It’s funny, with the summer like heat we’ve had this week the tulips that were still blooming grew even more. Some of the tulip blooms are sitting on stems that are easily 2.5 feet in height! Those stems were only a foot to a foot and a half tall a week ago. They look kind of strange.

The tulip that I’ve shown you in the above picture is no more. Time and the heat took it out of the picture. Now it’s leaves are wilting and turning yellow.

A tip for those of you who are new to gardening. Once your tulips have finished blooming cut off the stems but don’t do anything that will damage the leaves. You want the green leaves to stay as long as possible because they are gathering nutrients and energy for the tulip bulb. You will have a strong healthy looking flower next year if you let the green tulip leaves wilt and die down naturally.

Yes, once the tulip leaves are more than 50% yellowed I do go around and cut them down, but I don’t do it any earlier than that as I love my strong and healthy tulips each spring.