My new apartment porch gets no sun.

by Karina
(Vancouver, WA)

I have 5 pots of tulips on my porch. 3 came up last year in my old apartment, and 2 are newly planted in the fall. The 3 that came up last year got morning and early afternoon sun. I get no sun on my new porch. The 2 newly planted ones are coming up fine, but the 3 pots from last year have leaves but no flowers.

Is this because of the lack of sun? Am I doomed to be tulip-less after this season, or is there something I can add to the pots to make up for the lack of sun, so next year, they all bloom?

If supplements are not an option, can I replace the tulips with shade loving bulbs?

Doug says that tulips demand full hot sun if they are going to produce flowers from year to year. If you don't have it - you won't get flowers. Sorry - there's no kind and gentle way to put this. :-(

And yes, you could think about shade bulbs (there are lovely trilliums and snowdrops etc around) to give you a spring show of bulbs.