Sunday, April 1, 2012
The Flowers of Spring...NOT
Okay, I like to garden. I have some quirky things in the garden I plant (poinsettia's from last Christmas come to mind), but I like it and it suits me. I don't go at it full tilt all the time. Hence the weeds and funny looking thingees that grow in between the hyacinths and daffodils. But on the whole, I like to be out digging around. In the early months of the summer, I usually spend a bundle at a couple of local garden centers and grab a mish-mosh of plants to put in containers on the deck. It's the only place where the sunlight seems to concentrate, so it's more a garden in pots than in the ground. But last year, ah, last year...I read this article that explained how you could plant a whole batch of tulips in a small area and the colors would be gorgeous and concentrated in this one small spot. I was thrilled! This was it! My place to really go wild! I followed the instructions to the letter, weeding, mulching, fertilizing, chasing away squirrels, tending, talking to them, chasing away more squirrels. And lo and behold, it was so! A lovely batch of spring green beauties sprouted, waving their bulbous heads and bursting into fabulous color! Oh, it was beautiful! The neighbors were impressed with my display and to tell the truth, so was I!
It is now Spring again. Tulips bloom again and again, right? So I wasn't quite as diligent as last year. But we had a mild winter. Not too much frost. Hardly any snow. The green shoots pushed their way up into the bright sunlight. I waited for the brilliant display to begin. And waited. And waited. The daffodils are already spent. The forsythia is more green than yellow by now. But not one tulip has graced a stalk. Not a one. No color. Except spring green. Not a single bloom. How can this be? Every time I back out of the driveway, they wave mockingly at me. See? They seem to say, we're still here, but we're all the same color this year! Oh, where did I go wrong? I'll have to research this phenomenon on internet. It's almost Easter and no tulips. Heavy sigh.
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3 comments:
Whoa -- MAJOR new look! (And appropriately enough, it's a lawn-and-garden theme. :))
Any luck finding out where have all the tulips gone?
Come to think of it... I don't believe I've seen many tulips down here, ever, in the spring. Which makes me wonder if they require a cold winter for some sort of, uh, hibernation period. Like if it stays warm(ish) throughout winter, it's the equivalent of an animal's going without sleep. You lose weight, look haggard, and so on. (Are there pouches under the tulip-to-be's eyes?)
Aha. At this page (on the National Gardening Association site), it says:
Mild-winter tulips. If you live where winters rarely or never reach freezing temperatures, tulips likely won't grow all that well. However, you can still grow tulips if you chill them for six to eight weeks before planting.
So, it may be too late for this year. But next year, reserve space in the fridge just in case!
(I'm assuming this works for bulbs that you've already planted, which would mean digging them up. Is that, er, done?)
And on top of that, you cannot water in the summer. I found that out. I had planted something or other on top of them because after all, they only show off in the Spring. So apparently I killed them off while watering the flowers on top. Who knew? Obviously not I!
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