Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Winter Wednesday - Lenten Rose

I have a Lenten Rose in my Binghamton, New York - area garden.  It's been trying to bloom for some six weeks.

Bloom where you are planted, the saying goes.  But what if you keep trying, and can't?

It gets covered by snow.  It gets uncovered.  It gets covered by snow.

Now, we are in a most unseasonable warm wave.  By "we", I mean much of the United States.  Today, we are preparing to experience possible record warmth, on this day that, years ago, would have been a Federal holiday - the birthday of George Washington. 60 (15.5 C) wouldn't be a record, but it would be close.  This is not February weather.  Except, in our new normal, it apparently is.

This weekend, the snow started to melt, and the flowers were exposed again.  This is not necessarily a good thing,as our maple syruping season may end much before it begins.  You can already see the sap flowing in some of the trees (their branch tips get a certain glow.)  Or, as happened last year, trees may bloom prematurely, and never recover.

Could spring be on its way?  Or is this another false alarm?

12 comments:

  1. Yes. As much as my front yard is lovely lovely lovely now I know it will be over before I really had a chance to begin

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  2. I have these in my garden and noticed over the weekend they started to come up, no blooms yet. We live in the Philadelphia area and our winter weather has been more like spring. We hit 70 degrees last weekend and it will be 77 on Friday....it's FEBRUARY!!

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  3. I looked out the window yesterday and saw the buds growing on one of the viburnum. When the next cold spell hits, they will be history.

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    1. I saw what I thought was a magnolia bud starting to open. Not good! not good! We lost all our forsythia flowers last year (they never bloomed) and other flowering trees were negatively impacted, too, when it got too warm and then it snowed in early April.

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  4. We're scheduled to hit the 70s...
    It's as if the weather is matching the whims of a certain autocrat on the other side of the river...

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  5. I can't imagine frozen sap or how plants even recover from all the snow and ice you guys have. Nature is a marvel - and I hope Spring is on its way for you x

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  6. We've just moved into a new house and we're super excited to start landscaping. Our trees are already blooming out and our daffodils have bloomed already. It's been an easy winter here in SC. I haven't used a coat once this whole winter.

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  7. Spring has definitely arrived in these parts and I suspect it is tiptoeing in even in your neck of the woods.

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  8. When we talk about the weather we can only thing "what is, is!" Just go with what you get, enjoy each day and remember that in life there is no such thing as "normal". :)

    b+

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  9. We were around 60 today, too (I'm seeing that we had a high of 64). Which is cool for us, but expected for this time of year.

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  10. It's the new normal everywhere. We are sweltering at 35 deg C n wondering why such a warm feb...

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  11. Its so nice to see flowers bloom as it is a sign that spring is coming and we all love spring. We were in milwaukee wisconsin for 4 years and winters were really harsh. Your post reminded me of our time there.

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