Hey All -

We have experienced some fantastic warm weather over the last several days, but we have plenty of hard, cold weather before "real" spring arrives (I'm in Chicago). The warmth has resulted in all my early bulbs (snowdrops and krokus) starting to break through. My concern is that the coming cold / freeze will likely disrupt that growth process. Is there anything I can / should do? Thank you.

I am zone 8b and mine have been
ok.

Can you cover them with leaves or something?

Snowdrops and Crocuses are very tough and tolerant to cold, so I would recommend just leaving them be. They often bloom in January and February here and endure lots of cold weather without complaint.

I wonder if it isn't the degree of cold (after all they are really protected here by feet of snow) as much as the duration. We are still under several feet of snow now in the latter part of February and don't anticipate it being mostly gone from the beds at least, if not in corners and behind buildings, by the end of March, even early April.

With the snow, our ground gets really soggy as it melts although the ground is usually still frozen so maybe the bulbs are protected from the water by their frozen surroundings. Any guys further north have any ideas.

You're right Mary Stella, if temps are down to 10*F or below and there is no snow cover I've seen damage to blooms. But that has been daffodils and hyacinths I saw that happen to, the crocuses and snowdrops seem to weather those temps well.

I've also seen damage when cold temps (low 20s) follow a period of unseasonable warmth. Friday was very warm here, 77*, which brought on rapid growth on the bulb plants, and was followed by a low of 23* Saturday night. The tender growth of stems of some of the daffodils looked to be damaged by the cold. Interestingly, the blooms look fine.

that is an impressive spread in temps. We were melting yesterday though it is 24F this morning. But hopefully the day time temps will continue to work on the snow. Last year the fish in my pond came out of hiding by the third week of March. Hard to imagine that happening this year. The pond is just a deep hole in the snow right now. Due to the large snowfall and the depth of the pond surface (we lower it slightly in the fall) it makes it appear deeper than it is. The pond will de-ice long before the snow is entirely gone.