Bringing tulips into my home is a non-negotiable in spring. Mine have just started coming up in the cutting beds, delighting with their delicate satin, goblet-shaped blooms in bold shades of salmon, burgundy and velvet cream.
But when it comes to bringing them inside and displaying in a vase, I accept that tulips can be a little demanding. They can bend and droop and appear to lose their lustre soon after being cut. But once you understand why, and what they really need, you will be able to transform their behavior and create dramatic, elegant floral displays that last.
In the most recent episode of Petals & Roots, I reveal the four steps I always take to care for cut tulips, to ensure I have long-lasting and beautiful spring flowers for weeks in my home.
What You Need To Care For Cut Tulips
- A good pair of florist scissors or snips. I highly recommend investing in a Japanese pair of scissors, such as these from Amazon, which will last a long time and make light work of your snipping.
- It's useful to have several glass vases for this flower conditioning job. You could bulk buy a few of these beautiful vases from Target and they would always come in handy
- If you feel you'd like to go down the traditional Dutch route of displaying your tulips in a specific tulip vase, I found this one on Amazon which is a little more modern and stylish, but still has multiple individual openings for single stems.
How To Prep and Style Cut Tulips
The first thing to do as soon as you get your tulips home from the store, or cut them from the garden, is to fairly swiftly remove all the lower leaves from around the stem.
You can carefully snip or pull these off, just be mindful that you don't damage the main stem in the process.
Then, give the stems a very simple straight cut, removing half an inch from the ends, and plunge the entire bunch into a deep vase or sink of water and allow them to rest and drink for three to four hours.
Tulips are very thirsty flowers, and the reason they are prone to drooping when placed in a vase is because when they come home from the store they don't have enough water in their stems. Leaving them to rehydrate is going to set you up for long-lasting success with these beautiful flowers.
Once they are fully hydrated, you need to prep your vase. Make sure it is completely clean and free of any lingering bacteria, which will cause your tulips to wilt and die more quickly.
Fill this right to the top with fresh water; you'll be amazed at how much tulips can drink as soon as they are in a warm home environment.
Take each stem and make a diagonal cut along the base, before placing it in your vase of clean water.
If you change this water every two days you'll prevent any bacteria from building up, and your flowers will be a lot happier.
The thing I love most about tulips is that they're phototrophic, which means their stems will continue to grow after they have been cut.
You can use this to your advantage to really create some interesting and eye-catching shapes with your flowers, as they will move and grow towards the light.
All you have to do is remember to keep turning your vase, so that each stem has the chance to grow and stretch out as it matures and the flowers open.
Shop The Vase Edit
This is one of those vases I cannot believe I have found on Amazon. It looks far too high end! This elegant vessel is perfect for tulips as they need a narrow neck and space to grow taller. I'm getting this before it sells out.
Contemporary and fun in style, but what I love the most about this design of vase is that it's reversible. You can style it two ways, depending on your mood or choice of flowers. It also comes in three different shades.
A hand-painted clay vase will always have a place in my collection, and these Anthropologie designs exude timeless style. A beautiful piece even without flowers.
Petals & Roots is a weekly video series fronted by me, Rachel Bull, Head of Gardens at Homes & Gardens. Every weekend on social, I share my seasonal gardening and flower arranging expertise and advice.
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