Journey North Tulip Garden and Climate Change Study

Tulip Test Gardens

Garden Reports

Rain: How will it Affect the Tulip Garden?

Abraham Joshua Heschel School, New York, NY
Despite our record 7 inches of rain in Central Park yesterday (04/16/07), the tulips seem to be doing fine. Flower heads have developed, but they are still tightly shut.

April 16,2007

Find New York City on the map. Use the key to find the rainfall amount there.
Which areas received the most rain that day?

Map Credit: NOAA

Think: On April 15, which areas within the storm already had blooming tulips? What might have happened to the tulips that were in full bloom?

Snow: How will it Affect the Tulip Garden?

Roosevelt Middle School, Milwaukee, WI
Even though we had 7 inches of snow on 4/11/07, we already have some tulips blooming (0/16/07). They are not blooming in force, but about three of the tulips are open. The rest seem as they are just about to open soon. We are also finishing our many experiments. Soon we will be making data tables, graphs and conclusions to see which of the tulips grew the tallest by bloom time.

Think: Do you think the planting experiments they carried out will affect the bloom time and height? (Remember these are the students that planted bulbs with coffee grounds, eggs, roast beef, and so on.)

Soil Conditions: How will they Affect the Tulip Garden?

Haydon Elementary School, Manassas, VA
SCHOOL GARDEN REPORT - sad news
We erroneously reported that our tulips had begun to emerge only to discover they weren't tulips.
Sad news - none will be emerging. When we checked later in the week we discovered the plants were not tulips so we dug one bulb up only to discover it was gray and had rotted from too much water. We found 10 or so rotten out of 24 we planted. We believe they got too much water due to poor soil - clay and shale. The snow cover also remained on the site a long time. Too bad we didn't check our tulips monthly to see when they started to rot. This is my first year with this project, and I have so much more to learn.

Think: How would you design an experiment to examine the tulip bulbs across the entire fall, winter and spring?

Other Conditions: How will they Affect the Tulip Garden?

Stiles Point Elementary, Charleston, NC
Our tulips are in terrible condition for the second year in a row! Last year only about 1/2 of them bloomed. This year NONE of them have bloomed and the leaves are brown and dead. We're wondering if it has to do with a very warm Jan. both years followed by very cold Febs. Or should we check the soil conditions and add fertilizer?

Think: Find Charleston on the tulip map. Were other gardeners successful in raising their tulips? Since they've had trouble for 2 years in a row what else might be the problem?

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