Tulips just don't seem to come back to flower again if they're grown in grass, unfortunately. To make a tidy and attractive drive-side you might choose to do the 'groundwork' of taking out the grass and either leaving the edge beside the grass to be trimmed (wait for DH to mutter!), or install a mowing strip of some kind that will stop the grass sneaking into the bed and make it easy to mow over to keep it trimmed without causing any harm to the garden. If you were to go for the earlier varieties of tulip then, depending on the conditions in your area, they would have died down in time to replace them with, for example, dahlias. These need lifting for overwintering around the time you'd be wanting to put the tulip bulbs back in the ground. If you want to associate the tulips with other plants over spring then violas in a compatible shade for the tulips, or wallflowers which can 'disguise' the foliage and also enhance reds, yellows, and oranges could be considered, perhaps. If you're thinking of densely planted ribbons of colour you may need to consider choosing tulips that flower at the same time and grow to similar heights. As it's a long, narrow ribbon of garden then possibly using a particular plant you like along the entire length with the tulips as 'punctuation' - in singles, curves or rounds of planting in one or more colours - could give you the picture you've got in mind. And it's MUCH easier to do that if the bed is grass-free, well-composted and easy to work from both sides.

MH, as long as the stalks aren't soft, by spring/summer new growth should sprout. After it looks healthy, and days get longer, spring-like, you can start feeding w/a high nitrogen fertilizer..Once a month should do. The nitrogen, (first number on the bottle of fertilizer) should be highest, which promotes leaf growth. I hope your plant does well, -35 makes me cold just thinking about it..LOL..Stay warm..Toni

Sam -- I'm sorry I've not gotten back with you sooner. I'd love to see your garden and the tropical fun you are having. It has indeed been a rough year! We've already burned once this spring and have another gargantuan pile to burn again. Ordered 9 yards of mulch a couple of days ago so you know what I'm up to these sunny - if not terribly warm - days! I have lots of Japanese Butterbur (Petasites Japonica) which I'm about to dig and move over the next few days. I have more than enuf to share so if you are interested in any, let me know. What I don't use is simply hitting the compost. Look forward to being in touch. Happy gardening!

GreenThumb0306 & Violet Verbina, not to overstate what might seem obvious, but the best regional recommendations might be found at a good local nursery. While I'm sure everyone in the forum has their own personal favorites (I'm a huge fan of mangroves myself) the number of solid suggestions you get that are really a good fit for your location might be few, or might be a little more based on conjecture. Maybe it's worth taking a trip to a nursery to browse a bit and then, if you have any questions about a particular plant, post those more specific questions. I bet there's a lot of great insight to be had if you narrow the scope of the question just a bit. Good luck with whatever you choose!