Check out Ottawa's tulip festival sooner rather than later, experts say

Horticulture experts are recommending Canadian Tulip Festival visitors check out the May event earlier rather than later as organizers brace for the flowers blooming ahead of schedule.

The festival runs for eleven days, starting on May 10. Hundreds of thousands of tulips of different colours will bloom at Commissioners Park, near Dow's Lake.

But since mid-March, Ottawa residents have noticed tulips poking up out of the ground ahead of schedule, which experts attribute to an increasingly warming planet.

Ed Lawrence, who took Ontario listeners' calls about gardening on CBC Radio for 40 years, said his recommendation for visitors is to check out the tulips about midway through the festival, between its two weekends.

Ed Lawrence, who provided CBC Radio listeners with gardening tips for 40 years, says people should visit between the festival's two weekends, but they should also check the weather and plan ahead. (Submitted by Ed Lawrence)

Outdoor temperatures are the control mechanism for the tulips' growth, Lawrence said. "If it's cold, things slow down, they come later. If it warms up, they speed up, they come earlier."

Colleen Hulett, a horticulturalist who works with Strathmore, which has a contract to maintain the tulips, said the expectation is an early bloom.

The flowers were planted so they would begin blooming on Mother's Day — which is the normal plan, Hulett said.

But a warm March coupled with a lack of snow cover is leading the tulips to pop up early, Hulett added.

Although her team isn't sure when the tulips will bud, Hulett said they think it will happen May 1.

"Maybe the first weekend's gonna be beautiful, but they might be gone by the second weekend," Hulett said. "We're hoping that there will be some blooms on the second weekend, but it is a different year."

Crowds attend last year's Canadian Tulip Festival at Commissioners Park in Ottawa. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Plans in place for early bloom

Tina Liu, a senior landscape architect who has worked with the National Capital Commission (NCC) for 15 years, oversees 120 flower beds in 30 different sites.

Liu said that she and her colleagues have noticed changes in Ottawa's climate and have adjusted their floral program so it's more resilient.

This year, the tulips are about a week-and-a-half ahead of schedule, Liu said.

But part of solving that challenge is creating flower beds with a mix of tulips that bloom at different times in the season so the beds stay full, she added.

"By mixing the different groups, you would be able to extend the display time from two weeks to up to four weeks," Liu said.

Tulips are seen sprouting at Commissioners Park in Ottawa on March 18, 2024. (Submitted by Tina Liu)

Liu and her team have also tweaked the ratio of early, mid and late-season tulips.

Now, about 20 per cent of the bulbs they plant are early bloomers and the rest are late-season bulbs, Liu said. She expects the early season tulips to start blooming in the first week of May.

Lawrence said that although the situation appears like an early bloom is coming, he also recommends people check the weather and plan their trip accordingly if temperatures drop and delay the bloom.

"If we get another cold snap, and that's possible, then things are gonna just sit there and wait."