tulips coming up too soon

[nakanj]

Because of the unseasonably warm weather here my tulips think its Spring and are trying to come up. Can I do anything to stop this and if not will they come up again in spring?

[rainbowgardener]

No, can't stop it. And no they won't come up again. But they should be okay now. Presumably just the leaf tips are up now. They are very cold hardy. If they were blooming now, the blooms would be ruined when the frost comes back.

I would just mulch around them to help protect the exposed leaf tips.

[rainbowgardener]

PS... it really isn't that early. I usually have the tips of the tulips showing sometime in february. They will slow down when it gets cold again and just wait.

[superschwein22]

Ha, that's funny. I was going to post a similar question. My crocus and iris are up. I also planted tulips but they haven't made an appearance, yet. I'm surprised and happy to hear that they might be okay, though. Is it the weather or should they be planted deeper than the instructions say? This actually is an ongoing argument between my husband and I. How deep do you plant your bulbs?

[mtmickey]

Iris actually like to have part of their tubers exposed, so don't plant them too deep. I don't plant any of my bulbs too terribly deep and they do great. Basically, I plant them twice the depth of the bulb. So, if your bulb is 2" top to bottom, I dig a hole about 4" deep and put in the bulb!

Don't worry about those plants coming up right now. Same thing happening here, as it has been an unseasonably warm winter, but the cold is coming. They are just poking through and will do fine when the cold comes. A little mulch will help, if you have some.

[PenPalAnna]

Glad I found this thread. This seems to be happening all over. If I put those bottle things (cloches?) on top of the shoots will help, harm or just waste my time?

[rainbowgardener]

No the cloches are not a good idea for cold hardy bulbs. It can get very hot under one of those if the sun comes out. They are for protecting tender things like tomato starts. Just mulch around the bulbs. But really, guys, it's February. It's normal for the spring bulbs to be showing by now, at least it is here in Ohio. Snowdrops and crocuses and similar early spring bulbs usually bloom in February here (I have snowdrops blooming already) and the rest stick their tips up to see what's happening.

[applestar]

I agree with rainbowgardener. I'd be more concerned if the flower bud showed extremely early, but the leaves, especially, should be OK.

(I just had an image of the little tulips crouched down in the ground with their "hands" up in the air, feeling to see if it's time to raise their heads yet. )

Then, too, there are different varieties of tulip and daffodils too -- sold as early season, mid-season, and late season. So they don't always come up in synchronized timing relative to crocus or to each other, etc.

When planting in fall, you can choose different early~late flowering varieties so you could have a much longer spring show.

[lily51]

I visited a friend near Toledo yesterday and we walked through some botanical gardens. We couldn't t believe how many shrubs and tress had buds on them. As you all have said, those are the ones to be concerned about.
The unusual winter did make for a nice early feb. walk, tho,

[rainbowgardener]

The unusual winter did make for a nice early feb. walk, tho,

Yesterday it did! Monday I was out weeding in my garden enjoying the sunshine, with only a light sweater on. Today it is a winter wonderland out there - everything covered in snow for the FIRST time all winter!

[lily51]

Same here this mornIng and now mostly melted!

[ocb]

I had the same problem here in my garden in German. We had a few very warm days, so the tulips started coming out. But then it got cold again. So I covered them with fir branches. They seem to be ok.

Rental Software | High Heels

[rainbowgardener]

I'm sure they are. They likely would have been ok without the fir branches too.