I live in Wisconsin and my husband and I just bought a new house. Behind the garage, after clearing a wood pile, we found several seedlings that looked as if they were growing out of discarded lemons. (We found this hilarious, because lemons do not grow under normal conditions in Wisconsin.)

I re-potted them and moved them into the house, as spring weather here is tempermental at best, and they no longer had the cover of the woodpile. I have quite the green thumb, and a co-worker told me they were pretty easy plants to care for.

However they were not thriving and are now looking a bit sickly, so I looked up how to care for a lemon tree online. Lo and behold, the leaves tell me they are not lemons at all. What am I growing?? It is currently about 14 inches tall and would probably still be growing, given the season, if it wasn't sick.

I don't think it is a bulb, the base of the plant was mushy like it had been a fruit (apparently not a lemon, but it was yellow). The only flowers currently in season are very early crocuses.

Below are pictures of them upon first finding them and throwing them into the pot, a picture of them propped up against the house for support while looking sick, and a picture of the yellow, fist-size...root ball, for lack of a better term at the moment.

Welcome to NGA, Natalie ( @NBNick1001 ).

They look to me like tulips -- or maybe hyacinths. They'll probably bloom soon and it should be easy to tell then .

I wonder if its an onion... But if it was, you would probably be able to smell it.

Looks like a tulip.

I'm with Daisy, it looks like an Allium (onion).

Flat leaves mean not an onion. Could be a tulip.

In any case, they look like some sort of spring flowering bulbs to me. The bulbs might be sort of soft and mushy right now since the plant is growing from the bulb.

I would advise you to plant them back outside in the ground somewhere. When/if they bloom you'll know for sure what they are.

The tall one in your second picture sure does look like a tall tulip or something.

Moved to Plant ID forum

farmerdill said:Flat leaves mean not an onion. Could be a tulip.

Many ornamental onions do have flat leaves. I guess we'll have a better idea if the flower bud manages to survive long enough to open. A close-up of the flower bud may help too. It has that pointy look of an Allium bud but hard to say for sure at this point.

Is it common for the bulb to become soft when producing leaves and blooms?

Yes, the bulb is food stored for the next year's growth. Once the plant starts growing and using up that stored food in the bulb, the bulb will shrink and could also soften. The old bulb will completely disappear, and the plant will make a whole new bulb after flowering.

Thank you Elaine. As many bulbs as I've grown, I never knew that. Goes to show... I'm never too old to learn!

I am fairly certain it's not a tulip. Those are all over the yard and this guy doesn't match. My mom thought perhaps a gladiola? I guess it's too soon to tell. If it survives and a bud or bloom shows up, I'll be sure to post it.

Nope, the foliage isn't right for a gladiola, either. They have long sort of fiberous leaves that are very straight and flat.

Look forward to seeing what happens here!

Looking back at the photos... I think Sooby might have nailed it with "ornamental allium."

Can't wait to see how this actually turns out...

Its allium