Caring for tulips

This is my first real attempt at gardening.

Once the petals have fallen off, am I supposed to clip the stems down? I planted a beautiful tulip arrangement in front of my house. Now that the flowers are almost gone, it looks awful. I would like to plant more flowers now, but I'm not sure what to do with the spent stems from the tulips. Also, if I plant annuals on top of the bulbs, do I have to pull them out in the fall so that the tulips can come up again?

Re: Caring for tulips

you should wait until the stems have turned brown before clipping them. If you clip them too early, they may not bloom next year