Custom Tulip Combinations to Plant This Fall

Need Help Deciding Which Tulips to Plant Together?

UPDATED 2024: This falls into the large category of "oh I forgot I did this!" Ahead of tulip shopping and planting season, I thought I'd revive these handy combos for you to reference.

Back when I used to be GM for an IGC called North Haven Gardens, I decided to create these custom tulip cultivar combinations that were specifically tailored to be outstanding performers together for early- mid- or late-flowering. I spent years designing complicated bulb displays for the Dallas Arboretum, as well as testing many species and hybrid tulips. Not to mention many years of growing and testing them in my own gardens. I used my extensive knowledge and experience to create tulip combos that were guaranteed to put on the best show for my customers, without them having to do the work of figuring out what would bloom when, or which types would bloom together, or separately for a season extension, for the best display.

If you live in the South, where soil temperatures stay relatively warm all winter, tulips must be properly pre-chilled planted anew each December. Yes, I know, those Northerners have it easy. Tulips perennialize there and require little effort or care. Down here, we have to vernalize (chill) our tulips for just the right amount of time at just the right temperature in order for them to develop a flower bud. You must wait to plant your tulips until soil temperatures have reached 50F and stay there. That's usually not till after Thanksgiving and it can often be later. The perfect time to plant tulips in Texas? The third week of December.

Bulbs are typically for sale in the fall so now's the time to think about which tulips you want to plant!

To my knowledge NHG doesn't create or sell these custom combos anymore, but I thought they were darn cute and clever, if I do say so myself!

Use My Custom Tulip Combos

Personally, my favorite is 'Fuzzy Navel'...I mean, who doesn't love those?! I'm kind of obsessed with the color orange so there ya go. Some folks are ready to plant up their beds and pots with tulips in September or October because they also want to get their pansies in the ground on top of the bulbs.

Well, nature doesn't always work that way. In North Texas, and other areas with a similar climate, you really have to wait until soil temperatures are cooler to plant your tulips. My solution? I go ahead and plant violas, or small flowered pansies, along the edges of my beds so that my borders look great for the cool season.

Overplant Your Tulips (and containers) With Seasonal Color

I always plant some pockets of warm season annuals in my beds, such as Angelonia, Zinnas, Salvias and the like. Once we get hit with with the first frost, those plants come out and I use those spaces to plant clumps of tulips. Then, I overplant pansies in those spots. So I kind of have two pansy/viola planting times: Sept/Oct. and then again in December. If you want to drop bulbs in pots in fall and top with cool season color, you can go ahead and do so with daffodils or other perennial bulbs that don't require vernalization. Just set aside a few pots to plant with tulips in December.

PLANT YOUR TULIPS DEEP: In warm climates soil temperatures can get warm very early. If you plant your tulips too shallow, they may sprout and bloom too early, which often results in "blasting", a condition where the flower bud opens on a very short stalk down at the base of the plant. I recommend planting your tulips a good 6"-8" (inches) deep. I usually go at least 8" or a little deeper.

Extend Your Tulip Blooming Season

If you want to extend the amount of time you have tulips in bloom, you can plant early, mid-, and late-season cultivars or these combinations in different spots or containers. Remember that if you plant bulbs in containers, they will be subjected to warmer (or colder) temperatures than if they were in the ground. So you may want to plant your tulips deeper in the pots so that if temperatures warm early you can avoid tulip blasting.