Journey North International Plant Study Spring 2007

Tulip Test Gardens

Update: March 30, 2007

Today's Report Includes:

Maps and Highlights >>
Journal Question: Too Hot, Too Cold, or Just Right? >>
Explore: Hello from Our Journey North Garden >>
Try It: Focusing on the Details with Georgia O'Keeffe >>
- Close up with O'keeffe Art >>
Ask the Expert Opens Today >>
Links: This Week's Tulip Garden Resources >>

Georgia O'Keeffe-style Tulip Art

Maps and Highlights:

	This Week's Map >> Data >> Slideshow (Week-by-week animation) >>
Questions about this week's map (handout) >>
Highlights: Determined Gardeners: We're happy to report that three tulips have emerged. We planted the bulbs three times. The first ones were eaten by what we thought were squirrels. We planted some more bulbs, put chicken wire on the ground over them, and constructed a five-foot tall chicken-wire fence around them. The next day we found that something had dug deep tunnels under the fence and ate the bulbs. This time we thought it was a raccoon--the tunnels looked too deep for squirrels, so we put heavy logs all around the outside of the fence, and at last, nothing ate the bulbs. (Rockville, MD) Tulip Pests: 1 Tulip bloomed on the 27th and several more have bloomed today (28th). We dug up a bulb that had not emerged and learned that bugs had wrecked havoc on our bulbs, we predict this might have happened to more bulbs because of our warm wet early winter. (East Peoria, IL) Read all the comments by clicking on the tulip map.

Journal Question: Too Hot, Too Cold, or Just Right?

Does it seem like spring is coming earlier or later than it did last year? Locate your garden on the map. Using the color key decide whether your early spring temperatures were warmer, cooler or just the same as the average. How will this affect your tulip garden?

Make a statement in your journal that includes your conclusion about temperatures and your growing garden.

Temperature Anomilies Dec. - Feb. 2007
Credit NOAA

Explore: Hello from Our Journey North Garden!

While we are waiting for spring to spread across the map we’ll focus on special gardens each week. This week we have 2 more gardens for you to explore!

Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts, Milwaukee, WI
Our Journey North Tulip Garden, in which we planted 90 tulips, has 69 tulips that have emerged. Our experimental beds suggest the tulip bulbs like to be buried with coffee, eggs, and roast beef as those are the tallest. -Megan Ferger, 8th Grade Science

What kinds of things did they test?
See the students and learn more about their creative experiments >>

Students check the progress of their tulip experiments Credit: Megan Ferber
Click to see more >>

Westshire Elementary, West Fairlee, VT
Here we are looking for our tulips on the first day of spring (March 20). We had two large snowfalls. One was a Valentine’s Day Blizzard and the other was a Nor’easter on St. Patrick’s Day.
On March 28 we reported two tulips have emerged. We saw a little red spike just about an inch out of the ground. The rest of them are still buried in snow!

Try It: Focusing on the Details with Georgia O'Keeffe

"Nobody sees a flower, really--it is so small--we haven't time, and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time." Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)
O'Keeffe was an artist finely attuned to the sounds and sights of the natural world. In addition to looking closely and intimately at her subjects, she often wrote of the things she heard around her: blowing wind, rustling trees and animal sounds. She transferred these sounds into the mood of her paintings using color and form.
Grab your art supplies and venture into your blooming tulip garden this spring. Look closely to explore the details of the beauty that surrounds you! >>
Close Up with Georgia O'Keeffe’s Art Teacher Helen Pappas and Jenni Johns were so enchanted with the Journey North activity, "Focusing on the Details with O'Keeffe," that they planned a special field trip and art project in conjunction with the blossoming of our Emperor tulips. They share their project and some amazing artwork! >> Send us YOUR artwork!

Ask the Expert Opens Today!

Got a Burning Question? Ask the Expert Opens Today!
Throughout the season you ask great questions. Who can answer your most difficult questions? Get ready to send your questions to our Tulip Garden Expert, Eve Blanchard. Opens today at 1 PM (EDT)! >>

Resources: This Week's Tulip Garden Resources

Useful Chart: How Does Your Garden Grow >>
Monitoring Weather: Observing Weather and Collecting Data >>
Helpful Weather Links: Climate Weather and Seasons >>
Tulip Garden Journals (click-and-print) >>

More Journey North Lessons and Teaching Ideas!

The Next Tulip Garden Update Will Be Posted on April 6, 2006.