How do bulbs cope with a sudden cold snap?

I had an anxious Client emailing me yesterday, expressing concern over the bulbs which are coming up in their garden, bearing in mind that we have been forecast to have a cold spell for a week or so.

 

Here are the first snowdrops, from three weeks ago... 

... and here are the Peonies, making nice fat red buds all ready for next spring...

... and the Daffodils are also well above the ground already, and that's her main concern.

It's easy to see why - it's been the *consults the BBC website*  third mildest autumn since records began, apparently, and this has caused all sorts of havoc in the garden.

 

In my own garden, I've had my Auriculas flowering - left - on the 14th November. 

It's more usual to have them in flower in May...

 And in several gardens, the winter flowering Jasmine is already in full flower,  here's one from mid November - right - which is looking, according to Mrs Client, better than it has ever done before.

No doubt in response to my harsh pruning regime, I thought smugly to myself... but anyway, it looks lovely but should not be flowering in November! 

The question which everyone is asking now, is "will they flower again at the correct/normal time, or have they done their thing and will they now just sit and sulk until next season?" and I have no answer for that. We will have to wait and see.

But the bulbs are more of a known quantity: they will always start to grow when, or if, the weather is mild: that's how they get those pots of paper-white Narcissi, or pots of Hyachinth in flower to be given as gifts at Christmas: they are "forced" by being kept in conditions of warmth and light which fool them into thinking that it's spring.

Outside in the garden, it's not a problem: the bulbs will have started to grow, thinking that spring was already here, but as soon as the temperatures drop, they will go dormant until it gets warmer again.

So no, you don't need to go out and spread horticultural fleece over the emerging bulbs: they will be fine.  

Yes, you can spread a mulch of compost or bark on them, if you are really worried about them - it won't do them any harm. 

Personally I like to leave them as they are, so that I can see them when I am working on the beds - this helps me to avoid treading on them! There's not much worse, on a cold January morning, than that feeling of something crunching underfoot.. you lift your boot and find a small, forlorn bunch of crushed daffodil shoots. Oh dear. So, in the hopes of avoiding that situation, I like to leave them, so I can do that manoeuvre where you balance on one foot, waving the other in the air, while you look for a safe place to put it down.= - the Boot and Shoot Ballet, as Helen Yemm always calls it. 

(Not so much of the ballet, in my case, unless you are thinking of those Hippos in tutus from Fantasia...)

Did you enjoy this article? Did you find it useful? Would you like me to answer your own, personal, gardening question? Become a Patron - just click here - and support me! Or use the Donate button for a one-off donation. If just 10% of my visitors gave me a pound a month, I'd be able to spend a lot more time answering all the questions!!