Late Bloomers

One of the two new varieties of daffodils that grew for the first time last year are beginning to bloom now. The Lemon Chiffon daffodils have creamy white petals and long cups with a lemon yellow color. The lemon color gradually turns to a creamy peach after about a week. These easily multiplied after the first year, so some were lifted last spring and planted last fall for this year.

Red Emperor tulips are now blooming. These are the earliest 'big' tulips to come out. I tried orange emperor a few years back, but they did not bloom at the same time as the reds - a week or two later, and they did not come back or multiply well. Experience with Red Emperors is that each blub splits into 3 bulbs after blooming. Each resulting bulb is not quite as big as the original, and may or may not produce a flower the following year.