In article gR%Ob.4264$ZJ1.1756@lakeread01, "pm" wrote:

Hello folks,

I just noticed that 3 of my Darwin Hybrid Tulips are about to bloom, and
rest of the bunch also look like will be blooming soon. Is it too early for
New Orleans south shore near the lake? I am almost to the point of giving
up that I must have done something wrong that the bulbs are coming up too
early and will not really bloom. BTW, these were from Brent and Becky's.
Dimensionwise, I would say they are about 6"-8" tall, and the flower spike
is just as tall as the opening leaves, almost hidden within the large
leaves.

Spring starts sooner for the Gulf states than indicated by the "average"
expected bloom season estimates for the whole USA. Some hybrid tulips
bloom this early even further north, though for so early as January I'd
expect Triumphs well before Darwins. It has nothing to do with you doing
something wrong though; they do what they want when they want to depending
on how they experience the seasons. But they may not be getting ready to
bloom quite as early as you think; they can be producing leaves then buds
quite a long while before actually ready to burst into full flower.

Something similar with my Sam's Club purchase daffodils as well. Almost
similar heightwise as the tulips, and a bunch of them have flower stalks
already out. In fact, the most eager one's flower head is already kind of
drooping, may be because the stalk has not matured yet fully and the flower
is too heavy for it? I am talking in entirely unscientific terms, so please
forgive my ignorance.

Some daffodils just naturally have very floppy flower stems. Usually they
produce enough grassy leaves to brace the stems which keeps them from
actually looking tipped over. But really, there's no reason they should be
totally upright like chopsticks stuck in the ground in order to look
great.

Any idea what's going on? Am I rightly alarmed or is this normal? I put
the bulbs in refrigerator beginning of 10/03, and planted them in the ground
beginning of 12/03. Of course that we are going to get near freezing temps
is worrying me too.

I wouldn't worry. Even if there was cause to worry, nothin' you could do
about it, so just give it a shrug & observe what happens in the next few
weeks. As for freezing, if all you get is morning frosts, that's not going
to be enough to hurt early bulbs.

-paghat the ratgirl

Thanks.

Priyo.

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/