How Long Do Tulips Bloom (And Why)?

Exact Answer: 1-2 Weeks

Tulips are a spring-blooming herbaceous geophyte. Tulips are large, bright, and showy. They can be found in a variety of colours like red, pink, yellow, or white. The flowers in tulips are found at the tepals internally. The tulip belongs to the family of lilies and has been derived from the word “turban”. Tulips are originally found in Southern Europe to Central Asia mainly in the spring season.

Tulips are adapted to a number of states like steppes, mountains and temperate climates. They flower in the spring and become dormant in summer when the flowers and leaves die emerging from the ground bulb in the early spring. Tulips belong to the Plantae kingdom and Tulipa genus. They were first cultivated in the early 1055 and were among the most prized flowers.

How Long Do Tulips Bloom?

Tulips were originally found in Turkey and hence have a weather preference of cold weather for blooming or wet winters. The duration for which a tulip blooms depends on the temperature of the surroundings. In a cool spring, tulips bloom for 1-2 weeks but for warmer weather, the bloom only lasts for a few days. The tulips can bloom with tulip bulbs in the garden for several weeks.

Different varieties of tulip can be found in different timings of seasons like mid-season, early or late-blooming, in this form the blooming can be observed throughout the spring season. The miniature form of tulips blooms at the earliest. The Darwin Tulips are cultivated next followed by Parrot Tulips giving a beautiful finale. As a part of any bouquet, tulips can be found blooming for up to 5 days at a stretch.

Tulips can be preserved for a longer duration by cutting them and putting them in an open vase. Topping it up with water regularly and keeping the vase in a cool spot can make the tulips last longer. Tulips can be profoundly found in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes. Tulips are also combined with other bulbs like alliums to provide support. Dutch tulips bloom in March till the mid of late April.

Once the flowers of tulip are done blooming, the withered flowers will have to deadhead so that they don’t produce seeds. The production of seeds can extract energy from bulbs and plants and hence, can disable the process of blooming of the flowers. The removal of foliage until the foliage is completely dead should not be done.

Why Do Tulips Bloom This Long?

Tulips only bloom for a given period of time because of the nature of the plant. The flowers can only bloom in the spring seasons in an appropriate environment and not any longer than that. The tulips also bloom for a smaller period of time because of their distinctive features that cannot be extended. Tulip trees can also be found profoundly.

Tulip trees are rapidly growing with a height of 90 feet and are known widely for their distinctive fall display as the leaves turn canary yellow. The most exciting feature about tulip trees is the unusual flowers it bears. Tulip trees can be found in a variety of colours like cream, green and orange. Tulip trees may grow rapidly but the rate of producing flowers is not that quick.

Tulip trees that are a few years old bear flowers and continue to flower for years in all the springs. Some trees might not bear flowers because of reasons like cold winters, which can cause the trees to not bloom in the spring and hence, waiting has to be done for the next season. Some kind of tulips can open up quickly but not as fast as in one whole night.

Conclusion

Depending on the weather conditions the maximum duration for which tulips can last is 1-2 weeks. Tulips can also last for 5 days depending on whether they have been cut out or not. The duration for flowering and survival of tulips also depends on the temperature of the environment. Spring season is preferred more preferably for the tulips to flower.

References

1. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=946140
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304423884900360