When Do You Plant Tulip Bulbs in Texas?

Tulips are some of the first flowers in spring, and sometimes come up when there's still snow on the ground. To see early spring blooms in your Texas garden, tulips require a specific planting time.

Tulip Planting

All tulips require a fall planting, to give the bulbs time to sprout and take root for their spring blooming. Although many gardeners store their tulip bulbs, it's better to purchase them in the fall and get them directly into the ground.

Timing

Gardeners should plant tulips when the weather cools and leaves start to drop from trees. Gardening-Guides suggests that the best time to get tulips into the ground is when nighttime temperatures drop under 50 degrees F. American Meadows suggests that planting should coincide with the first frosts in the area.

Texas

Texas covers U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 6 to 9, so tulip planting times will vary throughout the state. Any planting should take place around the time of the first frost, which occurs as early as the second week of October in north Texas and as late as mid-December in south Texas.