Best reblooming and multiplying spring bulbs

Many of my tulips came up with single leaves and no blooms in year three even though they had optimal care, well fed, leaves left to yellow and put their energy into future bulb development, dry in the summer etc. They were planted in the ground in full sun. What bulbs are truly hardy rebloomers that will persist and even multiply over the years....unlike tulips?

 

Perhaps it depends on the variety, but my tulips in Burnaby have been blooming well and multiplying for over 30 years without any problems. The only maintenance that I do is to thin out the smaller bulbs every few years.

 

Are they species tulips or the large red and yellow Darwin tulips? Are you leaving them in the ground all year round?

 

I don't know much about tulips; but some are red; some are yellow; and some are both red and yellow. The plants are the usual large size and are left in the ground year round. The only care they receive is thinning and deadheading to keep them from multiplying excessively. I definitely don't recommend growing grape hyacinths or small crocuses because both are difficult to keep under control and easily get so crowded that they stop blooming. We also have some of the large Common Hyacinths, which flower well every year without any care but do not seem to be multiplying at all.

 

Thanks, I will definitely try the large red and yellow tulips next year, I think they are the Darwins. My Mum always grew thriving patches of the long lived red and yellow tulips in sunny parts of her garden in Burnaby. My garden is a little shadier and cooler so I think I need to find sunnier spots for tulips. Thanks for the tips on the other bulbs.

 

This may or may not be a problem for you, but my garden soil is so sandy that bulbs tend to sink gradually. I broke a large pot that I'd planted bulbs in over the years with my own soil and my own compost made on top of my soil. I had to laugh when I found gladiolus corms, liatris bulbs, and unidentified bulbs that were still intact, but at the bottom of the pot. And I thought I only had last years narcissus in there. Which also sank too low to bloom, but at least they sprouted. I understand in Savannah, they plant their bulbs with an oyster shell cupping the bottom. It stops or slows the sinking and retains a little swale of dampness and a little coolness in our tropical heat, and may be adding supplemental calcium, too.

So check to see if they've gotten too deep. They have a chance to grow more green growth to feed the bulbs for next year.

 

Snowdrops.
Cyclamen coum and hederifolium, tubers, will seed around some.

 

I agree that snowdrops work well, but I have both types of Cyclamens; and they are spreading into the lawn next to the beds that they were planted in.

 

They all seem to seed around a bit, but they don't seem invasive at all, here anyways. C. coum and the snowdrops bloom at the same time here, with C. coum starting first.

I should have mentioned C. hederifolium blooms in the fall.

The few small species tulips don't seem to multiply here.