...do I do anything? I know they were confused and this surely won't help. Will they be able to come back again in the spring?
Bulbs coming up and a freeze is coming...
My daffodils have often come up before the last freezes in the spring. The varieties I have usually bloom by mid-February in the middle of Texas. The only times they have suffered from the freeze were when the flower buds were just opened or close to opening and there was a coating of ice. I don't know about other bulbs.
Mine do that too, I think that if you mulch them, they will be fine, they are pretty hardy.
Josephine.
So I'm not really worried when it's just the foliage coming up now? I really didn't want my ranunculus blooming right now tho. I want them to wait until spring.
Often my Paperwhites come up really early and there is no problem,however I planted Dutch Iris weeks ago and they are beginning to show foliage. I am concerned about this.
Dutch Iris normally send up leaves in the fall in this area. I have had several clumps of them do this every year and they're about a foot tall in fact right now. They seem to bloom at normal time in April without issue - so I wouldn't worry.
In my zone, iris, daffodils, narcissus, jonquils, jackoquils all do all right. They are coming up now and even when in bloom, it takes a hard freeze to hurt them. I don't even provide extra mulch for these early bloomers. This is Narcissus with some Iris...
Ok, so I'm getting the feeling that as long as it's just foliage then it's ok. I have no idea what anemones and ranunculus and a few others would do if it froze. If we do get another freeze when they are normally up I cover them with buckets and blankets. I'm not going to bother with that now, but I did mulch today.
I have an iris with a bloom stalk! This one came from Washington in a coop a couple of months ago. Tomorrow night we are expecting 23 degrees, so I will cover with a big tub and see what happens.
konkreteblond, I have all kinds of bulbs emerging now that should not emerge until much later. My paperwhites are fully grown and blooming. The false freezia are 6 inches tall and they usually look like this in January. The Dutch iris are 4 inches tall already. They came up earlier than normal last year, but not this early. Unfortunately, last year for the first time they did not bloom. I thought it was because they emerged too soon. Lots of other spring emerging plants are coming up for some strange reason (of course they will be damaged from freezes - it was 26 for hours here Friday night). I really don't understand what is going on. Maybe its because my yard had finally received rain in October after months and months of drought conditions and the plants thought it was spring. I too have been concerned. I hope that you don't mind if I ask frsotweed a question.
frostweed, my Texas star hibiscus that is inground last all of its leaves a few weks back which I found to be strange. It looks like it is totally dormant or experiencing death. I had thought that it would behave like my other hibiscus plants that go dormant after the first cold snaps. I am afraid that it may have died for some mysterious reason. Do yours do this?
My Texas stars (both white and red) have been defoliated for some time now--it's normal for this time of year.
Other than normally winter growing bulbs, which I grow a lot of; I haven't noticed any up any earlier than normal, other than Ipheions. Daff's and narcissus are generally starting to emerge this time of year, and mine are. My Ipheions (all but one of the hybrids--Rolf Feidler--and I have 6 hybrid varieties and 4 species) are up earlier than normal, but not anywhere near blooming. The Ipheions I do directly attribute to the fact we had a normal (which is wet) summer here. My Freesia laxa's (several different hybrids and the species) have not even started emerging.
Third night of frost here this season--I think we may be in for a more normal, rather than abnormally warm winter. I, for one, appreciate the fact that rainfall and temperatures have been much closer to normal for us this year. We are in the part of the state that is not dry, as a rule. This summer was not near as hot and dry as the last four years have been. So for me, plants are behaving in a much more normal manner this year than they have for the last 5.
Debbie
Regarding the Tx Star, mine always loses foliage in late fall. I don't even cut the dead limbs back as something, I think a possum will come thru in the winter and cut them off near the base and shreds the limbs. It always comes back in full force. Hope yours is the same... pod
Hazel and Debbie, good to hear from both of you.
My Texas Star hibiscus have been dormant now for about a month, they usually die to the ground every year and emerge back from the roots. I have had some of them die completly some years, it could be that they are not a very long lived perennial, but being so prolific with their seed, they are not hard to replace.
Many types of bulbs are up here too, and I have seen paper whites blooming.
Josephine.
I think actually the winds here dessicate them before the frost zaps 'em. Josephine, mine seem to decline drastically after about the 3rd year too. They peak about 2nd year. I always thought they got a bit big for their britches--mine top out in the 7-9' range and then winds want to make them lean so bad I think they get unstable and it pulls on their roots too much. Like you say, luckily they reproduce easily so that is good. I'm still puzzling out the genetics on the whites. I got good seed production but about 50% were red--I need to cross next years whites and hopefully a higher percentage of the seeds will be white next summer.
Believe it or not, paperwhites are one of the few bulbs I don't have. But I may have to pick up some this year if they are blooming in December...I never had a chance to get them dug up from my other house when I had this one built 12 yrs ago. I have a bunch of the other small narcissus species and hope they do bloom well this year before it starts getting too warm. That's the problem I have with them down here. You just never know, some springs' the heat sets in too early down here and they don't do their best
Thanks everyone for the info about the Texas star.
koncreteblond, myi rises and other bulbs made it through the freeze without any damage and I did not cover tham with anything, How did tyours do?
My bulbs foliage weren't bothered by the freeze at all! I was surprised to see all the little green tips still standing, not wilted over like mush. I was given some Louisiana irises and shared them with my neighbor and he was impressed that they were fine.
I'm actually not so sure about the ranunculus tho. I forgot about them so I'll have to dig around and see.
Louisiana iris will grow right through freezes--this is their peak growing season through April.
On the way home this evening, I saw the first Narcissus blooming in a ditch. It was in a sheltered spot that receives warming sun. I have seen them in bloom on many frosty mornings. Tough plants to survive thru the heat and drought and frost and cold!
That's good to know about the LA irises. I thought they were just coming up because the temps were so unusually warm. It's a good time for me tho because I couldn't remember where I put them but I can see them now that everything else is mush.
htop what is false freesia ?
Freesia laxa.
Merry Christmas to all... The daffodil and narcissus are getting ready to bloom here.
My paperwhites have been blooming for two weeks sporadically. Really doesn't have much of an impact that way.
Ahhh Riverland, the impact is on my heart. I love them.
I know what you mean. Everytime they bloom it gets you all excited thinking Spring is soon. It never is but they do take the gloom off winter. I love them too because they remind me of my mother who has been gone for 26 years. She had such a green thumb with no money for flowers. She would collect them from anywhere she could. She loved her spring bulbs and hated winter.
Riverland, false freesia is a wonderful little plant that provides early blooms at the end of winter into early spring. As dmj1218 stated, its scientific name is Feesia laxa (Synonyms: Anomatheca laxa, Anomatheca cruenta, Lapeirousia cruenta). I have the coral-red blooming type. There are other varieties that have other colors of blooms also.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/53510/index.html
My paperwhites had a few clusters of blooms around Thanksgiving and now have none.
Podster, my daffodils and narcissus are up but have no blooms on them as of today.
Thank you htop these were on my list as( will order this year) I had discussed them with dmj1218 earlier. I didn't know they were also called false freesia. Learn something everyday here on dave's. If you ever decide you want to fix up a trade I have some things you might like to trade for. dmail me. Cindy