Texas Tech University
Ask any loyal Red Raider when spring starts on our beautiful campus, and they’ll tell you it’s when the tulips start blooming. This long-standing tradition, dating back to the 1980s, signals the arrival of spring with a vibrant display of color. This year, the campus was adorned with over 60,000 tulips in red, white and deep purple shades.
Texas Tech sources its bulbs from the Netherland Bulb Company in Vineland, New Jersey, which imports their bulbs directly from Holland, a region renowned for producing the finest tulips. To ensure timely arrival, bulbs are always ordered at least a year in advance. Upon their arrival in the United States, the bulbs undergo a dormancy period and are chilled for two months to prepare them for planting.
Tulips are planted alongside blooming pansies in October and early November, sharing planting holes. Planting during cooler temperatures benefits the bulbs, allowing them to properly hibernate in the cold soil and develop roots before the soil warms up.
The planting process, which includes pansies, cabbage, and tulips, takes around two weeks to complete as our Ground Maintenance team members move across campus to strategic planting locations. The pansies remain in place when the tulips bloom, creating pockets of beautiful flora across campus. The pansies, cabbage and tulips all receive bone meal and additional fertilizer as part of their maintenance, a standard practice for all campus vegetation.
Tulips begin to bloom from mid-March to early April, although the exact timing depends on various factors such as soil temperature, weather conditions and rainfall. As anyone who has visited Lubbock in the spring knows, you better get your photos of the tulips early before the spring winds start, and the blooms are blown away. Although tulips only last about a month, Chris Lester, Project Manager for Grounds Maintenance, believes the impact they have on campus is well worth the limited bloom time.
Tulips are planted in some of the most visible parts of campus, including the Will Rogers and Soapsuds statue, near the Fluger Fountain, the Administration building, the Broadway entrance, the Engineering Key, and near the United Supermarkets Arena.
The tulips bring a bright pop of color as we come out of the colder winter months, signaling the bright days ahead and the excitement of the spring semester and graduation.
Grounds maintenance rotates the flower beds three times a year—fall, spring, and summer—each season bringing its own distinct plantings. After the tulips' bloom period, preparations begin for Arbor Day activities and further grounds maintenance. There is always work to be done to ensure our campus flowerbeds remain clean and inviting for our community.