Question
I live in Ontario Canada, zone 5b.  I have several flower beds where I have several different hydrangeas as well as other flowering shrubs.  Most of these flower in early to mid summer.  I would like to plant some mid spring blooming Darwin oxford tulips to get some color into the garden earlier.  My question is, I have been reading that tulips like a hot dry location, how does one accomplish that if the rest of the garden needs to be watered more often.  I have seen several gardens where both tulips and other flowers exist together. Do I dig up the bulbs after they have bloomed (I would prefer not to have to do that)?

Answer
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanx for your question.  A lot of the tulips you see in the bulb catalogues or even at the store are often treated as short-lived perennials because they are sensitive to winters cooler than Zone 7 (believe it or not).  Some of the hardier tulip cultivars will survive for many years.  I would advise looking for species tulips which have a tendency to be much hardier and grow truly as perennials in zones 5 and 6.  The big tulip displays you see in office parks and other public settings are generally planted as annuals.  I have seen them yank them all out of the ground after their blooms are spent and then put them in big lawn bags and haul them off to the dump.  Adding a thick mulch in the fall after the first frost, when everything starts going to bed for the winter, will help protect the bulbs for next year.  I don't blame you.  Who wants to dig up a bunch of bulbs every fall and store them in the basement?  I don't.  Not tulips.

Check out these links for more information on species tulips.

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1994/9-16-1994/sptul.html

Here are some vendors but I have no experience with them so am including them for info only and not endorsing.

https://www.willowcreekgardens.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=177&gclid=CJL3x-S44pwCFQ_xDAodOSTrIw

http://johnscheepers.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Product&_category=Tulips:Species

http://www.hollandbulbfarms.com/items.asp?cat=Botanical-Tulips&Cc=TULIPBOTANICAL...

http://www.vanengelen.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Product&_category=Tulips:Species

I hope this helps.
Tom