Oh my gosh! & Ah,ooooo

I was walking around in the sun, harvesting baby lilies,when I saw some leaves bulging up. This is what I found. Hyacinths. The Ah,oooooo part is that the lily buried in leaves to the right is breaking ground already. I guess planting lilies next to a foundation in z5 isn't the best thing to do. This would be a Faraway 'Madame Butterfly'. With 2 months till the official final frost date I have my work cut out to save this beauty.
O, I got 12 large bulblets from 2 'Silk Road' stems planted last spring :*)

This message was edited Mar 14, 2008 1:52 PM

I lost some in that same location last year. They get that warm sense so early close to the house on the southeast side at my house. Last year seemed to be the only year that really had any type of bad effect of them. I moved them all and planted something else there. I think a tree peony. I actually forgot what exactly I did there. I'm kind of afraid to look around yet. Rumor has it we have a hyacinth coming up now. Hmmmmmm. Do I look or not??

Tracey I had mixed emotions. I felt like a weight lifted when I saw the fresh growth of the hyacinth, but when I found the lily an inch or so above the ground I realized it is probably going to get nipped in the bud :*(
Isn't mulch suppose to keep the ground cool?

As Lefty says, you mulch after it freezes to keep the ground cold. If you mulch too early I think it keeps the warm in, but when your near the house, no matter what you do, it is going to get warm faster than everywhere else.

I saw my first Robin today. One month later than last year.

It will help some to plant deeper than you normally would (assuming you still have good drainage and fertile soil). And if you have a basement there, make sure there is good insulation between the inside and outside, to help keep the soil cold, and not warmed by the house ambient temperature.

BTW, this is my makeshift "cellar" in my house that has none:
I cut a hole in the insulation to exactly fit a box that fits right up to the cement blocks. The cold soil (and thus the cement blocks) keep the temperature inside the box at 48-55F. This is how I get my western North American lily seeds started.