They are not overcrowded. I mix a little well rotted manure in the soil around them after they finish blooming. Should I be doing something else? For some reason they are my favorite tulips and the only ones in my back yard.
Hi 2ofus,..most plants like some fertilizer,..though i would be careful its not too fresh,.. and too strong,.. as it does give off heat when in good sized heaps,..some people lift Tulip Bulbs after they finish blooming,..others leave them in the soil over winter,..so you could lift some and leave the remainder in the ground to see what happens. However,..Tulip Bulbs are not like,.. say Daffodil Bulbs which multiply easily enough,..Tulip Bulbs split after blooming and you get smaller bulbs from the split,..it takes some time before those small bulbs flower,..were you to pull up a tulip after flowering chances are the small bulbs would be left behind,..some Tulips only last a few years and its not something we notice as with a mass of Tulips the change from mature Tulip,.. to splitting,.. to small bulbs,.. is going on all the time but the split is not happening all at the same time,..hope i didn't confuse you and that i threw some light on the problem.
Thank you, Philip. Now I understand what's going on so I'll just leave them alone as they aren't crowded yet.
Tulips, like some other bulb plants like to be moved from time to time. You could try digging them up after the foliage turns brown. Clip the brown foliage off close to the bulb and store them in a dry, dark and cool place until october then plant them again in a different bed. If you like living dangerously, you could transplant them now and see what happens...but this would not be my first choice.
If any of your Ballade tulips have a single leaf, that means these individuals will not have any flowers.
