My black tulips have bloomed beautifully. What do I now do with the stalks/bulbs so that they will bloom again next spring.

• 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 lifted with the foliage still intact, 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) over summer.
• Tulips are cool climate bulbs so need winter chilling to initiate flowers. If you are in a warmer region of New Zealand, 6-8 weeks before planting in autumn place the tulips in the fridge to chill, then they are ready to plant out. Make sure apples are not stored in the fridge with the tulips as apples emit ethylene gas which inhibits flower formation.
• When tulip bulbs are purchased, they have already been through the chilling process and are ready to plant.
• In warmer regions plant tulips deeper than the recommended planting depth where the soil temperature is cooler.
• If the bulbs are planted in pots, move the pot to a cool dry place over summer, repot in autumn, but to get the best results they will need a chilling period before repotting. 

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