Perennial Tulips

What is a perennial tulip?

Within this group we have all of our tulips that will likely return for 1-2 years after the initial bloom.  We can’t promise that it will be more, but it can be much longer.

You can see our top 10 perennial tulips here. 

Perennial tulips are a bit of a myth. There are tulips that will definately flower for a number of years, but we are often reluctant to call them perennial. The reason for this is due to a number of factors which are out our hands. All plants are affected by growing conditions and leaving the tulip bulbs in the ground is not a guarantee of success.  

To understand it fully you need to see what happens to the bulb once the flower has finished. Tulips especially. The bulb splits into many little bulblets. A tulip bulb will need to be at least 9 cm in circumference to produce a flower the next year. These little bulblets can often be far below the size they need to be to gain enough energy, and consequently only produce a few leaves. 

Intricate tulips such as double tulips and multi-headed tulips need big bulbs to put on a good performance. You will be unlikely to see these reappear. 

This is also why species tulips are much more successful at reappearing each year. They dont require such a large source of food to produce new flowers.

We recommend you top up your perennial collection every 2-3 years.

The best perennial tulips 

The following are the most reliable tulips to put on a repeat performance. 

• Species tulip
• Darwin Hybrid
• Fosterinana
• Viridiflora

How to improve your chances for perennial flowers

To maximise the chance of reflowering remember to 

• Remove seed heads
• Clear dead petals
• Let the leaves turn brown
• Feed occasionally after flowering
• Plant a little deeper (15 cm)
• Use high quality soil