Just wanted to say that I was starting to wonder about some of the about 1000 bulbs that I planted last fall, too. Some are showing their tips but most are not even visible yet. I e-mailed Becky (B&B Bulbs) and she said that bulbs can be up to two weeks late emerging their first year. That combined with the maybe too shady location of the bulbs (i.e., with the cold temperatures we've had the soil just hasn't warmed up yet) could be the reason why they haven't shown up as yet. In my sunnier places they are starting to come through. I am now convinced that micro climate is everything. In my old very small garden, I had a stone wall facing west and there was never a Spring where my species tulips weren't blooming by mid-March. In my new garden, which is very large and more exposed to wind and such, I have just seen the tops of the species tulips that I planted last fall. Now I'll just have to put my faith into Milorganite in order to keep the deer from eating them when they bloom! They already devoured my crocuses! Anyway, I hope you are seeing some of your fall planted bulbs, too, by now. Marianne

Marg, Trail's End had an early season to which is now all done. Mine usually go until abot the first week in July with a few of the stragglers. The bed that is blooming now are all the newest ones witht heir maiden blooms. Lots of surprises. They don't get as much sun as my south house bed.And because it is late in the season and finally decided to get warm, they are not lasting more than a day! Strange all round..... My daylilies won't start till late July probably. Peonies are not good this year. Really odd weather too but other reasons for mine in particular this year. My sob story..... Ginny

Mine took two years after being transplanted, with vigorous green growth but no blooms until this third Spring - and also, as said, the bloom stalks appeared overnight! I swear I was checking daily :)! Mine also reproduced A LOT - I have three times and more what I originally planted. They are in fairly rich soil, moderate water, and "mostly" sun - only sun until 2pmish -- I was afraid they would not bloom that this was too little sun but my yard just doesn't have FULL sun... Luckily this year they are blooming like CRAZY. So perhaps wait at least one more year? Finally blooming and it was worth it. These were heirloom bulbs off my friends' 100 year old homestead farm. Nicole

Hi Mike, thanks for that encouragement. I wasn't expecting to be able to produce fruit from this tree during the winter months. My first goal would just be to get a single lemon, maybe next summer, maybe the summer after that. I'm patient. The blossoms are wonderful and even just having them bloom is enough to make me happy at this point. I just want to make sure the plant is happy as well. I don't believe it has been warm enough outdoors yet to put this outside. I live in the Canadian maritimes and it's often windy and cool up here. It will be getting quite warm soon but it's only April still. Soon as it's at least room temperature outside, perhaps then is a good time to consider bringing it outside during the day? I have a cold frame I built onto the southwest face of my house where I'm growing my vegetable starts (tomato, pepper, eggplant, etc.). I just stuck it in there today and so far so good. It's about 70% humidity in there. But it still gets down to the single digits (Celsius) at night even though I cover the frame with a couple blankets. Hoping that isn't too cool for the citrus; I might bring it inside at night for the time being. It receives a minimum of 8 hours of sun. I still need to find a good liquid fertilizer. Do I have vinegar... well, sure, I've got white and apple cider in my kitchen. Is that useful for citrus trees? I'm not sure what kind of soil it came with but I can see perlite and the odd wood shaving... It looks fairly coarse. I'm not sure why it took so long to dry out the first time but I'll keep an eye on it.