Mary Lou, Fyno blooms for me and survives fine out in the garden here in middle TN. I have it in two spots in my raised beds. All but one of the bulbs were turned around years ago. I also have a large bud that will probably open today on N. cantabricus Foliosus, also outside. I covered it and other buds with pine bark mulch earlier in the week when we had a low of 9F.
Niels, I have taken photos of bulbocodium blossoms and foliage all covered with frost and the foliage does tend to lay flat on the ground until the weather warms again. Are you having cold temperatures?
Someone was asking at the fall board meeting what I add to my soil when I make a new raised bed for the show daffs. I use a very inexpensive product from Home Depot called soil conditioner (under $3 a bag). I couldn't remember the composition of the mix at the time. It is 50% compost and 50% pine products (very finely shredded
If it will ever quit raining here, I will plant the rest of my daffs. (No, I'm not done yet.) It's 32F now, warming up to 48 today, 40% chance of rain tonight and tomorrow with a high tomorrow of 68F. www.weather.com shows daily temps and rainfall by zip code for the month, including average and actual monthly rainfall. It shows that our average rainfall for December is 4.54 and so far this month we've had 6.79. If you don't have any snow, here's a link where you can create some virtual snowflakes: http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/ If you do have snow, stay safe and warm! Happy Holidays to all! Becky Fox Matthews that daffy girl near Nashville
Becky……….you ease my guilt. I still have a box of tulips, some other misc. bulbs and one packet, (from the remainders at a Al’s Nursery in Woodburn) of Feb. Gold. Len just moved all the pots back that he had put in the garage when we were having 13 degrees a couple of weeks ago. The Arctic blast has flown and we’re back to rain here in Corvallis. Happy New year to all. Your pictures and stories make the Winter seem shorter!
Best, Barbara
Glad I could help ease your guilt, Barbara! I will get all the bulbs planted, but fall was busy and lately I’ve either been gone over the weekends or the ground has been too frozen (a rarity here) or too wet to dig. I’ve gotten a lot planted this week and hope to finish up over the next one.
Neils, I have a few bulbocodiums blooming in the garden and buds on several others (Jessamy, Nylon, Taffeta). I’m not sure of the ID of this first one (photo attached), but it has one bloom and two more opening. I’m afraid it lost its ID while in a pot, but has been in the garden for a few years now.
Looking back at digital photo info, I can see that this same flower was the first to bloom last year on Dec. 30, 2007 and there were buds then on Jessamy and Nylon.
The season before, Jessamy and New Charm bloomed on Dec. 31, 2006. January 6, 2007 brought 3 blooms on Jessamy and 1 Tarlatan.
No photos from the previous season, but in 2004 I show Fyno blooming outdoors on Dec. 8.
I don’t think any correlation can be made from this sparse data I have, though it is always fun to see these early blooms. Our winter weather here swings back and forth so often and I’ve seen buds just waiting to open for a week or more during a cold snap.
Happy New Year to all and I hope you will have lots of wonderful blooms and happy times in 2009!
Becky Fox Matthews that daffy girl near Nashville