I'm new to this site and forums in general, but I can not find information on the web to help me, so I thought I would give this a try!

I am new to gardening, and I am new to this climate! I'm originally from the south, but now I am in Quebec on Lake Champlain. This has been a somewhat mild winter this year and only reached around -30F.

I moved into my house last summer and did not have a chance to do anything with the yard. However, the old owners told us that they planted some bulbs that never showed up. (I did not ask when.) My yard is mainly grass with an L-shaped bed near the deck that grows mainly Tigerlilies-- they were there last year. But there is also a really big bed that is maybe 16' x 8'. This bed was my goal for this spring. I had planned to till it out and plant the plants and flowers I wanted. When we moved in, this bed was overgrown with many weeds, lots of grass, and numerous other ugly features (including a number of maple seedlings!)

Much to my chagrin, first thing this April, I see little sprouts all over!!! The bulbs were coming out. So, now, I can not till the bed out. I had to pull all the weeds by hand-- running grass... not fun.

So, you know the background, now for the problem. The first ones up were or course my crocuses. Thery were so pert and pretty and vibrant and appeared to be extremely healthy! they started blooming April 10. Now, little over a week later, all the flowers are wilting. The foilage seems to still be very strong and healthy though. A few of the plants never bloomed at all, but I thought that might be bad bulbs.

Anyway, I wanted to know the average bloom time of crocuses and if anyone might know why mine are going away so quickly when nothing else has started blooming yet.

Any comments or help will be greatly appreciated so I can do better for next year!

Thanks!

South? From a Quebec perspective, you are south now.

As for the warm weather, it has been very sunny and warm here for the last week or so. I've been loving it!!! I am not sure what is normal here for this time of the year, but I did have a neighbor ask if the blooms were out a bit too early...

Thanks very much for the info. And do I need to worry about my other flowers suffering the same fate once they start blooming if it stays rather warmer than usual?

Thanks for the welcome, and thanks for givng me hope for greater color to come!

Sheryl_O:

Wow! I thought I was the only one--everyone laughs when I talk. hee! So did you do any gardening in the south before you came to Canada? And if so, do you have any words of wisdom that may help me keep a healthy and productive northern garden?? Things that a southerner might not know?

Loloo:

You are soooo right! I should pluck it all up and do it my way! But I am so intimidated by the size! I want to see what else comes up and figure out what all is planted so that I can plan what to do with the different types of bulbs. Plus, I think this first full year is a good observational time as well-- for shade and timing and such. But I have already set out marking tulips, crocuses, and hyacinths that are in bad places. Somehow, I think some tulip bulbs shifted after they were planted, because I have a ton coming up in the middle of a very thick tigerlily bed! And I ain't gettin rid of my tigerlilies! They have always been my favorites!

So, as a newbie who is totally intimidaated by the size of her flower bed, and who has NEVER dealt with bulbs before, do you have any advice on how to safely move them around?

Thanks again for all advice and comments!

Also, because of the short growing season where you are, start all your seeds early indoors under artificial lights.

-Audric