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| Tulip from a spring past. |
If your spring bulbs are jumping the gun – jumping the season, that is – don’t worry about it. My snowdrops are already an inch tall, I’ve got Siberian iris starting to sprout, and some of the tulips are going “YEE HAH!” at the warm weather this week. Everything thinks it’s spring. It’s not. It’s December 3rd, and they’re all in for a rude surprise later this week when the temperatures return to seasonal norms. In the meantime, however, I’ve seen all sorts of insects awake that shouldn’t be awake and all sorts of planting showing up among the mulch who shouldn’t be peeking out at this time of year.
What to do? The answer is simple: nothing. Honestly, there’s nothing you can do, and nothing you should do when the spring flowering bulbs make an early appearance. Nature knows what she is doing, and for countless centuries, weather patterns have fluctuated and spring bulbs have been fooled into peeking out early from the soil.
What may happen is that at the next hard frost, the green shoots will die back. They may turn brown or even black, and it will appear as if your little plant is dead. However, bulbs are miraculous things; their energy is stored underground, in the bulb portion. Even if the green tips get nipped by the frost, there is still plenty of energy left in the bulb to push forth a new shoot when the weather finally turns, once and for all, into spring.
So enjoy the unseasonably warm weather while it lasts. Use the warmer temperatures to get outside and place your outdoor decorations or hang strings of Christmas lights. Within a few days, winter’s chill will return, and your bulbs will sleep once more.
