How Does Your Garden Grow?

May 3, 2017 by Mary Hosier

How fast do tulips grow? Test Gardens are good for studying the influence of temperature and precipitation on plant growth.

“A few tulips survived and bloomed during the nice weather over the weekend. Then this morning the kindergarteners came to school to find snow on the blossoms!” - Jessica McEwen in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 24th.

Another surprise snow fell on Test Gardens across the Rocky Mountains and into the Plains this week. Watch the map for the far northern gardens to emerge and bloom.

“Weather extremes did a job on our Tulip Test Garden. We observed 4 cm growth in 24 hours on 80°F days, while on 40°F days we observed less than 1 cm of growth in 24 hours for our tulips. #welovejourneynorthtuliptestgardens” Salem, New Hampshire on April 28th.

“Bloom Day! I planted 3 groups of 8 tulips: Sprayed one group with deer repellent, caged one group and left one group alone. Only the caged group of tulips bloomed. The other 16 tulips were delicious; so thought the deer.” Saint Paul, Minnesota on April 29th.