An Early April Fools Joke

Last week, it was warm, with a couple of days in the 60s and 70s F.

This week, our first crocuses (yellow) started to bloom.  These pictures were taken March 24.

Then the white crocus joined in.

My Lenten rose, which waited patiently since January with buds, is blooming now.

The purple Lenten rose is budding and will be opening soon.

Locally, this is the second of two weekends of New York's Maple Weekend.  We are at the transition point between winter and spring.

But now, we are realizing that this beautiful spring weather in mid-March was an early April Fools joke.  Yesterday, the weather changed.  Today, it's only going to be in the 40's.  Tomorrow, Sunday, snow showers. By Sunday night it may get down to 14 F and we may have wind chills below zero F.

Monday we will barely get into the 20s F and another night in the teens.

Blurry Tree Peony Buds

We may need to cover our Japanese tree peony, which has buds.This is only the second year that plant will be blooming so we want to see it bloom once again.   I tried to take a picture of the buds, but the wind was blowing and I was trying to avoid bulbs coming up where I would need to step to get a nice shot.  We have to figure out how to protect them, though, because it's also going to be windy when the temperature drops into the teens.  If it was calmer, we could have tried a plastic garbage container (the suggestion of a peony grower online).  

Not funny, Nature.  Fortunately the apple orchards in our area (which aren't in the river valley we live in) shouldn't have any issues.

One thing I do know is that March isn't done with us yet.