TULIP PRAESTANS FUSELIER, 10 Bulbs, CARBBEAN GARDEN SEED

 Excellent for forcing,come back year after year

Are you hoping to find a tulip variety that stands a good chance of blooming just as prettily next year? Tulip praestans ‘Fusilier’ is a botanical tulip that does exactly that. It’s an award winner, and your award winning garden begins with your spring bulbs. Create drifts of scarlet blooms with praestans ‘Fusilier’ tulips and enjoy multiple blooms per stem year after year. The bulbs and blooms are a little smaller than those of their aristocratic cousins, but these hardy little soldiers are an excellent addition to any garden. Pretty in pots, they’re also fabulous as an edging for flower beds.

Plant these dainty garden gems once and they will come back year after year. Perfect for adding color and interest to rock gardens or the front of borders. Naturalizes Well

Planning and Planting

Bulbs are easy to work with, very rewarding and forgiving. They look best planted in groups or clumps, naturalized in the sod, under trees, or in beds, borders or rock garden. Good drainage is essential; bulbs will grow poorly or rot if they are too wet.

Prepare beds by mixing fertilizer, bonemeal and wood ashes, or other phosphorus and potassium sources into the soil below the level of the bulbs. Mix in compost to lighten heavy soils and increase nutrients. Peat is acidic—use with caution. Although widely available, Holland Bulb Booster contains ingredients which are not approved for organic growers.

Plant bulbs pointed side up; generally the depth of the hole is three times the bulb’s height. 

Mulch your bulbs with 4-6″ of leaves, bark, straw, etc. after the ground freezes. If you plant them next to your house, it’s especially important to use the higher amount or more, as basement heat and reflected sunlight will likely remove the insulating snow cover, exposing them too early to alternating sunny days and freezing nights, and damaging their growth tips. Wherever they’re planted, bulbs need insulation. You need to mulch (or plant extra deep) unless winter will provide a consistent heavy snow cover. A good mulch can also give protection up to half a hardiness zone, enabling you to experiment with bulbs not quite hardy in your zone.

Do not remove the mulch too early in the spring. By keeping the soil from thawing, mulch prevents heaving and false starts in early warm spells, and delays flowering slightly for a more uniform and longer-lasting display. Remove mulch as the bulbs begin to peek through in the spring, and dress the bed with compost or bulb fertilizer.

Pinch the blooms as they fade to discourage seed production and to force the energy back into the bulb. This is especially important for tulips and hyacinths, which can otherwise lose their vigor in 2-3 years.

Do not cut the foliage as long as it remains green; it produces the food for future blooms. Cut leaves only after they yellow. Sidedress with fertilizer or compost in late summer to mid-fall.