Spring's Arrival
Spring arrives at different times in different places around the globe. Look at the map. When does spring reach your hometown? In which states or provinces do you think spring arrives first?

Signs of Spring
Hundreds of kids across North America are doing a fun experiment. They are watching and reporting when spring reaches their part of the world. Guess how they will measure the arrival of spring.

Tulips as Tools
The kids use tulip bulbs to measure the arrival of spring. They take part in a BIG experiment with Journey North. Everybody plants tulip gardens in the fall. All of the kids plant their gardens in exactly the same way. This experiment lets them measure spring's arrival in a scientific way.

Watching and Waiting
Students monitor the garden carefully throughout the winter. When the tulips emerge from the ground in the spring the kids in each location share their news. Everyone's garden information is reported to Journey North.

Why is the Test Garden Important?
While student scientists use tulips as tools for watching spring unfold, they are contributing to a wealth of information. The long-term data from Journey North test garden sites may help reveal evidence of climate change in the Northern Hemisphere.

Mapping Spring's Arrival
When students observe and report an event in their garden — planting, emergence, or bloom — a dot appears on a special map. The map collects and displays all the information in the experiment from fall to spring each year.

Join the Fun!
Dig in and plant a Journey North tulip test garden this fall! Connect with gardens around the globe and predict when spring will reach each place. Follow the news updates and watch the maps to see what happens. Information and special planting instructions are found on the Journey North website.