22/05/2024
Tulip Bulb Giveaway - Each year we try to do something a little different. To help ease the pain of traffic jams, etc, as people are getting free tulip bulbs.
This year…we will set up a tulip pick up spot at the North tunnel parking lot off Brock street. Look for the orange barricades. There will be no specific time, people will need to just check. The bulbs will be in bags of 10, (black garbage bags). We will be dropping them off through out the day - for the next 4 days.
- Please just take 1 bag, to make sure we have enough for all the people.
- Please do not approach the Gardeners while they are working, we are always concerned with Public Safety and Traffic.
Why we don’t reuse these bulbs? This is because, in the second and third years, there are no guarantees that the bulbs will bloom. Each year the bulbs are planted, the Bloom Success Rate drops. Each year, the city plants fresh, first year bulbs in each of its high profile garden spaces, with the right amount of feed, and fertilizer in the soils, that gives us a very high success rate, and the Tulips look amazing when they bloom. Each year with brand new bulbs, we have a very high Bloom Success Rate, (99%), and our Gardens look amazing!. When we give the bulbs away in bags of 10, and people simply add them to their existing garden spaces, and only 6 or 7 bloom, its not a terrible thing. The City's beds of Tulips are all meticulously planted and the displays are very evenly planted. A 25% failure rate in the second year would not look very good. This is why the fresh bulbs each year, and the Annual Tulip Bulb Giveaway!
