Can I grow tulips in Zone 8? (flower, tree, spring, north)

[gentlearts]

I'm thinking of ripping out some sickly looking Indian Hawthorn bushes at my front entrance, and putting in some kind of suitable hollies. I would love to put in some tulips for spring, but I'm not sure that it gets cold enough here for long enough.
Does anyone know?

[no kudzu]

I think you can grow tulips for one season only which makes it a complete waste of money and time to me when you have so many choices of daffodils and other minor bulbs. Even here in N.C. where we sometimes have snow and "cold" tulips don't come back. And I've bought those "southern tulips" which don't come back either. Well let me rephrase that. they do come back as a silly little stalk with a flower about the size of a teaspoon! Looks like something from outer space.

[Macrina]

I don't know your zip code, but you could check here: Flower Bulb Hardiness Zone

[rdlr]

I only have ONE tulip bulb that comes back every year, and it was planted 20 years ago!!!
Luckily, it's right next to my front steps, in a most perfect place, and is bright red. It's SO healthy, tall, with huge flowers, and I don't feed it or do anything to it. It's just got a mind of it's own.

We're in Zone 7, the Delmarva Peninsula, and other tulip bulbs need to be dug up and stored every year. I quit that....too much work and too little time. But, tulips are really beautiful in mass plantings.

[rrose003]

I've only had good luck with tulips in NC and Georgia if they are planted in an area that is shady during the summer and sunny during the winter, like around a tree. If they are planted in a location that is sunny year round they tend to be scraggly, if they come back at all. I think the heat down here bakes the bulbs and stresses them. I'd go with daffodils for Spring.

[kinkytoes]

Maybe you can. We have had unusually mild winters in my zone, and each year my "yellow emperor" tulips came back. It may have been warm enough to be considered equivalent to a zone 8 winter. I know gardeners who had dahlias and cannas return as a result. As rrose003 indicated, shade may be a factor. Mine were buried in deciduous shade under a big tree and in somewhat alkaline soil.

[Hemlock140]

We are in USDA hardiness zone 8 and grow great tulips every year, no problem. In fact, the Skagit Valley just north of us is also in zone 8 and is one of the biggest tulip growers in the USA.

Skagit Tulip | Growers

[J&Em]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

I'm thinking of ripping out some sickly looking Indian Hawthorn bushes at my front entrance, and putting in some kind of suitable hollies. I would love to put in some tulips for spring, but I'm not sure that it gets cold enough here for long enough.
Does anyone know?

It's not the zone, not just the chill, and I'm not guessing what will work just so I can make a post. I won't go through the effort of explaining for those who know everything already. If you want to know which tulips may do well and why you can DM me any time.

[gentlearts]

I ordered some, but the instructions are to chill them in the fridge for 6 weeks before planting. I think what I will do is refrigerate them when I get them until it is cold out, plant, and hope for the best. This will not be October, like in the north, but probably around December. Then they can just fend for themselves. I am not digging them up every year. They are supposedly perennial tulips and they are good up to zone 8. I have a sink or swim policy with the things I plant.

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

I ordered some, but the instructions are to chill them in the fridge for 6 weeks before planting. I think what I will do is refrigerate them when I get them until it is cold out, plant, and hope for the best. This will not be October, like in the north, but probably around December. Then they can just fend for themselves. I am not digging them up every year. They are supposedly perennial tulips and they are good up to zone 8. I have a sink or swim policy with the things I plant.

Me, too. Good luck with those.