Tulips

About a year ago I quizzed you lovely green fingered folks about flowers which bloom in May, which I could grow myself for my wedding in 2014. I ended up going with Tulips and last May my garden was absolutely beautiful. They grew so well with very little help from me and looked stunning, so the decision was made, I was having Tulips for the wedding. Trouble is due to personal circumstances we have had to change the date of the wedding and it will now be the first week of June, but I still want tulips! If I remember correctly last years tulips were at their best mid May and looking a bit bedraggled by the end of May, so I'm pretty sure that plans out of the window. I was just wondering though if there was something I could do to delay flowering maybe. I planted them out in November, so if I waited till end of December or beginning of January would it make them flower later or just be more likely to make them not flower at all? Anyone have any experience or clever tips?

 

Planting time of spring bulbs rarely has much effect on flowering time, that is mostly governed by spring or late winter weather conditions.

 

Not sure I have an answer to the delay part, as they are timed by mother nature to come up, triggered by climate and sun etc. And planting them later won't do it also. They should remain in ground now anyway. You do not need to lift them at all. In fact they will double for you in ground.

MY suggestion is though, to do some research and see if you can find any Tulips that bloom very late (find out how late that is first) they may be June bloomers out there. Also the next batch of bulbs to bloom are Alliums they start in June, there are a few species that are pretty and can stand up to cut flower arrangements nicely, take a look at those.

 

Thanks Pete, sounds like its out of my hands then. I have been looking into forcing the tulip bulbs but get the impression that would only work if I wanted them earlier rather than later. Ah well, back to the drawing board

 

Thanks redstar, I'll look into alliums too. Didn't know that tulips doubled if left in so that will be nice

 

Yep, and alliums double, daffs double, stargazer lilies double. Well thats a suggestion---Lillies for your wedding. Check on those. They are June/July bloomers. They come in many sizes and colors.

 

Thanks redstar, had a look at alliums and i don't think they'd work with our colour scheme but lilies would so thanks for that suggestion

 

Don't be too disappointed if your tulips don't double up, or even flower again, newpotato. They only thrive and increase on light, well-drained soil, so if your soil is on the heavy side, the bulbs will split into bulbils which take some time to grow on to reach flowering size. Re. lilies, stick to Asiatics which bloom in June. The Orientals, including Stargazer, bloom later in July and August in the UK.

 

Thank you noisette, I know nothing about lilies, so probably would have got the wrong ones