Are your daffs and crocus starting to show green?

Hi, everybody--

Took a walk around the yard today and noticed my daffs and crocus are starting to come up. The crocus are about 4 inches out of the ground and the daffs about 2 inches.

No sign of my new snow drops, though....and I thought they would be first!

I had heard this was going to be a rough winter, does anyone know if that forecast still in place or has it changed?

Will I lose my early bulbs to a freeze surely yet to come? Or are they survivors?

Anything peaking out in your gardens? t.

Not yet and with all the warm weather we've been having I'm surprised my Crocuses aren't up yet! Lucky you!
JoAnn

I see a few greens poking up. But mostly nothing.
Tam

Hi!

I've actually had one pot of tazetta daffs blooming since Christmas. Very strange, but Humboldt can be like that. My very first "spring" daffodil opened last week - WP Milner, which usually blooms early, but according to my photos last year, it is a month early... along with the Katherine Hodgkin Iris that didn't begin blooming until very late Jan/early Feb last year.

We had unusually warm weather pretty late in Fall this last year, and it threw everything off. As I was driving away from the house an hour ago, I noticed a pot of crocus that is also blooming. I'm not sure what cultivar, but I'll check when I get back home.

Pictures will follow soon...

Lori

*snip*

Somehow my comment posted 3 times to this thread.

How odd...

This message was edited Jan 15, 2006 6:16 PM

Hi,
I've got a few Daffodils popping a little green out of the ground. A sure sign that spring is on the way. (I hope)

Crystal

Hi,
I've got a few Daffodils popping a little green out of the ground. A sure sign that spring is on the way. (I hope)

Crystal

*SNIP*

This message was edited Jan 15, 2006 6:17 PM

Hi, ladyrowan--

I am dying to see your pics from this year's bulb crop! Be sure to post a few here on the bulb forum.

The rest of us sound like we will have to wait a while... (-: t.

This is W.P. Milner, my first 'official' daffodil of the year. It looks like I'm at least a week away from my next bloom (in any cultivar) and I still have a couple hundred daffodils that haven't even broken ground yet, so I'll be covered in flowers in about a month! I can't wait....

Lori

Oooooo... thanks for the picture! Glorious.

tabasco, your spring bulbs will be fine; they're tough and can take the cold. And I've found that the first spring after my bulbs are planted they bloom a bit later than after they're established. It's my bet that next year your snowdrops will be the first to show up, but this year you can enjoy them in bloom with some of your daffs and later crocus :)

I'm seeing little pips arising just above the soil surface to! Not from any of the new additions, but the bulbs I already had are ready for spring.
Neal.

ladyrowan--your pic brings joy to my heart! Thanks for posting. Your W P Milner is so sweet! And don't forget to start a thread when your others peep through and bloom. I think you will be the first bulb fanatic to have a bloom to post and we are all waiting!

So I should stop fretting, eh, gemini? I don't know why, but I always find something to obsess about with my spring bulbs!

Can't wait! t.

I too was poking around (on saturday when it was 55+) and saw some of the daffodills planted this fall peeking up thru the mulch. Sunday came and they are now buried under some snow! They should be just fine though.

Cheryl

The Narc. bulbocodium are leafed out here. Snowed in as well, but leafed out. A few tuplip tips are up 1/2" in the warmest microclimate. Dang snow and cold; but it sure is a blessing to have the warm blanket of snow when it is cold.
Kenton

Tabasco - I have a very small front lawn, approx 6ft x 6ft, and I decided to try planting a "crocus lawn" last fall. I bought two bags of purple and white mixed crocus from Costco, and planted both bags in the lawn. (Happily ripping out as much crab-grass as I could too!)

Unfortunately, there was an almost three-week delay between the plantings of the right and left sides, so it may look a little 'off' this year. Oh, well. It is my grand experiment... which is yeilding results finally!!! I found a couple of croci coming up a couple days ago, so I'm hoping I'll have flowers in a week or so.

Lori

How exciting! I did something much smaller scale at my last place. I took out
sections of grass on the boulevard (space between road & sidewalk) and planted
cross underneath, then replaced the grass. It was kinda cool but probably not
as good as spacing them out over a larger area like you've done.
Tam

Hi, Tammy -

Your idea was probably a little smarter! If my lawn had been in better condition, I probably would've lifted up the turf, and planted a mass of them underneath. However, my front lawn (what there is of it) needs to be ripped out and completely replaced. Since that falls into the "ain't gonna happen this year" plan, I decided to just go for it, and plant a million croci (or 300) in smaller holes. When I dig up the lawn, and rebuild the retaining wall around it, I'll probably lose some of the croci, but I plan to put more in at that time.

These guys were blooming at my parent's house last spring. Aren't they cute? I can' t remember the cultivar name, though.

Lori

I think they are Crocus chrysanthus 'LadyKiller'.

I am amazed that my snowdrops are about 2 inches high and crocus are sprouting all over....normally we have about 3-4 feet of snow on the ground at this stage. Crocus and snowdrops never bloom here until mid April...what in the world is happening this winter? Living in the North Atlantic (Newfoundland, Canada), I'm shocked by the weather (but loving it!)

Speaking about the weather - its been a wild week here! It was in the 50's on Fri and then we
had tornado warnings overnight and woke to freezing temp's. Its been as low as 7F in the mornings
and last night we had one heck of a storm and its gotta be in the 40's or higher now (7:30am). Nothing
much popping up though.

Mine are beginning to peep thru!

ladyrowan--love your idea of a crocus lawn. I have only seen pictures of that in English gardening magazines.

And a very pretty picture of your parents' bloom. I always love your pics..

Weird weather. No doubt about it. Yesterday it was 57 degrees. Today snowing and very cold.. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 57 again. Kind of scary, really.

BTW--what is the correct plural of 'crocus'? I am trying to remember my Latin 101--is it second declension? LOL

When I hear of the gaggles of Elvis impersonators in Vegas, I call them Elvi, LOL.

Love it. Elvi & croci.

We had a wild windstorm last night. The house was rattling and the wind just roaring.
This after we had a tornado watch Fri night and then Sat many people lost power &
several homes were damaged by gusting winds. Not normal Jan weather for sure!

Watch out folks, he's on a tangent:

I love crocus in turf. One must plant the turf first, then the bulbs, as to not rot the crocus in the wet conditions for sprouting grass. It is not great for the lawn, but it helps to cut it short just before winter sets in (to give the crocus a bit more time to bloom and ripen before the grass needs trimming. The first year rarely works as well as it will in following years. I have probably planted a few thousand crocus in turf in my "career," (but none actually in my own grass!) and now I have it down to 2-3 seconds per bulb planting time.

After some experience, the best way to plant them in a grass area that will see foot traffic is in big clumps, so that a person is physically able to walk around them- It is difficult to tiptoe through a crocus-broadcast lawn! I also strongly suggest not using vernus, (large flowered) Crocus. (See picture.) vernus is not only big, but late enough to be lost in grass at flower-time, and have leaves for a very long time.

I hope to record flowering times compared to mowing times on the other candidates for lawn-planting. Galanthus are ideal. I saw an incredible picture of what I think were Chionodoxa.

I should be able to take pictures of these areas next spring.
Kenton

Vernus begin to bloom where they are broadcast:

I planted some 'croci' in my parents' backyard three years ago, and they are due to bloom (for the 3rd time) in about a month. I don't recall what they were, but because the ground was ROCK hard when I did it, I was only able to plant three sets before I got discouraged and gave up.

My dad's 'gift' in the garden is the ability to drive a lawnmower for hours at a time without getting tired. He doesn't actually fertilize, or re-seed, so in 6 years the lawn is patchy, and covered with weeds... which are green! WOO!

Mom kills plastic plants.

I think I was a changeling found under a bush one day.

Lori-the mutant changeling

PS: the croci in the lawn are Vernus. I planted them instead of one of the smaller varieties because it is such a large yard, and these are easier to see. Thankfully they bloom early enough that the grass is still very short while they are in full bloom. The trick is to stop dad from mowing the greens after they're done!

I have about 2" of green showing from Pipits I planted (about 15). does anybody know if this variety naturalizes?

Voss, what's Pipits?

lol

here 'tis

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/66520/

Oh yes, I even grow those! They do naturalize and if I remember correctly, they have a sweet scent to. I really like this one, it's one of the more graceful daffs.
Neal.

I have the Chionodoxa all over the place. Flower beds and lawn. They are lovely.
A few years ago I dismantled a flower bed along the sidewalk and scattered all kinds of bulbs in any available location. I didn't know which was which between Crocus, Grape hyacinth or the Chios. Last spring was their first in the new locations and they all did well. I'm curious to see what happens this year.
The Grape hyacinths have been green since late summer, quite large mounds now.
Daffs are poking through the mulch already.
Unfortunately I don't know any cultivar names, but they are still pretty.
Andy P

i see leaves, and ONE bud.

thinking about the mini narcissus "pipit" - - - name origin. we have small birds in the philippines bearing that name.

so excited about the blooms to come!

I think my giant alliums are starting to peep out of the ground.

Either those or my Eremurus that just planted this fall are coming up... I wonder if I should put a glass cover over them or something...

I'm thrilled if it's the eremurus because I never expected them to grow at all! but scared they will succumb to a February ice storm.

Andy, I would very much like to see a picture of this endevour when it blooms.

I've buds coming up about the place (a few tulips even), but they were stopped when weather went cold again (hopefully) for the last time before spring. Until yesterday, I'd missed a Crocus that was coming along quite well.
Kenton

Kenton, This year I have a Digital Camera. You can be sure I'll snap plenty of shots.
I'm thinking about next Springs Banner, LOL
I have a good number of mixed Tulips that were amazing last year, sure hope they do as well this time around. Most are in a new bed I established in 2004.
We'll see!!!
Andy P

The first crocus in pots surrounding my front yard began blooming a couple of days ago...

Zwanenburg Bronze. These crocus are a very bright yellow, with darker bronzing on the outer petals. These were taken yesterday, during a rare, sunny afternoon.

Lori

Fancy. Unsurpassed. Put that picture in PlantFiles. I wanted that badly, but it was sold out last fall. Sweet anticipation.

those are nice and different.

Hi, JamesCo,

I've already uploaded one of the pictures I took, and I plan on adding a couple more.

Thanks!

Lori

The first daffodils of the year! I looked through my pictures last year though and everything this year looks right on par with how it started last season.