The daffodils are dazzling and the tulips are unfurling! Spring sees the most dramatic changes at the farm with nature working overtime to bring new life back into the world. Fresh flora sprout from the ground, slowly growing taller, budding and eventually unfurling the most wonderful blossoms.
In 2023, our gardeners Tim and Bria, with their green thumbs, colourful vision and considerable effort, created an impressive field of tulips at Wānaka Lavender Farm. It was well executed and stunning, adding a new range of hues to the landscape. This year, the duo has been hard at work planting even more tulips and tidying up the surrounding area... and what a masterpiece it is becoming!
Tim and Bria now have experience and insider knowledge from planting thousands of bulbs (14,000 to be exact!) and growing tulips successfully last year and this time around. Giving us the opportunity to pass on their handy tips and tricks to you.
Tip #1
Choose your tulips carefully. Some specialist tulips can multiply on their own when left in the ground undisturbed through a process called naturalising. Our goal was to have a great colourful area of tulips so we made sure to purchase these varieties. This helped our fields to fill out without having to do much, saving us time and effort for planting next time around.
This is also something to bare in mind if you don't want your tulips to multiply efficiently, research the different varieties and pick ones that don't spread as easily.
Tip #2
Use an auger attachment on a hand drill to plant your tulip bulbs in the ground instead of hand digging each hole. This made planting much easier for us considering we were covering a big space.
Tip #3
Let your tulips go grey and die off on their own before you give them the chop... as hard as that may be if you like a pretty garden full of colour. This will be worth it as the energy still taken from the sun during this time is put into making the bulb stronger.
Similarly, do ensure you dead head the tulips at the right time so the energy doesn't go into forming the seed and instead goes to the bulb to help it grow. Dead heading involves pinching off the dead flower head but leaving the stem and leaves on the plant.
Tip #4
Remember that advice and expert knowledge can sometimes be generalised and may not work for you and your garden. Sometimes the best thing we can do is test our ideas and trust our own abilities and instincts.
When speaking to others about the plan for our tulip field, Bria and Tim were told that the spot they had chosen wasn't ideal. In fact, it was suggested that tulips wouldn't grow at all near our wooded area... yet they ended up thriving.
Save these tips for next planting season, do a little research about growing tulips in more detail and these methods, and get excited about enjoying terrific tulips in your garden! Late autumn is ideal for planting - we put our bulbs in the ground in May. The tulips start flowering in Spring, which is towards the end of September through to November in New Zealand.
If you're interested in visiting our tulip field this year, pop in to the farm soon... the tulips are just starting to open up now. The vibrant garden is located on the far end of the farm, close to our infamous purple door. Nearby, a fantastical fairy forest awaits curious characters to meander through. Our tulip area and fairy forest are currently OPEN and should be enjoyed within the next 4 weeks for the best blooms.
To see more Springtime activity at the farm, read this Farm Story.
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