![]() The bulbs should be refrigerated in a paper bag, and located away from fruits or vegetables (which emit ethylene gas that can kill the tiny flower inside the bulb). Some online recommendations call for a chill period of as short as four weeks, but the optimal duration is 12 weeks, reflecting the natural period for tulips. You could order tulip bulbs early enough for you to chill them below 55 degrees F before planting by late November or mid-December. For example, browse to and search for “pre-chilled.” As the season advances, more temperate-climate gardeners and cold-climate procrastinators will want to grow tulips and more nurseries will offer pre-chilled bulbs. Some online nurseries and possibly local garden centers offer tulip bulbs that have been pre-chilled and delivered in time for planting. Here are approaches to consider: Pre-chilled tulip bulbs ![]() Evidently, all tulips do not require the same chill treatment.īut all is not lost! You can grow tulips in a temperature climate by using an appropriate strategy. It has bloomed every year since then, without special care on my part. I have had regular blooms from Tulipa ‘Peer Gynt’, purchased in 1998 during a visit to Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands. It is possible to get lucky with a tulip variety that adapts to the local climate. ![]() The Monterey Bay area is in Zone 9, which does have cool and even freezing temperatures but does not provide the 12 to 14 weeks of cold soil (i.e., below 55 degrees F) that tulips require in order to bloom during the following spring. The large majority of tulip bulbs that are available from mail-order nurseries or local garden centers are recommended for planting in USDA Zone 8 or lower. Despite the impressive diversity of today’s tulip cultivars, local gardeners generally do not grow these plants because the Monterey Bay area lacks the chill period that most tulips require during their dormancy.
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