Species tulips are not as showy, but they come back for me year after year. They do not multiply for me as daffodills do.

If you get just the right spot and just the rght tulip...
I think good drainage helps a lot. I have some nice big yellow ones planted here by the previous owners at least 8 yrs ago. They haven't multiplied much but they are big and showy. On the other hand, most of my experience has been that they come back poorly. -Ais.

I've had the best luck with the lady tulips, T. clusiana and T. clusiana chrysantha (both the species and the hybrids 'Lady Jane' and 'Tubergen's Gem'). They come back reliably and are seeding off. Some of the big showy hybrids will come back but even if they flower, they dwindle after a few years and rarely look as good. I do have one nice yellow tulip that has done better, but I don't remember the name of it.

tulips are funny here. i have a volunteer purple fringed one that blooms every 2-3 yrs- gorgeous when it does. i don't dare move it. another red one that comes up in the woods and blooms each yr. but most of the larger ones are annuals. sometimes they'll rebloom- i have a number of queen of the nights who rebloomed this yr- but most often you just get ugly foliage. some of the greggiis do well, and their foliage is nice, so i don't mind if they don't rebloom.

the species i've had the best luck with is a tiny orange & black number that has multiplies really well. only blooms for a week or 2 if it's cool, but sweet little guys. about the size of a crocus. they just finished like a week ago, so that gives you some idea of timing. i've seen quite a few of another speies that is very slim, yellowbased with a red stripe. would love to know what it is & where to get it. it seems to multiply well, and is taller than most of the other species. persian pearl also did pretty well for me til they got shaded out (pink w/blue star inside). come fall, select a variety of species, plant them around & see what does well for you. the bulbs are alarmingly small, and they often aren't any cheaper than the big guys- but you'll get more for your money with the fact they are true perenns. just expect more of a crocus size flowers (and only that tall, too) and you won't be disappointed. they are sweet in rock gardens & the front of beds where they can show off. mail order will have them, as will some of the nurseries around.

Tammy, I think the one you mean is Tulipa clusiana var. chrysantha 'Tubergen's Gem'. It is red and yellow and slender. Blooms about 5 weeks, flowers closing to red outside every night and opening wide to expose yellow inside every day. I've grown these for about 6 years, although as I said they have not multiplied any. I've also had luck with Tulipa bakeri 'Lilac Wonder' and Tulipa greiggii 'Red Riding Hood'. VanEngelen carries them all cheap (which is another reason I grow them).

yup- that sounds right brenda. i may have another clusiana cultivar- i have some that match that description, except they aren't super skinny like the ones i like so much. their petals are more like a regular tulip's in width and size, but open flat during the day, yellow or cream, closing up red with a yellow or cream stripe around the edge. they haven't multiplied, either, but have bloomed faithfully for me for @ 5 yrs. i'll have to look into getting some chrysanthas come fall. i guess i didn't put 2 & 2 together to figure outit could be the same til you described it the way you did. i think the skinny ones are more elegant. thanks!

the little orange ones do multiply well, unlike the big guys. i believe the same species comes in yellow and red varients as well. i'd have to dig out a bulb book to give you species & i'm too lazy right now. tam

If you want to try to have tulips every year you need not dig them up every year, it is not for a lack of cold that they do not perrenialize here, it is for lack of food. As our clay soil tends toward the acid side it makes it difficult for tulips to get enough food to form a bulb large enough to bloom in one season, the mother bulb will only bloom once and then form daughter bulblets which will then grow to become mother bulbs in about 3 growing seasons. If you prepare a proper bed and get the Ph to around 6.5 to 7 and feed them in the fall and again in the spring when the foliage is about an inch tall you can have luck. Another trick is to plant new bulbs every year for three years (that is about how long a daughter bulb takes to grow to blooming size)then the cycle will perpetuate itself. You might check the NCState website, they have been doing studies on this for some time.