How Do Tulip Growers Make Sure Their Flowers Will Be Ready for Easter?

A sea of tulips from the 2022 season at one of the Wicked Tulip farms in New England.

Crop covers commonly used by produce farmers are becoming popular with outdoor flower growers in cool climates.

"Floating crop covers keep cold temperatures from penetrating the soil but expand, allowing the stems of plants," said Netherlands native and tulip grower Jeroen Koeman. "The tulips expand as they break the surface, so they get a head start toward early spring maturity."

Greenhouses accommodate year-round growing, but Koeman likes the hardiness of outdoor plants.

Regardless of how they are grown, flowers take center stage in family gardens, nurseries and farm stands when spring arrives.

Koeman and his wife, Keriann, own Wicked Tulips, the largest pick-your-own outdoor operation in New England, with farms in Rhode Island and Connecticut. They planted 1.5 million bulbs in the fall.

Wicked Tulip's Jeroen Koeman and his wife, Keriann, prepare to remove a floating crop cover.

Getting the bulbs to mature outdoors for early spring is a combination of science, experience, new techniques and a little luck. The Koemans are experimenting with floating crop covers on some acreage to protect tulips from frost, birds and insects.

The covers allows 90% of the light to reach the flowers and gives the bulbs an advantage in the cold New England spring.

"The non-woven fabric acts like house insulation and keeps the cold air from entering the soil," Koeman said. "It is secured to the ground to trap in the sun's heat but stretches so the tulip stems can expand the cover as they grow. The cover also protects the flowers from wind."

In Pennsylvania, Layser's Flowers in Myerstown is a fourth-generation wholesaler. The company grows flowers year-round in more than 500,000 square feet of greenhouse space, planting 85,000 tulip bulbs for this season.

Wicked Tulips and Layser's purchase bulbs from Dutch growers that export half of the 7 million bulbs produced there.

"Tulip bulbs are planted in 16,000 pots in the fall and winter in refrigerated buildings at 35 degrees," said Chris Layser. Pots are moved into a warm greenhouse in March, and he can predict bloom almost to the day some four weeks later.

Outdoor-grown tulips involve more risk, so Koeman considers the floating crop cover insurance that his tulips will be ready to be harvest in early April.

Rhonda Olesh and Chris Layser help coordinate the crop of 16,000 tulip pots that are ready to bloom at Layser's Flowers in Myerstown, Pa.

"I believe tulips grown outdoors are very hardy and stronger than those grown indoors," he said.

For greenhouse growers, a March snowfall or freeze will affect heating costs, but that's not catastrophic and doesn't change the finishing process for tulips and other spring flowers.

Tulips are a popular early spring flower. A record $67 million in national sales for 182 million tulips was achieved in 2019, according to market data firm Statista.

Both Layser's and Wicked Tulips plant a variety of tulip bulbs in a rainbow of colors, banking on consumer desire to brighten things up after a long, dark winter.

To care for cut tulips at home, Koeman recommends keeping the stems in cool water and out of direct sunlight.

Employees at a Wicked Tulip farm move the crop cover from a row of tulips.

"In Holland, my mother kept tulips healthy for weeks by putting ice cubes in their vase water, and even moved the flowers to an outdoor location overnight as long as the temperature did not drop below 32 degrees," he said. "At between 32 and 34 degrees Fahrenheit, tulips stay fresh even longer."

There are 3,000 registered varieties of tulips in the United States blooming now, and they will be popular as gifts during the Easter season and Mother's Day.

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Art Petrosemolo is a freelance correspondent and photojournalist in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.