We harvested armloads of early double tulips yesterday for our upcoming Valentine’s Day bouquets. We plant only double tulips because of their gorgeous double petals. They have a unique look appearing fluffy and full like a peony. Scroll through photos to see the digging. packaging and storing process.
Tulips are carefully dug with a garden trowel to ensure that the entire plant, bulb included, is lifted when harvested. With bulb attached, tulips are then tucked into crates to be stored dry in our cooler. Dry means they are not placed in water.
A bungee cord is wrapped around the tulip filled crate so that the flowers can stand upright in the cooler. This encourages tulips to straighten and extend their stem length.
When it is time to use them, you simply cut off the bulb and place stem into water. Once introduced to water the stems will continue to elongate. The tulips that I harvested last week grew 3-4 more inches in the vase.
When harvested at the appropriate time the vase life is easily 7-10 days. Tulips should always be harvested before they are fully open. They are heavy water drinkers so I provide fresh water everyday.