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OrnamentalbulbousSome care needed

Tulip

Tulipa

Spectacular for one spring and unreliable thereafter in most British gardens, because our summers are not dry enough to ripen the bulb. Planted late — November, once the soil is cold — to avoid tulip fire, and treated by many gardeners as an annual on purpose.

Position
Full sun
Water
low demand
Drainage
Free-draining
Grows to
20–60 cm × 10–20 cm
Hardiness
H6
Harvest
June and July
Difficulty
Some care needed

August

Nothing to do

No sowing, planting, harvesting or pruning window falls in August.

Tulip’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

ActivityJFMAMJJASOND
PlantNovember. December.
In flowerApril. May.
HarvestJune. July.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

Conditions it needs

Light
Full sun
Frost
Very hardy
Hardiness rating
H6 (RHS)
Grows best at
5–20 °C
Soil
Loam, Sandy, Chalky
Soil pH
6–7.5
Drainage
Free-draining
Water needs
low
Drought
good tolerance
Waterlogging
poor tolerance
Heat
moderate tolerance
Wind and exposure
moderate tolerance
Where these figures come from
LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulip — position

Checked 2026-08-13

FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulip — hardiness

Checked 2026-08-13

Hardiness ratingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings

Checked 2026-08-13

Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulip — temperature

Checked 2026-08-13

SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulip — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Soil pHSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Tulipa — culture

Checked 2026-08-13

DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulip — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

Wet summer soil rots the dormant bulb, which is why they fail to return.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

Tall hybrids blow over in exposed borders.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

SoilVerdictWhy
Heavy clayWorks, with one conditionTulip will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
SandyPrefers this soilSandy suits Tulip as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Sandy soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Chalky and alkalinePrefers this soilChalky and alkaline suits Tulip as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Chalky soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
LoamPrefers this soilLoam suits Tulip as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
SiltyPrefers this soilSilty suits Tulip as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acidWorks, with one conditionTulip will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rockPrefers this soilShallow over rock suits Tulip as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Made ground and urban soilWorks, with one conditionTulip will crop on made ground and urban soil, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height
20–60 cm
Mature spread
10–20 cm
Rooting depth
25 cm
Spacing
10–15 cm apart
Where these figures come from
Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

SpacingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulip — spacing

Checked 2026-08-13

How far apart to plant tulipThree tulip plants drawn in a row at their recorded spacing of 10–15 cm between plants. The spacing is drawn to scale against a one metre rule; the plants themselves are symbols rather than scale drawings, so the distance between them is the part to read.10–15 cm
Measured centre to centre. Plants set closer than this compete for light and water long before they look crowded, and the crowding cannot be undone once they are in.

In a container

Minimum volume
5 litres or more
Minimum depth
30 cm
Where the container figures come from
Minimum volumeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Bulbs in containers

Checked 2026-08-13

Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Bulbs in containers

Checked 2026-08-13

Pots are the honest way to grow the big hybrid tulips well, because they can be planted densely for one spectacular season and then replaced without anybody pretending they will come back. Plant late — November is right, and it reduces tulip fire — and pack them close, almost touching but not quite. A deep pot beats a wide one.

Habit and ultimate size

What the plant becomes, rather than what it is when you buy it. The gap between the two is where most planting mistakes live.

In a container
Good in a container long-term
Where these figures come from
In a containerHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Bulb, corm, rhizome and tuber comparedFour underground storage organs drawn in section at the same scale. A true bulb is layered scales around a growing point on a flat basal plate, and multiplies by offsets that pull apart by hand. A corm is a solid swollen stem base with a bud on top, the previous year's spent corm beneath it and small cormlets at its sides. A rhizome is a horizontal swollen stem that sits at soil level with roots below and a growing point at one end, and must not be buried. A tuber is a swollen stem with growth buds scattered over its whole surface and no basal plate, so a cut piece without a bud on it cannot grow.True bulbbasal plateDaffodil, tulip, lilyPull offsets apart by hand.Cormspent corm below, cormlets asideCrocus, gladiolus, crocosmiaReplaced yearly by a new one on top.Rhizomesoil level — top stays exposedBearded irisCut with a knife. Must not be buried.Tuberbuds scattered, no basal plateCyclamen, potatoA cut piece without a bud will rot.
All four are sold as 'bulbs'. The differences are internal, which is why they are drawn rather than photographed — and each one changes what you physically do with the thing in your hand.
Storage organ
True bulb
Survives winter in the ground
Yes — plant once and leave it
Planting depth
15–20 cm
Naturalises
Stays where it is put
Where these figures come from
Storage organSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulipa — propagation

Checked 2026-08-13

Survives winter in the groundSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulipa — hardiness

Checked 2026-08-13

Planting depthSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulipa — planting depth

Checked 2026-08-13

NaturalisesHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Layered scales around a basal plate — an onion in cross-section. Multiplies by producing offsets alongside the parent, which can be pulled apart by hand when the clump is lifted.

How deep to plant a bulb, drawn to scaleEight geophytes drawn at one scale against a soil surface line, each at the depth the catalogue records for it. A bearded iris rhizome sits on top of the soil with only its roots buried. A cyclamen tuber and a nerine bulb are barely covered, at 2 to 3 centimetres, the nerine with its neck standing proud. Snowdrops and crocuses go at 8 to 10 centimetres, a daffodil at 10 to 15, a tulip at 15 to 20 and a lily deepest at 15 to 25 centimetres. Most sit at roughly two to three times their own height, and the shallow exceptions are shallow because the organ must bake in the sun to flower.soil surface5 cm10 cm15 cm20 cmBearded irison topon the surfaceCyclamen2 cmjust coveredNerine2 cmneck proudSnowdrop9 cmCrocus9 cmDaffodil13 cmTulip18 cmplant deepLily20 cmstem roots
Two to three times the bulb's own height is the working rule, and the four plants that break it are the four most often planted wrong. A bearded iris buried by mulch or a tidy neighbour will make leaves for years and never flower again.
After flowering. Most garden tulips flower magnificently in their first year and progressively worse afterwards, which is a property of the bulb rather than of the gardener. Planting deep — 15 cm or more — and leaving the foliage to die back gives the best chance of a second good year. The species tulips are the ones that genuinely persist.
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

MethodSuitabilityWhat it needs
Open groundWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Raised bedWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

ContainerWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

  • PlantingPlant in November rather than with the other autumn bulbs. Tulip fire, a fungal disease that distorts and scorches the emerging leaves, establishes far less readily in cold soil.
  • HarvestingTo keep them, lift the bulbs once the leaves have died down and store them dry over summer. Left in wet British soil, most hybrid tulips rot or split into offsets too small to flower — which is why the second spring is usually a disappointment.
  • WateringPlant into ground that is moist rather than watering afterwards, and then do nothing. Tulips want a genuinely dry, warm summer rest, which is the one thing a British border struggles to give them and the real reason most garden tulips fade out after a season or two rather than the reason usually given. Heavy soil that stays wet in July rots the bulb quietly underground. If you want them to come back, plant deep — 15 cm or more — where the soil is drier and steadier, or grow them in pots and move the pots somewhere dry and out of the rain once the leaves have yellowed.
  • FeedingWorth feeding only if you intend to keep them, which for most bedding tulips is not the plan — they are widely and reasonably treated as an annual display and lifted or composted afterwards. Where you are keeping a clump, give a high-potash feed fortnightly from the moment the flowers fade until the leaves yellow, and let the foliage die back completely without cutting or knotting it. Do not feed at planting. Species tulips are the group that genuinely rewards this: unlike the big hybrids they settle and increase, and a fed, undisturbed colony of Tulipa sylvestris or T. sprengeri gets better every year rather than worse.
Where this guidance comes from
PlantingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulipa — planting time

Checked 2026-08-13

HarvestingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulipa — aftercare

Checked 2026-08-13

WateringSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulips — cultivation

Checked 2026-08-13

FeedingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulips — aftercare

Checked 2026-08-13

What goes wrong

ProblemHow oftenNotes
Bulb foliage dying back after floweringcommon
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Start from what you can see

Safety and edibility

Cats and dogsPainful or persistently unwell; veterinary advice worth takingListed at genus level

Listed as harmful to cats or dogs

Tulip is listed as harmful if eaten. The bulb concentrates tulipalin A and B, allergenic lactones that irritate the mouth and gut. Eating a bulb causes drooling, vomiting and diarrhoea; the same compounds produce the contact dermatitis that florists call tulip fingers.
source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

  • ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center — toxic and non-toxic plant list — American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: Tulipa — toxic plants list

Checked 2026-08-13

Affected parts: bulb.

  • ToxicitychildrenpetsThe bulbs are poisonous and cause vomiting and irritation if eaten. Handling them frequently causes a contact dermatitis known as tulip fingers.
    source

    Sourced guidancehigh confidence

    • Royal Horticultural Society: Tulipa — toxicity

    Checked 2026-08-13

    Wear gloves when planting in quantity, and keep bulbs away from pets and children.

Sources for this page

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Plant Finder · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-14.