How to Keep Potted Tulips Alive

Care for potted tulips while they are still green and actively growing. Keep them near a sunny window and water them when the top of the soil dries out. Fertilize the plants with a houseplant fertilizer using the fertilizer amount and schedule as indicated on the label.

Remove the flower stalks with a pair of clean hand clippers after the flowers fade. This practice conserves the energy the plants would have used to produce seeds and uses it instead the next growing season. Do not remove the green foliage.

Allow the soil to dry out when the tulips' foliage turns yellow and dies back. Remove the bulbs from the pot, place them in an open box and move them to a cool location, such as a garage. Keep them there until you can plant them outdoors in the fall in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 8. If you want to replant the bulbs in the pot, proceed to the next step.

Keep the bulbs in storage until two months before you want to start growing them again. Then, cover the bulbs with moist sand and place them in the crisper section of the refrigerator. Leave them there for two months and then replant the bulbs in a pot of fresh potting soil and care for them again so they'll grow and possibly bloom.