Tulip Picking 101

Tulip Tips with Jeroen

• No need to bring scissors, but do have some water in the car for the ride home.
• Pro Tip: BYOBucket and skip wrapping for quicker checkout. Just make sure to count your tulips before you get to the check out counter!

• Simply grasp the stem as close to the ground as possible and pull straight up. This ensures a long stem. If you pull further up, the stem could snap leaving you with a short tulip or worse, just the flower.

• Don't worry if the bulb comes out of the ground when you pull it up. You can snap it off and leave it in a designated bucket at the self wrapping station.   
• We know that despite our explanations, folks will still try to take the bulbs home thinking they can plant them. They are coming out of the ground too soon to produce a flower next year. 
• Please, whatever you do, do not put the flower back in the ground because you were trying to get the bulb too, and failed. Yes this happens and they will die, which creates a financial loss for us. You can pre-purchase bulbs onsite or via our online store. 

Caring for your Tulips at Home

• When you get home, put your wrapped flowers in cold water. Leave them for a few hours so they can get water back into their stems and perk up!
• Unwrap them, cut them straight across with a clean knife and give them plenty of fresh water.
• Throw in a couple of ice cubes and keep them out of direct sunlight to slow the bloom.
• Add cold water/ice cubes daily.

Here are a few more details on some of our most asked questions: 

What if I picked too many or my child picked a bunch of flower heads with no stems? We put a lot of hard work, effort and money into this event and wasted or discarded tulips hurt our business. Only pick what you are willing to pay for and if your child picks a bunch of flower heads we ask that you pay for them (honor system). Our unique field grown tulips would retail for $2-3 a stem and we want to continue to be able to provide them to you for only a $1.00 per stem.

Picked the wrong tulip? Please do not try to put them back in the hole you picked it from, tulips will die if they are stuck back in the hole once their roots are disturbed.  Also, please do not leave them on the ground or hidden amongst the other tulips; dead tulips left on the ground can cause disease and damage our flowers and bulbs. Thank you in advance for your help with this and keeping everything clean and tidy.

Can I re-use the bulb in my own garden? Unfortunately, the answer is no. If you pull the bulb out of the ground before it has had a chance for photosynthesis to grow a new baby bulb, then the new bulb won't be strong enough to survive or produce a flower. It can take two to three years of replanting to get a big enough bulb to produce a flower. Bulbs need to stay in the ground after they have been cut or deadheaded and until their leaves have died (June/July in New England).

How to keep your cut flowers blooming as long as possible: When you get home, put your wrapped flowers in cold water. Leave them for a few hours so they can get water back into their stems and perk up! Tulips will do best with indirect or no sunlight and the cooler it is the longer they last. Tulips drink a ton of water so check the water level daily and refill it as needed. Adding flower food will not prolong the blooming time of a tulip but a few ice-cubes added to the water will. They also continue to grow after they are cut and are one of the few flowers that do this. 

Oops, my tulips ran out of water and are droopy, can they be saved? Yes, well, as long as it wasn't for a couple days! Tulips are very hardy, get them fresh cold water right away and out of direct sunlight. They should perk up within a few hours and look as good as new by the next day.