Tulips are Lame. . . I Said It.

Can growing tulips actually make financial sense on the prairies? Despite my best efforts, all of my tulips started blooming the week after Mother's Day. Can this flower farmer pull it together and use all of her marketing genius to move the flowers? Or will the tulips rot in the cooler?
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[@jeffbergermann3724]

What if you would leave your short tulips and propagate them? Water them. Maybe a bit of fertilizer and then dig them up when the tops die off then you have your original investment and another small bulb that you can replant. Maybe you could sell a bild mix in the fall if you want to get rid of them?

[@marydrew3568]

I have a farm and it is my golden rule to not grow things that do not like my zone/growing conditions. Why try to fight against nature and make it hard on yourself? Investing so much money to grow a risky crop it simply is not worth the loss risk.

[@ShiftingRoots]

That’s entirely fair. And if I can’t make the new strategy work then I’m done.

[@marydrew3568]

I have to pass on several different flowers that I would LOVE to grow, but they hate my cool, damp springs. Lisianthus hate my zone.

[@altheab.8907]

Tulips and lilacs are beautiful, Kristen. The new waterproof wraps make them shine even more. Do you have a roadside stand? I thought you mentioned that in a previous video. Do you have enough traffic flow for it? Serina does well in hers. A week AFTER Mother’s Day is tough. I was hoping you’d get more dancers. You’re a real trooper! Baby is getting so big. How’s your son doing? Three little sisters! Yikes! 👍🥰🦋🕊

[@ShiftingRoots]

It’s coming!! In 2-3 more videos you should see it. We’re very close to a greenhouse that gets a fair bit of traffic, and only a little off the highway. While it’s not as ideal as Serena and Ian’s location, I don’t think it’s impossible. And I have a marketing plan to hopefully make it a “hidden gem” type of destination. Saskatchewan people will make the drive (especially only 10 minutes out of the city!!) for something cool.

[@cynthiahurry-asoulsearcher729]

Is there a local florist your could approach that might be interested in burying them by the bucket. There take are in impeccable condition, regardless of stem length. They'd really work in a larger arrangement.

[@ShiftingRoots]

Maybe? I just haven’t developed a lot of relationships with florists yet.

[@blommfleuriste]

I'm a florist (also growing some flowers) and after year 2 with tulips this year, I came to the conclusion that I just don't have time to fuss with them in the lead up to mother's day. I made my investment back, but I will not be growing them anymore. I don't even like them that much anyway 🤷‍♀️

[@radmilamiljanic5977]

I truly enjoyed your arrangements and hope you will make up with great sales during summer:))

[@NicolesGardenNS]

I ordered about 1800 tulips from Van Noort last year plus 50 amaryllis. I sold bags of 10 tulips and potted Amaryllis in the fall and made just enough to cover the order, ended up planting almost 1600 tulips for myself. That worked well because I didn’t have to sit on that cost all winter, and the tulips I sold this spring over the last few weeks were mostly profit. (Nova Scotia, zone 5/6)

[@NicolesGardenNS]

Also, if I have extra tulips this time of year I make up little mini bouquets for my 40 piano students 😂 I did this last year, but this year they were 2 weeks early and I was able to sell them all for Mother’s Day. We had a weird early May heat wave this year.

[@ShiftingRoots]

That’s really smart!

[@mayfieldmanor5344]

Your bouquets are beautiful! Could you force the tulips inside under lights possibly or in the greenhouse. You are doing great work!

[@jesi89]

Great video, I appreciate seeing all these aspects. I put an ad for a subscription on FB marketplace and have gotten basically no response. I still grow as a hobby, but between the fungicides used on a lot of bulbs and the inability to perennialize for cut flowers I'm not super interested in tulips. I'd rather invest in daffodils (I'm in zone 8)

[@ShiftingRoots]

Sorry your ad didn’t work out!! I totally get it, daffodils make way more sense.

[@limitlessends]

Okay just love your little tulips with their opinions in the video. Cute idea!

[@ShiftingRoots]

That was my son’s idea! I thought it was pretty cute too so we rolled with it.

[@growingcrazy4481]

Tulips are my favourite but so tricky!

[@katipohl2431]

Can you deadhead the short tulips and let them grow for the following year under better conditions? Love and greetings from Germany. This year the weather was bad here for ranunculus with a sudden and lasting rise of warm temperatures in may.

[@ShiftingRoots]

I think that’s what I’ll do with the unusable ones.

[@cheriedodd9358]

What a pain with the tulips. However I love the way you start thinking outside of the box in how to sell them. Also with regards to giving away as gifts... There is more happiness in giving than receiving. I experienced this with my dried flowers a few weeks ago (it's winter here). I contacted a florist that specialises in dried flowers to see if she would like to buy them (I'm talking hundreds of gorgeous flowers). Didn't hear back so I decided to do free workshops with all my friends. Then I got a reply from the florist with a very good offer to buy all of my flowers.. I was torn, as would love the money, but didn't want to go back on my word to my friends. Made the right decision. The joy my friends got was priceless ❤

[@mhubertcfi]

I want to challenge the idea that tulips have to be an annual. My perennial Darwins are at least 20” long even when I leave two leaves for the bulb to regenerate. I think the trick is not to sell straight bunch tulips because you can’t compete with grocery stores who also sell singles and doubles won’t perennialize. Therefore my plan is to grow plants that I can force to pair with the tulips so that they are an arrangement. This year I used apple blossoms with good effect and had some false spires that was leafed out in time. Tiny Maple leaves or Japanese maple leaves would also be beautiful. It is easy to sell a bouquet when it’s not just tulips imo

[@ShiftingRoots]

You make a very good point!

[@charstar2486]

I would leave them in the ground this year and just enjoy them, and then see what they do next year. That way at least you get one more try on your initial investment.

[@ilenehales7849]

Sorry to hear about your tulips 🌷. My tulips were beautiful this year and I had for mothers day. I hope your strategy works next year.

[@gracieshomeandgardens5089]

Where did you buy ur paper?i like that

[@riverunner9978]

The tulips are beautiful colors and your wraps are gorgeous! Good luck!!

[@mikaylawalsh6069]

we are east central MN by Mille Lacs and we have abandoned tulips. We underplanted our orchard with daffs and are letting them perennialize instead. Delsnaugh particularly

[@finelimedesigns]

Tulips are my favourite flower and honestly I just buy them as a single flower bouquet - it’s my favourite way to buy and display them. I know I’m not the only person like this. I would honestly buy a bucket of them if I could! Maybe just don’t overthink or over arrange them? Their beauty for many is in their simplicity! Don’t know if that would make it more cost effective for you!

[@ShiftingRoots]

I guess since I only have the singles, I feel like they need something extra. Maybe I don’t?

[@JillBretherton]

I find my tulips get tall in shade. Shade would save them from those unpredictable higher temperatures plus they have to reach for the sun, plus the earth in shade will stay cooler than in open spaces. I grow a lot of tulips in shade, a couple of hours sunlight max.

[@ShiftingRoots]

I’ve tried growing in the shadier spots I have here, but maybe it wasn’t enough hours of shade?

[@JillBretherton]

@@ShiftingRoots it’s worth experimenting with if you save some bulbs from this year. i think also the cooler earth in heavy shade might help.

[@kathypope3010]

Sorry Kristin The timing is unfortunate. The flowers are absolutely beautiful and I admire your marketing approach.

[@hopemorrison2367]

Once you miss mothers day tulip sales its over make mixed bouquet with them

[@sallyazzato3481]

Id like to mix in more flowering branches with my tulips next year- how do apple blossom and lilac hold up? Can you hold them in the cooler?

[@ShiftingRoots]

I find you get about 3 days with them. Maybe more but I wouldn’t count on it.

[@matchynishi]

My landscape tulips are almost all in part shade, and barring the frilly varieties that were short, most of them were very tall! Perhaps that could help, or just having a shade cloth on them and mulch to keep the soil cooler.

[@ShiftingRoots]

I’m still kicking myself for not having the shade cloth on that day!!

[@violetraton8731]

I fertilized my Tulips with Fish fertilizer when I saw them coming out and it came out their flowers are so big. They started flowering end of April and they are still ok today despite of all the rain we are having in Calgary

[@ShiftingRoots]

Thank you for this tip!!

[@phoebehope6549]

Do you grow any narcissus? They tend to come in a month earlier for me and you can get some stunning ruffly doubles that will cone back year after year x x x

[@ShiftingRoots]

I have tried, but haven’t had much chance success. I wonder if they don’t like sandy soil?

[@user-jn1er6pw2s]

Try growing them in low tunnels or just cover them when they start showing from the ground. The growing process will speed up and you will have tulips right on time :)

[@tmscott6850]

Beautiful bouquets

[@user-gz6tm6tp4b]

I feel your pain. My Ranunculus bloomed just after Mother’s Day. Then we had a heat wave. Spring crops are ridiculously tricky.. What foliage do you use this time of year? I saw something that look like a shrub. Can you tell me what that was?

[@ShiftingRoots]

I use caragana, some tree that grows like a weed and I do t know the name, and willows.

[@EvelynM-vlogs]

Here on Vancouver Island, I had nothing for mother's day either. Tulips where done but the peonies and ranuncs had not yet started. We had a colder than normal May, last year we had a heat wave in May. Gotta go with the flow.

[@ShiftingRoots]

Gah!! So frustrating!!

[@cynthiahurry-asoulsearcher729]

Very nicely grown.

[@lauriesickles5393]

Just wondering, could you sell some from your driveway? Or are you not set up for a roadside stand.

[@ShiftingRoots]

We’re so close!!

[@thiabrabson2533]

2024 has had so many cosmic 😢disruptions 😱

[@ShiftingRoots]

I feel like leap years tend to be bad years in my recent memory.