What to Do With Tulips After They Bloom

Harvesting Blooms

• Once your tulips begin to bloom, you can cut fresh flowers to display in a vase indoors. To get the longest life out of an indoor arrangement, harvest the blooms before they begin to open. Cut the stem just above the leaves -- water and nutrients that could feed the flower can be wasted on the leaves. Before placing in lukewarm water, make an angled cut on the stem to provide the greatest surface area through which the flower can absorb water.

Deadheading

• After tulip flowers have finished blooming, a seedpod develops on the head of the stem. This should be removed because they take precious energy and nutrients from the bulb. Tulips are most easily propagated through bulb multiplication, rather than seed, so you want the bulbs to get as many nutrients as possible. The process of removing the seedpod is known as deadheading. All you have to do is cut the head of the flower stem off at least 1 inch below the seedpod. Some gardeners prefer to cut the stem at the base instead.

Leave the Leaves

• You may be tempted to cut down your tulip plants after the last blooms have expired, but you wait until the leaves brown naturally before cutting them. Even after the flowers are gone, the bulb continues to receive nutrients from the green leaves through photosynthesis. The more green leaves that remain, the more nutrients the bulb receives to increase the chances for healthy plants in subsequent seasons. After the leaves are brown, you can cut the plant back to ground level.

Mark the Location

• If you plan to dig up the bulbs, you should mark their location so you know where to dig when the time comes. Completing this step depends on your preference for tulip bulb care. Some gardeners prefer to leave the bulbs in the ground, while other gardeners like to remove them from the ground to replant later. Digging the bulbs lets you separate bulbs when they multiply to prevent overcrowding in the bed. Wood stakes pushed into the ground blend in among other flowers in the flowerbed, but make it easy to locate the bulbs.

Digging the Bulbs

• By mid-summer or about six weeks after tulips finish blooming, tulip bulbs are dormant and it is safe to dig up the bulbs to save until you replant them in the fall. Carefully dig up the bulbs with a garden trowel and remove each from the soil. They are easy to find because they are still attached to some foliage. Tulip bulbs multiply and should be divided so new plants have plenty of growing room.

Storing Bulbs

• Proper storage of tulip bulbs is essential to increasing the chances of a healthy tulip crop in the following spring. The return of tulip bulbs is less predictable than with other bulb flowers, so careful consideration should be given to maintain healthy bulbs. Trim the roots from the tulip bulbs and rinse them with lukewarm water to remove excess soil. Set them out to dry. Put the bulbs in plastic bags or storage containers and store them in a cool, dry place. A cellar or dry basement should be OK for storing bulbs, but some gardeners like to keep them in the freezer. Plant the bulbs in the desired location in the fall before the ground hardens for winter.