Hi Tui, my black tulips have bloomed beautifully. What do I now do with the stalks/bulbs so that they will bloom again next spring. Thank you.

Hi Joanne, I am assuming this was the first flowering season for your tulips? You can remove the flower stalk, but let your tulip bulb foliage die down naturally, do not remove the foliage until it turns brown and dries off as this is the food reserves for the bulb next season. The bulbs can be dug up with the foliage still in tact, leave the bulbs to dry off naturally in a cool dry place. Once the foliage has dried off, remove it and store the bulbs in a cool dry place, preferably in a paper bag (not plastic).

Tulips are cool climate bulbs. When you purchase your bulbs, they have already been through the chilling period and are ready to plant. As you live in a warm climate, to get the best results from your tulips next season they will need a chilling period.  This can be achieved, if leaving them in the garden, by planting them deeper into the soil where the soil is cooler for the bulb over summer, or, chilling the bulbs in the fridge 8-12 weeks before you want to plant them in autumn. Make sure they are not in the fridge at the same time as apples as apples give off ethylene gas which inhibits flowering in bulbs. If the bulbs are planted in a pot, move the pot to a cool dry place over summer, repot in autumn, but to get the best results they will still need a chilling period. The Tui Team.