Any Idea Why My Tulips Are Blooming So Close To Ground? (pic)

[MamieCole]

This is the first year I've ever tried planting tulip bulbs. I followed the instructions that came with the bulbs as far as how deep to plant them, etc. 

I was super excited to see them starting to poke through a few weeks ago...but my joy was short-lived. My tulips are blooming before they even emerge from the ground completely. I thought it might just be a problem with the earliest one that popped through, but now two additional varieties have started doing the same thing. :( As you can see in the pic, the taller stem behind the purple tulip has already bloomed and lost its petals, and it is only about 4 inches out of the ground so far. 

I would assume that they are planted too deeply? Or maybe the weather has been too warm? I dunno.

I live in the Bay Area, CA, so we have pretty mild winters and we've had a pretty warm past coupe of months.

So what do I do to fix this for next year? Should I dig them up after they finish blooming and re-plant them next year? I am so bummed. We had to move from Oregon back to Cali last year. We used to go to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival every year. So to bring a little Oregon here with us, I ordered these bulbs from the same Oregon tulip farm. I really hope I haven't destroyed them. 

Any advice from someone with a thumb greener than mine is much appreciated!

[cschick]

What was the expected height on the bulbs you planted? I have some that bloom kind of like that, but they are supposed to, since they are basically dwarf tulips. Their expected height was 6-8 inches. (The flowers on yours look a little big for the typical short tulip though).

Also, many tulips are weird their first year and may correct themselves in later years without your interference. I'm hoping the bulbs we planted last fall actually recover ... they'd obviously been "primed" already, got confused with a warm snap we had in late December and started to grow. I live in Chicago--the poor things grew about 3 inches and froze.

[shaywyn]

It just may be that your winter was too mild. Tulips need a pretty good stretch of cold weather to develop properly, that's why they do better in places that have a "real" winter rather than some milder zones. I think the stems will probably get longer as they grow but by then the flowers will start to wilt. I would bet there are some websites with tips on growing tulips in milder climates. Your tulips are still pretty.

[MamieCole]

Thanks for the help. 

I planted 60 bulbs of different varieties. They are all supposed to be between 14" and 20", so not dwarf.

I think you may be right, that our winter was just too mild. I suppose that is why I don't see a lot of tulips around here.

I'll see what happens with the others that haven't bloomed yet.

Maybe we'll get a real winter next year and they will be ok. 

[limette]

In mild climates such as yours, tulips are treated as an annual that you have to pre-chill before planting in the spring.

[goldenwillow]

Honestly... mine look just like yours right now and I live on the Tulip Route in the Skagit Valley... TULIP CENTRAL!  I agree with the PP here. 

[northwoods1995]

I'm in MN and we definitely had a cold enough winter for tulips--and mine look the same as yours. They are flowering right above ground level and I don't know why. This is the first year I've had tulips.

[lmonter]

I'm guessing funny weather?  Like they started to pop up, then it got chilly and stalled them, then it got warm and they were in a hurry to bloom regardless of stem height?  Very pretty though.  :)