When to plant tulips?
- Botanical name
- Tulipa
- Family
- Liliaceae
Tulips are planted from September to November. They flower from April to May.
Tulips are perennial plants. The edible parts are the flowers.
The tulip goes in as a dry bulb while it is dormant. The depth is measured to the bottom of the bulb and not to its top. Botanical species sit shallower than garden varieties.
After flowering the leaves yellow and die back, and the bulb passes into summer rest. In summer it needs little water. While it grows in a bed the rain normally suffices, and extra watering comes only after a longer drought.
The tulip is not sown. New plants come from dividing the bulbs. Only some botanical species can be raised from seed, and those need several years to reach flowering size.
Tulips through the year
- planting
- flowering
In short
Growing conditions
The flowers are listed as edible and as toxic at once. The toxicity is to cats and dogs, not to people.
Are tulips toxic to cats and dogs?
Yes. Toxic to cats and dogs, toxic parts: roots, bulbs, leaves and flowers.
Pests and diseases
Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.
- Signs
- Colonies of small aphids sit on the shoot tips and the underside of the leaves. The leaf curls and puckers, and sticky honeydew is left on everything below. The viruses they carry are more dangerous than the feeding itself.
- Prevention
- Go easy on nitrogen, because soft sappy growth is what aphids are looking for. Encourage the predators (ladybirds, lacewings, parasitic wasps). Use a reflective mulch, which puts them off settling, and a strong jet of water to knock the colony off the tips. Check the stored bulbs as well, because aphids settle on them in store and not only on the leaves.
- What to do
- Potassium soap works on contact and only while it is wet, so it has to reach the underside of the leaf. On drought-loving plants and in heat it can scorch, so apply it in the evening.
- Signs
- Freshly planted bulbs are dug up and scattered over the bed or vanish without a trace. In spring nothing comes up in that spot. Birds rummage through freshly worked soil, rodents carry off the whole bulb.
- Prevention
- Bulbs are most vulnerable in the first few weeks after planting, until they take root. Lay a metal mesh over the bed or over the pot and take it off once the leaves come through. Level the planting spot and leave no husks or leftovers on the surface. Rodents leave daffodils alone, so plant them among the more popular bulbs.
- What to do
- A mesh over the planting spot is the only measure.
- Signs
- Holes appear in the middle of the leaf rather than along the edge, young plants are eaten down to the ground, and there are slimy trails in the morning. On low-growing fruit there are gnawed pits.
- Prevention
- Remove the hiding places beside the bed: boards, stones, dense weeds. Water in the morning and not in the evening, so that the night is dry. Spread a band of coarse sand or gravel around the bed. Cover young plants with fleece. Pick them off at night, which is still the most effective measure.
- What to do
- Baits with iron phosphate are held to carry less risk for pets and children. Put them out in bands beside the bed, not scattered over the whole surface.
- Signs
- The leaves are distorted or twisted and do not open out fully, with brown dead spots on them that keep spreading. In damp weather a grey mouldy coating forms over them. The petals get spots and rot fast in the wet. On the dead tissue and on the scales of the bulb small black bodies form, with which the disease overwinters in the soil.
- Prevention
- Before planting check the bulbs and throw out every one with small black bodies or with rot on it. Plant far enough apart for the foliage to dry. Dig up affected plants at once and take them out of the garden. Where the disease has been, do not plant tulips for at least three years.
- What to do
- For the home garden there is no chemical measure. What is left is removing the affected plants and a break in that spot.
Check the registration and the label before use.
Keep track of your plants with Tendask
Log the task and set a reminder for the next one. Every plant keeps its own history, so there is nothing to guess at.
Related plants
The plant below is in the same botanical family (Liliaceae).
Sources about the plant: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, Clemson Cooperative Extension, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, Iowa State University Extension, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Royal Horticultural Society, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 28 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: University of Maryland Extension, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, Utah State University Extension.