Sunday, March 12, 2017

On More Normal News

Apparently, my Saucer Mangolias never stood a chance of blooming this year.  The flowers come out before the leaves, and every year is a gamble.  Their evolutionary strategy seems to be to bloom before all other trees.  I have no good idea why.

The hail that knocked off 20% of the buds was bad enough.  The freezes that followed for 2 nights killed the rest.  But if that had not happened, it wouldn't have matterred.

The next 6 nights are forecast to hit lows of 22F, 22, 23, 32, 28, and 19!  This is horrible March weather for this area.

The earliest daffodil stems fell over, so I don't know WHAT this freezing streak will do the the emerging hyacinths and tulips.  For the tulips, I may just have to wait til next year, but I am most worried about the hyacinths.

I planted the hyacinths late in 2015 and they did not emerge at all in Spring 2016.  But I gave them another year (hope springs eternal) and they are coming up this year.  If this freeze kills them, I will be very sad.  I've covered them with old blankets, but low 20s is very cold.

I know "global warming" means global and a warmer climate is actually less predictable and varied.  The warmer the climate gets, the more the weather patterns can move around and shift during transition seasons like now.

Nothing a gardener hates more than uncertain weather!

2 comments:

Megan said...

Very sad if the garden doesn't prosper this year - rats! We've just staggered through the hottest summer on record in Sydney (records are only 155 years long, but even so, it was HORRIBLE!!!)

Megan
Sydney, Australia

Just Ducky said...

At least my bulbs are barely poking out of the ground. Two brave crocus blossoms are showing, but not yet open. On top of that we may be 6-8 inches of snow tomorrow, so everything will be buried until it melts.

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