First Forsythia and Other Scary Things

Many gardeners keep a garden journal.  I do not - not officially.  But I have my blog.  When you've been blogging daily since late April of 2011, you have created, knowingly or not, a journal.

What my blog posts are saying is that this has been a most unusual spring so far.

Saturday, I blogged about the maple syrup harvest that ended weeks before it should have.  Last March 25, I blogged one of my favorite posts, although the photos were not taken that day.  It showed my delight with spring - spring, that is, hundreds of miles south of where I live.  Yes, I had to travel hundreds of miles to see a forsythia in bloom.


This is last year's end of April in the Binghamton, New York area. 

Contrast that with what this March 26 and 27 looked like.  No Zombied Snowcopolyse this year.  But, as much as my heart wants to rejoice, it's also a bit disoriented.
 

This is not supposed to be happening yet.

Small daffodils in my front yard.  I am not sure if these are true jonquils as it is sometimes hard for me to smell scents.

 

The last of our crocus opening (our other ones are mostly done.  On March 27.)

Vinca in our back yard.

I saw our first primroses in our yard March 26.

Then, we took a walk several miles away.

Squill

More things were blooming on the West Side of Binghamton.

Not our Yard

After a few minutes of walking, we saw them...forsythias.  No seven hour trek this time.  More like seven minutes.

And (didn't take picture) we even saw magnolias starting to budding out.

"This is not normal", my small inside voice told me.  "Upstate New York is going to pay for this."  I thought about another year, 2012, when late frosts hit our apple crop (something our local farmers depend on greatly) and almost destroyed it.

"Yes", I responded, "but for now, I will enjoy every flower and every sign of spring.  We won't know what will happen until it happens."

Are you fearful about a return to winter?