Warm temperatures push late bloomers for Pella Tulip Time

In a normal spring and in a normal March, Marcy Woodhouse would just now begin to see the bulbs planted in Pella parks’ public beds sprout from the earth. The groundskeeper for the city’s parks division is responsible for tending to the nearly 70,000 tulips that populate the city gardens during Pella’s annual Tulip Time festival. But with the unseasonably warm winter weather carrying into spring, the flowers have sprung early.

“The warm weather is going to really open up those blooms,” Woodhouse said. “But if they start blooming the second week in April, we’ll try really hard to hold them, but there are no guarantees.”

Festival planners have announced on their website that the flowers have arrived nearly two weeks early and could reach their peak bloom well before the May 3-5 festival. Woodhouse said Tuesday that the ground never truly maintained a deep freeze, which kept the soil soft and easily penetrable for the plants.

Pella residents have celebrated the town’s Dutch heritage, culture and architecture with the Tulip Time festival since 1935, holding the first event two weeks after Pella High School’s performance of the operetta “Tulip Time in Pella.” The 1935 event did not feature live plants but 125 four-foot-tall wooden tulips placed in flagpole holes around the city square. Woodhouse said that, including the flower beds planted by private companies, the festival now boasts over 100,000 flowers annually.

The groundskeeper has been with the parks division since 2007 and says this is the earliest she can remember the flowers sprouting. Pella tries to safeguard against unseasonably warm temperatures by planting late blooming varieties of tulips, but even the late bloomers are showing early. Woodhouse said the city plans to maintain adequate moisture to the public beds in an attempt to prolong the peak bloom through the festival.

“We planted late blooming varieties in most of the beds in hopes to have a colorful display of tulips during Tulip Time,” Woodhouse said. “But we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature.”

Experts agree. Iowa State University Extension Horticulturalist Richard Jauron said in a phone interview Tuesday that there really is nothing to stop the bloom.

“It’s out of our hands basically,” he said. “Everything, including trees and flowering trees, are early by two to four weeks. In the case of the tulips, they will probably be gone by early May.”

Jauron and other plant experts are concerned at the potential for an early spring freeze, which could damage flowering plants and trees. The ISU horticulturalist said that owners of Iowa grape vineyards and apple orchards are especially anxious because if an overnight April freeze kills the plant’s flowers, they will not transition to fruit, and the farmers will be out of a crop this season. According to Jauron, non-flowering trees can leaf out twice in a season, so early budding trees will most likely be unaffected.

“So far there are no problems. Everything is just early,” he said.

Although the tulips are blooming early, the flowers are just decor for the larger event, which includes museum and historic windmill tours, so the festival is slated to continue as planned.

“Even if the tulips are blooming early, people can come and enjoy them,” Woodhouse said. “They do have Dutch letters available all year round at the bakeries.”

Mike Mendenhall can be contacted at (641) 792-3121 ext. 422 or via email at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com.