Deadhead tulips now for better blooms next season

Tulips are pretty finicky when it comes to perennial blooms, but there are a few things you can do to help them along.

As soon as the flower petals fall off, snip the flower stalk, but leave the foliage.

Deadheading the plant will prevent it from expending energy making seed. The plant works work on building the bulb.

The foliage will start to look yellow and shouldn't be removed until it turns brown and is easily pulled away from the plant. The greens feed the bulb.

Hopefully the bulbs are planted somewhere they won't get constant watering. Tulips and most other bulbs like it dry all summer.

One mistake gardeners make is planting annuals over the tulips. Everytime the annuals are watered, the tulip bulbs are drowning.

When selecting bulbs this fall look for Darwin tulips, they are long lived and should return for years.

I treat tulips as annuals, planting hundreds each fall.

There's just nothing like the beauty of the flowers. They might not be around long, but when they are, tulips are stars in the garden.