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Spring has officially arrived, and it has sprung in typical fashion. Warm in some parts of the continent and tulips are setting records for their early arrival. Snow melted off the test garden in Haines, Alaska and the tulips survived. What makes them so hardy? Visit a school that brought their test garden inside to study. Gather your plant-related questions for Ask the Expert this Friday.
Today's Report Includes:
- Maps, Questions, and Highlights
- Explore: Tulip Survival
- Spotlight on the Classroom: Bringing the Garden Inside
- Observe and Wonder: Then Ask the Expert
- Resources
Image of the Week
What do You Wonder about Tulip Gardens?
Explore...
Spring is Unpredictable!
Spring has officially arrived, and it has sprung in typical fashion. Any
kind of weather can happen in springtime. Last week brought warmer than normal temperatures to many parts of the continent.
In Peru, Illinois sprouts grew right before their eyes! "We've had a warm up in our weather. At noon on Thursday, there was one tulip emerging, but by 2:30, we had 5 tulips that had emerged. As of this Monday, 37 of our 50 tulips have emerged!" "With the warming temps, we discovered several tulips emerging from one of your sites. However, this morning they were covered by 6 inches of heavy wet snow," reported Lewistown, Montana. |
 March 13-19 Departure from normal temperatures |
| How will the test gardens handle the cold rain and snow that arrived this week across the continent? | |
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| map/sightings (Eurasia) |
map/sightings (Asia) |
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Tulip plants can survive cold and snow. The Haines, Alaska tulip test garden survived being covered with snow for 5 weeks! A surprise spring snow blankets many gardens each year.
How is it possible for the newly emerged tulip plants to continue to survive under such cold conditions? Close your eyes and let's go back nearly two thousand years to when the earliest tulips grew wild.
- Slideshow: Tulip Bulbs: A Survival Tale (Includes photo gallery, booklet, text-only version, and teacher suggestions.)
Tyler Elementary School students in Washington D.C. brought their Tulip Test garden INSIDE. When their tulips first peeked out of the soil they were ready with their garden mural. Find out about this hands-on learning project.
- Spotlight: Garden Mural Project
Tyler Elementary's classroom garden mural
These pictures of tulips show lots of different things. We hope they'll spark your curiosity. Take a look and have a brainstorm! Challenge yourself to ask at least two questions about each picture. Capture your questions and starting Friday, March 26 submit your favorites to our Tulip Garden Expert Bud Markhart.
- Photo Gallery: Pictures of Tulips to Spark Curiosity
Study this poster for inspiration
Ask
the Expert
Special thanks to Bud Markhart for sharing his time and expertise to
answer your questions! Beginning Friday, March 25, you will have two
weeks to prepare and submit your questions to Bud.
Ask
the Expert Will be Open
March 25 - April 8, 2011.
- Explore: Is This a Normal Spring?
- Explore: Map the Green Wave of Spring
- Journal: Journey North Spring Checklist
- Study: Isotherms: Bands of Temperature Color
- Mapping Spring Data: Lessons and Resources
- Questioning: Making Sense of Journey North Maps
- Helpful Weather Links: Climate Weather and Seasons
- Tulip
Garden Journals (click-and-print)
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