a month long Tulip Festival every spring and brings in many thousands of visitors.

 

[jinman]

Here are a few pics from a nearby Tulip farm. Looks to be about 100A.

Wow! Just like mine. . . NOT!:laughing: Gosh, that's beautiful and colorful.:thumbsup: I take it that they sell bulbs off that farm.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Sure do. Here is their web link. Tulips, Daffodils and Other Bulbs - Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm

From the web link looks like the festival opened up just a couple days ago.

The wife and I try and visit the festival regulary and over the decades it has grown. Since we moved last fall, visits to the area and all the flower farms will be less frequent.

Here are a couple links to other nearby flower farms. Just a few of many.
Schreiner's Iris Gardens - Hundreds of varieties of radiant irises for your flower garden
Swan Island Dahlias providing the highest quality dahlia bulbs and dahlia flower
Roses, Rose Bushes, Rose Gardening, Rose Plants