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am hoping for advice please. My friend is growing tulips for her daughters wedding celebration. Got the variety right for flowering at the right time, planted properly into the border..... It's been so warm that these are growing, and are potentially going to be blooming 6 weeks, at least, early. How can we stop these growing? She lives on the Gloucester/Herefordshire border in the uk. It was hoped these would flower at the same time as the apple trees blossom. Professional growers would have them chilled, but I don't think that's an option. Any advice would be appreciated thanks

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If they're in pots and you can chill them, that would do it, but I'm sorry to say, absolutely nothing else will, other than hoping for a sudden change to actual winter weather, which, by and large, we have seen none of in the UK this year other than the northernmost point of Scotland. The problem has been aggravated by the very short cold snap at the end of October, beginning of November - without that, many bulbs wouldn't now be growing and trying to flower. The daffodils are already blooming in parts of the South, many before Christmas, and I saw a photograph yesterday of one in flower in the Midlands. It's unfortunate that you needed them for this spring, because no one could have predicted the current run of exceptionally mild 'winter' weather. However, it's always a risk in the UK when you want certain plants to be in flower at a particular time - even in a normal year, our weather is variable, which is why you often see the description 'spring' or 'autumn' given as a flowering time rather than a particular month.

I'm afraid your friend may have to resort to seeking out professionally grown potted tulips nearer the time of the event, or consider other flowering plants which might be available.

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  • Thanks for reply, it's what I thought really, but just wondered what else anyone else could come up with. I did wonder if she watered them with icy water it might halt them. My logic was using very cold water might fool them into halting their growth. But that might damage them too. Thanks for your help
    – user13638
    Jan 3, 2016 at 13:06
  • Sorry - what you really need is a magic wand! Currently lashing it down again here in London, windy, not that cold, just a bit chilly, not enough to put plants off flowering, unfortunately.
    – Bamboo
    Jan 3, 2016 at 13:10
  • I'm not sure if this should count as a new question - my tulips that are planted in the ground started growing early too (I'm in NY), but now that the weather did get cold, will they just stop and resume growing when it gets warmer?
    – JoseM
    Jan 7, 2016 at 22:18
  • You should post it as a question, but yes is the answer... a bit of cold, preferably with a blanket of snow will arrest growth.
    – Bamboo
    Jan 9, 2016 at 12:29
  • Would then then come up blind and not flower? Thankfully winter has arrived here hopefully in the nick of time.
    – user13638
    Jan 15, 2016 at 22:48

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