For me, daffodils start blooming mid-April in central NH, with April 18 being the earliest photo I have. This photo was taken near the end of the April, and I often have daffs through the end of May depending on their placement, the weather any given year, and the variety.
{{gwi:202124}}From April 28, 2013

My earliest bulbs to bloom are reticulated iris, planted along a south-facing uninsulated foundation. They often get snowed on and don't seem to mind it at all, usually blooming for at least two weeks.

I love those reticulated iris, NHBabs! I really need to add some here. That color is spectacular.

The top photo of my daffodils was dated May 2nd last year, and those beneath it of my old collie, circa 2010, were taken on the 10th and 11th of April. I'm in Vermont, so southern New England states will see blooms earlier. Daffodils and green things growing cannot come soon enough for me this year!

This post was edited by spedigrees on Sat, Mar 1, 14 at 15:41

I think that the iris in the photo is 'George' which is redder than many of the I. reticulatas, but still not quite the color in the photo. It should be a bit bluer. I do love these early irises!

It always amazes me that Spring in New Hampshire and Vermont isn't that much later than Spring here on the southeast MA coast, where the ocean keeps temperatures chilly for an unreasonable length of time.

Sunny foundations are a help, as nhbabs shows with those beautiful reticulated irises, and lovely warm collies may encourage spedigree's daffodils (just kidding).

My daffodils start appearing in early April.
N. 'Jetfire' on April 3, 2010

And N. 'Lemon Glow' huddled by a west-facing foundation on April 9, 2010.

The crocuses usually appear overnight, here on March 12, 2013 (where'd that come from - there was nothing there yesterday!).

and on March 19, 2012.

Scilla siberica on April 7, 2012.

Snowdrops should be appearing around now but they're usually overlooked in snow patches.

Claire

Depends on the daffodil. I've got some like February Gold, Rijnveld's Early Sensation and others whose names I can't remember that have indeed bloomed as early as February and March in years past. Not this year though! Too much snow on the ground. And then at the other end of the spectrum I have Quail, which bloom in May.

I haven't really planted many bulbs in the last few years. I hate planting bulbs. But then come spring, I always wish I had planted more. This fall, I swear! (like I swear every year, lol!)

I've got a small bunch of iris reticulata, and while I love them in bloom, I hate their foliage. The darn stuff is three feet long, lol, and takes forever to go away!

Dee

Dee - Because mine are against the foundation, there are lots of perennials that come up in front of them, so the foliage doesn't show up much. The flowers are short, but they are not plants I would put near the front of a bed. (Though for that matter most bulbs have less than attractive foliage once they are done blooming, and I now never plant them right at the front of beds except for crocus.)

babs, of course you are correct, and most bulbs have unattractive foliage after bloom. But something about the iris reticulata foliage just bothers me more! I honestly think it continues to grow, or maybe it's just unusually long compared to the flower height, but it just bugs me. But, I suppose that's the price we pay for having the beautiful blooms to herald in the spring.

I've actually been meaning to bite the bullet and dig up a fairly large, mostly-bulb bed that I have. I planted it when I first started gardening and kind of did it backwards, and now I want to divide and rearrange the bulbs, as well as add some other plants to help hide the dying bulb foliage. Maybe this year will finally be the year, especially as I've been wanting to add more bulbs to the yard in general.

Dee

I love a spring display of bulbs, but I also hate the dying foliage. I know you need to leave the foliage until it is ready to come off on it's own and that seems to take so long, so I have tried very hard to put them somewhere where perennials will disguise the dying foliage. Which has worked out well. I do remember the last time I bought bulbs, I seriously considered how tall and narrow the foliage was. [g]

I also hate to plant bulbs for some reason. I don't mind planting perennials and shrubs, but when it's time to plant the bulbs, I find it a chore. So I decided not to buy too many bulbs all at once. The bulb catalogs encourage you to buy a lot, because it's cheaper to buy in larger quantities. That is what I used to do. Buy a lot and then skip a few years before I bought again, but now I buy small amounts every fall and I like that much better. Then I don't cringe at the thought of planting them all and I look forward to having a steady increase every spring.

I bought Leucojum for the first time last year and I hope they didn't all get eaten by moles. [g] And I still have a few patches of daffodils to move, if I can remember to do it at the right time.

I have tried to buy daffodils that bloom early and late. I added February Gold too but it hasn't come up as early as February for me yet. I think 'Thalia' is the last one to bloom for me and that probably is as late as May.

PM2, that's a good idea, to buy just a few bulbs each year. You are so right - one can go nuts buying bulbs and then one is stuck planting them.

I'm sure I've told this story somewhere here before, but one year a friend of mine bought about a dozen bags of King Alfred daffs, 25 to a bag. You know that these are BIG bulbs. I was helping her plant them, scattered around the yard in clumps, digging these big holes that still turned out too small and too shallow, and after I did my last bag (finally!) I walked around the yard to find her. She was sitting on the ground with her legs out in a V in front of her, with a pretty small hole in front of her, and was in the process of dumping the bag of bulbs into this tiny hole, and muttering something about not giving a flying fig anymore! I sat down on the ground and laughed hysterically, and we must have laughed for 10 minutes! She then proceeded to pile up the soil on top of this mound of bulbs - it had to be 6 to 8 inches high, lol, and that was that. Come spring, this spot had a little, absolutely packed, bunch of beautiful King Alfreds, which we then thinned out after bloom.

But yes, that's about how I feel after planting bulbs! And I don't know which is worse - digging a BIG hole to put a dozen or so big bulbs into, or digging individual holes for the crocuses that I spread through the lawn. I guess whichever one I'm working on at the time, I think the other is better, lol!

PM2, I think you are in the Quail Appreciation Club, are you not? I know we have discussed these beauties before and I think you were one of the ones who had them....?

:)
Dee

Dee, that is such a funny story and you tell it in a way that gives me a good visual! lol When I've gotten to that point, I have ended up just stopping and leaving myself with a bag of bulbs that never get planted. Not as funny as what your friend does. :-)

I tried digging the big hole to put a grouping of daff bulbs in, but I went back to digging individual holes. I also tried one of those attachments for the drill that is an auger that digs the hole for you. I was excited about having that tool and thought I had a solution and had visions of how many bulbs I was going to be able to plant with that. Nope. I have loamy clay, that I don't think is that hard to dig, but the auger wouldn't work right at all and I gave up on that one.

Last fall I bought four different daffodils in 10 and 20 bulb sizes, one 25 bulb packet of Leucojum and a 50 bulb bag of Crocus, that I'm trying to add to the lawn. It was very easy. Every few days I'd do a bag and I left the Crocus until the end because I'm not so crazy about digging in the lawn to get them in. [g]

No, I just went back and checked if I have 'Quail' and I don't. It looks like a pretty one. I like the late ones. I thought I might have added that last year, but it was 'Baby Moon' that I was thinking of. So you recommend it? Is it fragrant by any chance?

Some of mine put up foliage in the fall for the following spring, but most others don't show any green until March, and blooming is generally from March to May, depending on the various types and their locations. The multi-blooms per stem are later. However, the way this winter is going, with no end in sight, I may not see flowers until May.

{{gwi:5901}}

PM2,

A little over a year ago I was planting bulbs with Brent Heath (of Brent and Becky's) and he said that you don't have to wait that long to remove daffodil foliage. Once the tips of the leaves turn yellow/brown you can remove the leaves at that point. You don't have to wait until the foliage goes completely brown.

I agree, though, that the left over foliage from spent bulb, especially larger bulbs, looks ragged.

Steve

Bill, I'm starting to agree with you. I've been checking along the north side of our fence and along the foundation where it is becoming bare, and nothing in sight at all. And they are talking about another storm next Wednesday. I normally would be thinking about planting peas outdoors on the 18th, but that's not going to happen this year. A really late start to the season. And NO bulb foliage showing at all yet.

Thanks Steve, for that info. I had not heard that before. I always heard that if the foliage comes off easily without tugging, it is ready to go. Nice to know you can pull it a little earlier, if something is really bugging you.

This thread has me looking back at old photos of when our last snow has been and how early/late the bulbs bloomed. I may post a series of photos from year to year.

What we were discussing about this time last year. Seems a little early to be talking about it this year. lol

I've had crocuses as early as Feb. 16th a several years ago, and some daffodils in mid-March. Of course, this year I can't see any ground whatsoever. Every square foot of my property is buried in snow. And the long-range forecast for March shows only 40's for daytime highs, so probably won't see anything until April.

Same here Bill, and all the forecasts seem to be more cold weather. I wonder when we will see bare ground again. [g]

And when we do see bare ground it will be mud....

Claire

The NY Times Editorial Board posted an editorial yesterday called:
This Winter Has Gotten Old
Among other things they say:

"We
are depressed. But as the comic strip “Garfield” once put it: “Compared
to absolute, hopeless despair, depressed is cheerful.”

Negotiating
a dreadful season can be helped by a trick of perspective. People in
Hawaii have lately been feeling oppressed by a strangely chilly winter;
sunrise gazers at the beach layer on T-shirts and step lively so the
surf doesn’t chill their bare toes. They shiver, happy that they aren’t
in New York. New Yorkers are relieved not to live in Boston. Bostonians,
snow-buried, may be grateful not to be on the ice planet Hoth, where
it’s Boston winter everywhere, all the time."

Claire

The planet Hoth. lol

Is Boston the worst this year? Whatever happened to Buffalo getting the most snow? I am trying not to think about it because March 1st is Saturday and usually I get excited to see March arrive, but this year….not so much. I think it may take April 1st to get me excited.

Thanks for these pictures, they give me hope. I was in Southern California last week and it was in the mid 80ies, sunny, with low humidity.

After growing up in New England, and especially after having had 2 really bad winters in the past 4 years, for the first time in my life I am beginning to entertain the prospect of being able to garden all year long... Life is just too short.

I planted about 900 daffodil bulbs in one afternoon the day before thanksgiving right before the ground froze in 2011. I used an auger attachment with a battery operated craftsman drill. The craftsman died about 300 bulbs into it. Luckily there was a corded hammer drill available. The auger bit stripped after the next 200 bulbs. Luckily I always buy multiples so has another one It took about 5 hours to plant everything around the perimeter of the yard into the woods in Hingham. They bloomed beautifully the first year, I ordered from colorblends and most were double if not triple nosed. 100 bulbs for $39. The following year it wasn't as spectacular nor the last year.

I found out that the gardeners that are hired just rip out everything that isn't a shrub at the end of may. Last year was the first year they were allowed to die back naturally so hopefully the will look better this spring.

In Quincy, my daffodils bloom mid April and are done by mid may. In Hingham they bloom late April to mid may.

With snow still left on the ground, and it's already the end of March. Will the daffs and the tulips even sprout and bloom this year?

Last fall I planted some Rijnveld's Early Sensation daffodils along the road across the street. These daffodils would normally be blooming now but the snow plows and mother nature had buried them deep. About a week ago I decided to rake the snow off that area (rakes work for snow too) and I discovered the daffodils were beginning to sprout under the snow.

They haven't bloomed yet but the sprouts look healthy and I'm expecting bloom soon.

Now I have to find the crocuses and uncover them too.

Claire

edit note: I'm assuming the bulbs will just wait until the snow goes away, the soil temperature rises, and sun hits them, and then they'll sprout.

I was also surprised, when the snow left the beds where I have daffodils planted that they were already showing and are now up about 3 inches. I wonder why it always amazes me.

:-)

In 2014 on Apr 3rd…..today there is a lump of dead foliage...

In 2013 on Mar 31st where right now there is still snow with a few tiny stems of foliage along the edges of the snow….….

In 2012 on Mar 22nd…. today there is no sign of even foliage here….

I am miles behind everyone else, but here are my first daffodil blooms of the year! Nestled close to the house foundation, these two are the fore runners. Spring must have finally arrived; it's official!