Four Tulip Containers

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Happy as a clam. This expression describes my feelings when I see my potted tulips. The value pack of 60 tulips included 45 Judith Leyster and 15 Queen of the Night.
The brown clay belly pot is the biggest from four of them and hosts 19 bulbs.
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I didn't expect my potted tulips to last long. A short bloom period, after all, is typical for all tulips. I need to say that I am surprised. This first bunch, which is featured in my post First Tulip Container has been blooming already for two weeks. Even heavy rains and April hail didn't damage the blooms.

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The second bunch of pink tulips, 15 of them, was planted later in a big terracota pot.

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I showed this front bed metamorphosis in Front Garden Bed. Spring 2010 . It's obvious that splashes of color make it more attractive now when there are very few blooms from the plants already in the ground.
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The Judith Leyster bulbs, below, were planted later, in the beginning of December and opened later than the others from this group. The Kittycat looked lonely before, staring at the empty driveway. Now, he is a happy fellow who gets additional inspiration from the lovely blooms.
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All 15 Queen of Night bulbs went to one pot.

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Planted the last, they started blooming last. The lightweight pale green container goes well with the blooms' dark color.

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Queen of Night blooms are on the smaller side, but altogether they create a nice bunch.

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Final notes:
Planting time (November and early December) was not a scientifically calculated time for planting bulbs in my area. It just happened that I bought the bulbs in late fall and then dillydallying for several weeks. It was cold and wet at that time, and I literally forced myself to get out there and do the job.

You might want to find the best time to plant tulip bulbs in your garden. This is one of the recommendations at http://perennial-plants.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_grow_tulips_from_bulbs:

"The ideal time for planting tulip bulbs varies by Climate Hardiness Zone. For most zones, bulbs should be planted in September or early October. However, for warmer zones, the following exceptions apply:

Zones 6 and 7 – plant in October or early November
Zones 8 and 9 – plant in November or early December and refrigerate bulbs for at least 6-8 weeks beforehand
Zone 10 – plant in late December or early January and refrigerate bulbs for at least 8-10 weeks beforehand.
Soil should be below 60 degrees Fahrenheit at the time of planting."

Bonemeal was added to the soil.

Pots stood outside through the winter.

Cost of the pack of 60 bulbs was $10. Doesn't it sound good? Four containers of tulips for ten dollars? $2.50 per container... I love the sound of it!

The soil was a mix of whatever was available - some compost, some native sandy soil, some Tagro (local mix made from biowaste). Two of the pots, the light-green and off-white were rummage sale buys, the terracota one was inherited from a neighbor who moved away. The glazed brown belly pot was bought 5 years ago for 30 dollars.

All in all, I am very happy with the tulips in the containers. It'll be interesting to see how they'll behave next year. But, even if they won't grow well or won't come out at all, it was great to have them this season. Treat them as annuals - this is what many of you say about tulips.
Summarizing the advantages of having tulips in pots:

-Easier to plant in not-perfect soil;

-Easy to move to beautify certain areas in the garden;

-Smaller risk to being dug out by creatures as voles, gophers, deers and squirrels (thank you sweet bay, Kate , Curbstone Valley Farm !);

-Easier to hide dying foliage (thank you Grace Peterson , What's Blooming This Week? and Jo !); -No risk to accidentally digging into them during the summer while working with other plants growing nearby (thank you Catherine - A Gardener in Progress!);

-Easier to plant when soil is wet/frozen or when we are just lazy (thank you Liz !),

-Easy to uproot them when we want to divide the bulbs (thank you James Missier !)

Thank you gippslandgardener , nancybond , Greenhorn in the Garden, Ellie Mae's Cottage , Lona -Hocking Hills Gardener, Noelle , LeSan , Ami , Becca's Dirt , Rob (ourfrenchgarden) , Kim and Victoria , Diana , Amy , Town Mouse , Helen , Southern Lady , Dirty Girl Gardening http://dirtygirlgarden.com/, Jan (Thanks For Today) , Rebecca -In The Garden, Helen at summerhouse , Randy Emmitt ,Sheila , Skeeter, Jim Groble, Autumn Belle , debsgarden , Sprouts, Shoots, & Sunshine , Kiki , Kyna, Meredith , ninasgardeningnotebook, Connie , Marie , Kathleen for commenting on my previous tulip post!!!
These blooms are for you, my friends, and for all Blotanical gardeners:

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Copyright 2010 TatyanaS