Why I Oughta...

We've had a VERY mild Winter.  There was a span of about three weeks when it was brutally cold and it seemed like it snowed every.single.day.  But, overall...it was mild.  And that's likely turned a number of gardening variables on their ears.  Emergence.  Bloom time.  Exposure to late Frosts.  And, more, I'm sure. One of the 'mild Winter' related change that I saw VERY early in January was that the tulip bulbs that I had planted around the parkway tree had ALREADY come up, out of the mulch.  By January 5th.   J A N U A R Y. That seems VERY early.  It was BEFORE that three-week spell of 'brutally cold' weather that I mentioned above.  But, tulips being tulips, the foliage didn't mind the weather.  (or...the snow blanket was sufficient insulation.) I'm *very* aware of mulch volcanoes around trees and worry that every year - when we add another layer of mulch - that I'm burying things and creating problems.  Everyone says that you're supposed t

Imagine my surprise when - on my walk to take the trash cans to the curb this week - I notice that there's some new, green foliage tips that have emerged from around the large Maple parkway tree in the front of our house.  "It's January 1st", I said to myself.  "What the heck is going on?" What is going on is (apparently) some of our tulip bulbs have begun to wake up and begin their 2024 growing season.  Here, below, are a couple of photos showing these confused (or, just too-early) tulips.  The first is a wider shot, the second is a close-up of the same tulip tips: Our tulips emerged in mid-February in 2023 .  This is a full six-weeks earlier.   That move to Zone 6a - from 5b - sure is meaningful, huh?   I suspect that these tips will remain just that - tips - for the next month-plus.  We haven't really had a lot of cold, cold Winter (yet), but I know it is coming in January.