Today's challenge involves 3 tulip gardens in California. They are located in Calabasas, Apple Valley, and San Bernardino. They are all less than 90 miles apart. Each was planted with pre-chilled tulip bulbs in early January. Your mission is to explore and predict which of these gardens will emerge first in 2009!

Clues for Predicting
Study the locations of these 3 Journey North gardens. Use our map, and other references to learn as much information as you can about each of the locations. Which garden:

• is closer to the ocean?
• is at the lowest elevation?
• is at the highest elevation?

Use today's Journal to make notes about each location.
What other information did you find to help you make your prediction?

Keep your eye on the Tulip Garden map to learn whether your prediction is correct.

• This week, Mother Nature hit us with a variety of weather conditions. She began Monday with 4 inches of snow. Tuesday's rain froze over the snow. Wednesday brought more freezing rain. Our tulips are buried under frozen snow with more snow predicted on Friday. The icy roads have closed schools here for the week. -Huntington, WV
• We had snow and ice and when it melted we have observed some green leaves sprouting. -Alexandria, VA
  

Departure from Avg. Temp. Jan 25-31, 2009 >>

Gardeners in Meredith, NH, started an experiment 01/13/09. They were too late to get their tulips planted in the ground, so they came up with a creative experiment! Read to find out what they did:

"We are actually going to try an experiment with our tulips. I was able to purchase red emperor tulips from a local garden center (end of season sale). We were not able to plant before the ground froze--we have snow, so we are beyond planting in the ground. We have kept the bulbs chilled and will plant them in a biodegradable box.

"We will prepare them inside the class, and then we are going to dig out a space in the snow--cover them with snow and hope for the best! It's truly an experiment, however the kids are excited about saving the bulbs and want to 'help them grow'. Wish us luck!"

How is this experiment different from the official Journey North garden planting protocol? What questions do you have about their experiment? What do you predict will happen to this "garden in a box?"