Argh! I’m a Bad Parent!
Or a bad gardener, but often the two feel like the same thing. They both involve taking responsibility for the well-being of helpless living organisms.
So I’m drowning in guilt because I waited too long to uncover my container tulips. They were lined up along the west and south sides of the back porch, covered with chicken wire and dead leaves.
There were so many signs of early spring during the remarkably mild February we enjoyed. My thoughts occasionally wandered to the tulip bulbs planted in containers, but lethargy overcame responsibility and I took no action.
Until today. When I finally pulled off the leaves and chicken wire, I found several containers had etiolated Tulips, Tulips that had been searching for light but finding only darkness.
The earliest developmental stages are so critical for humans and Tulips alike.Now, thanks to my fecklessness, my Tulips’ first days have been without the essential stimulation they require. Will this stunt them for the entire season? If so, I won’t be able to forgive myself.
You think I’m kidding, and I am, sort of. But I was inspired to go out and pull the dead leaves and plant debris off of the Crocuses, Grape Hyacinths, and other early bulbs in other parts of the garden. I felt less guilty afterwards.
Are you feeling guilty about any of your plants as we head into the first days of spring?
gardeninacity 
We do need to clean up here at home., too ! ! I feel so guilty. I’m supposed to be in charge of our garden now. My Mom is not that strong anymore, and cannot do heavy work… she easily gets tired. I’ve taken over the maintenance….. but I’ve been busy.
It can get hard when you have a lot going on in your life.
I’m so sorry. I don’t know if your tulips will have permanent damage or not since I’ve not grown them, but I’m here to say many of us have been “bad parents”. I moved a bunch of plants with me including a dormant grape vine and two water lilies. I moved in January, but forgot about the grape vine until April. It was left in the dark garage. Like your tulips, it was looking for light and was a ghostly white when I found it. Fast forward to today, and it’s one happy vine, but back then it was a sad thing to behold. The water lilies were sorely deprived from January through June when I moved a 2nd time. They were housed in wash buckets for 6 months with only a bit of water, but they also came through and now look fine.
Glad to hear the happy ending of your grape vine and water lily story! Gives me hope!
Jason, You shouldn’t feel guilty about your tulips, l think they’ll be fine. Blame the weather. It’s been far too warm for a February and has thrown all of us for a loop. Climate change?
That’s what I fear.
I blame everything that goes wrong in the garden on MOTHER Nature. She’s supposed to be the expert.
Sure, it’s always the mother’s fault.
My container tulips are in the garage and showing signs of life. What do I do now? Keep them inside or move them outside? I figure whichever I do, it will turn out to be the wrong thing. Stupid weather.
I’d move them outside. They can take a fair amount of cold, but they need sun.
My bad was not planting up more tulip pots. Mine are up and looking good…we’ll see if I get any blooms.
I hope you do!
Tulips are a crapshoot here in Northern California. I love them though, there is nothing more festive and however many I plant I always wish I had planted more .I hope yours revive.
Me too! I try to focus on native plants in my garden, but I can’t resist tulips.
I think you might just be in time, they are still alive, that’s a plus.
Hard to argue with that.
I bet they will be fine. I am feeling guilty about a raised planter full of garlic bulbs that was covered to protect it from too much snow and then wasn’t watered for…. a while!
Oh, I hope they recover. Garlic is a terrible thing to waste!
Don’t beat yourself up, Jason. It’s always a juggling act between being on top of all the gardening jobs and managing everything else in life! I’ve been late potting on many times and have felt dreadful for the poor strangulated roots… Fingers crossed your tulips will perk up and be just fine. If not, buy some pots ready grown 🙂
Tulips ready grown?? Oh, the shame!
Well, it would be a crying shame if you didn’t have fabulous tulips to make us drool this year, but I figure you could pull another ace out of your sleeve if you needed to:^)
They’re looking better now, so we’ll see. By the way, have you checked your spam folder lately? I think my comments are getting stuck in there.
We all wait so eagerly for our gardens to show signs of life. We think of them so often as they rest in dormancy over the winter, we wonder if the deep freeze, the temperature fluctuations, the lack of snow cover, ( etc…) will do them in. I bet your tulips will be fine. Plants tend to be tenacious, they want to emerge from their dark slumber, find light, grow, and bloom. Go tulips!
You are right that plants tend to be tenacious and really want to live and reproduce!
It is 6 degrees here this morning. Spring is definitely not in the air. I think anyone who has tulips would still appreciate the leaf blanket. 🙂 Hope your tulips make a full comeback. 🙂
They seem to be doing better.
Hahahaaha. Don’t feel so bad. I bet they snap out of it with a bit of sunshine and warmth. I don’t have anything here that needs to be uncovered or cosseted. I feel a little guilty about not getting some seeds started that I intended to start this winter. Sigh~~ bad gardener bad…
None of us is perfect …
I don’t feel so much guilty as sad! We had a unusually warm winter, the most days over 80 in January on record, yep 80! But in that warm winter we had a two day super hard freeze that was not expected and even with covering all my porch plants my half my succulents are on a death march. I decided to give up….no more plants that want warm dry weather. I live in a swamp that freezes! I am having fun filling in the wholes of the cottage beds but I am also wrapping my mind around the idea of annuals. Tropicals on my porch that may or may not survive but at least thrive and grow like bananas when the rest of the time.
I hope you tulips surprise you and recover!
A swamp that freezes … I don’t think Houston will adopt that as its tourism mottle.
OMG, never thought of it that way! Perfect description 🤗
I hope that they will be OK, I am sure that they will. We all take our eye off the ball occasionally. It just means you are busy!
In this case I took my eye off the tulips!
Hahaha, I think they will be fine. I’m much worse than you, I found a sack of tulip bulbs rotting in the greenhouse!xxx
Oh, that’s tragic!
I was feeling very guilty about losing so much in my yard thanks to two nights of freezing temps. Nature has a way of surviving, however, and much is showing new growth.
We’ve got freezing temps right now and more coming over the next four days. I hope the damage is limited.
Oh, Jason, I feel guilty about all my plants. I am so behind. I hope your tulips survive their deprived childhood.
Maybe some day they will tell their therapists about it.
The plants I grow are tough enough to make it on their own, but I think the tulips will green up and be fine. They should get as much sun as you can give them so they don’t stretch.
I’ve got them if a fairly sunny spot now. Only thing is we’ve got some more very cold weather coming – going down to 13 at night.
I saw tulip leaves poking up through the snow today but I don’t really know how much cold they can take. They might burn or soften.
The lovely thing about plants is the way they spring back and forgive! I have a few plants that nearly fried in the heat of summer, and after a couple of days in shade they look cheerful again…as your tulips will be, no doubt.
You’re probably right.
Well, our early spring means I am already behind before I get a chance to start. I am feeling guilty about all the weeds I need to ruthlessly root out and kill! They have suddenly bust forth and bloomed, seemingly in a single day!
Sigh. The weeds we will always have with us.
Don’t beat yourself up about it, I’m sure they will be ok. We have all done the same at some time and the plants all seem to survive.
Well, most of the time, anyways.
It’s a good thing tulips can’t talk. They would be guilt-tripping you for the rest of their lives. The ground is frozen hard here, so I am enjoying some guilt free time, plant-wise. I’m still suffering horrible guilt pangs from losing my bees.
Good point. I shudder to think of the hurtful accusations.
My situation is similar to Brenda’s. Too much snow in central Maine to feel guilty about anything. But my time will come 😉 And may the force be with your tulips!
Let’s hope the force is strong with them.
A report has been filed with PPS (Plant Protective Services) and they’ll be dropping by for a visit. For those tulips who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. In my own experience of poor plant parenthood which often involves putting a big pot or rock on top of spring bulbs, forgotten until a few brave souls struggle out from under, once the “mulch” is removed, the struggling plants color up nicely and continue on as if nothing had happened.
Oh no! Perhaps with the right supportive services and plenty of supervision we can keep this garden family together.
I am in a permanent state of guilt about my plants. I spend all my time apologising to them for forgetting to plant them, forgetting to deadhead them, or accidentally uprooting them. Then again, I apologise to the worms for accidentally disturbing them.
Bulbs are very forgiving… I’m sure your tulips will reward you with fine flowers and make you feel even more guilty.
Well, I draw the line at feeling guilty over worms. At least, I did until you mentioned the idea. It’s a good thing flowers tend to be forgiving.
Despite some above average days, the ground in my garden is still frozen. So far the plants have had the good sense to stay dormant and I remain guilt free. At least as of today.
If only the seasons would succeed each other in a straightforward manner.
Knowing how back and forth our weather is until late March or early April, I have not uncovered anything. Garden needs lots of cutting back and picking up of debris. While walking around I found chewing on uncaged shrubs and a nice Adiantum venustum dug out and thrown onto a path. Stuck it back in the ground but who knows how long it was there. Arg, all the downsides of spring variableness.
Yes, indeed. And the variability seem especially wild this year.
My guilt usually doesn’t arrive until the season is well underway and I forget to water during a dry spell or let the weeds go a bit “wild” so to speak…still a couple of months off 🙂
Oh, I find opportunities to feel guilty all year long.
Been there, done that–though not with tulips, as they don’t work at all here in toasty Texas. Do forgive yourself; go out and plant and garden!
I will, as soon as the ground thaws again! We are now in a deep freeze until around Thursday.
They’re kind of pretty, though, actually! 🙂
As long as they live to flower.
I was in denial, too. We already need to mow our yard! Ready or not, here it comes
Then you’re way ahead of us. Since I wrote that post, we’ve had below-freezing temps for almost a week. By the way, I think my comments might be going into your spam folder.
I’ll have to check my spam folder. I haven’t heard from you in a while!
Hello Jason, I get this throughout the year with not pruning in time, letting smaller plants get overwhelmed, not watering, not potting on early enough, not cutting the grass frequently, letting weeds go to seed and so on. While not managing to get all the countless jobs around then garden done when they need to be, I’ve learned to let go a little and tolerate the early demise of a tiny fraction of plants that didn’t get tended to in time because the rest of the garden remains green, lush and floriferous (in the growing season at least). There’s always next season, anyway.
You’re a wise man, Sunil.
My strawberry beds are in serious need of attention. That is my main guilt trip this spring!
Mmmm … fresh strawberries …
So, now that you got a foot of snow (as I did…), how are the tulips doing? I’ve been afraid to uncover my hydrangeas…
With a couple of exceptions, they are doing OK.