Question
I'm getting married in may and we decided to do tulips in round vases wrapped around inside. we are having 13 vases and about 4 tulips in each. Since were doing real flowers and not fake and i'm not using a florist how to i keep them from dying? How many days prior can i make these centerpiece before they dont look good any more? It going to be myslef , my mother and my bridesmaids making these so we dont have room in our fridge to store them. any advice would help!
thanks

Answer
Hi Stacy,
Thanx for your question.  Where are you located in Canada?  There are a number of varieties of tulips.  Some are early, some mid-seasonal and some late bloomers.  What type of tulips did you have in mind?

Cut tulips will last 7-10 days.  I'm not much of a flower arranger and not experienced with this type of thing.  Here is a link to a webpage you may find helpful for this aspect.

http://www.backyardgardener.com/masterg/g-76.htm

Another thing you can do is "force" tulips.  In a nutshell, this means, storing the tulip bulbs in the fridge and then then bringing them out into a warm environment at a designated time.  The manipulation of temperature in this artificial way is what the growers use to bring us the potted spring flowers one sees in the grocery stores and department stores in the early spring and around Easter (Easter lilies) and Mother's Day.  I believe this takes a certain type of expertise that I'm not sure I would like to risk for something as important as a wedding.  If you would still like to try this, I can direct you to some websites that can help you with this.

I know you indicated you weren't working with a florist but I think you could save yourself a lot of risk and possible disappointment if you shopped around and found a florist who would give you nice arrangements for the best value.  Another thing you could do is consult with your local Master Gardeners to determine what type of tulip would bloom around the time you need them for your area.  If you give me your general location, I may be able to help you with that too.

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2005/9-14/tulips.html  this article is from Iowa State University on forcing tulip bulbs.

I hope this helps.
Tom