Before work today I went on my morning walk about with Luna. It has been warm these past few days, record warm. I am seeing more promises of spring. The hellebores have new growth.
The Pussy Willow is one of the early harbinger of spring and they aren't disappointing. The buds are swollen and are about ready to display their fuzzy catkins.
I know these little brown lumps don't mean much to some of you but to me they are promises of the tall green Ostrich ferns that inhabit this area of the garden.
The closer to time to go to work the darker the sky. It rained this entire day. The tips of the Magnolia are all budded out. I am afraid that they will all be frozen off soon. I know this record warmth won't last long. Until the cold returns I am enjoying the promises of spring.
The Pussy Willow is one of the early harbinger of spring and they aren't disappointing. The buds are swollen and are about ready to display their fuzzy catkins.
Lisa, this warm weather concerns me, as I am afraid some plants may break dormancy FAR too soon for spring. We still have a lot of winter ahead of us. I'll actually be happy when it gets cold again!
ReplyDeleteCarol, May Dreams Gardens
Here in Buffalo it even smelled like spring. After seeing your little signs of spring, I'm gonna' look around tomorrow morning and see what's happening out there. Normally there's too much snow, or too cold that I don't bother. But 63 degrees makes everything more enjoyable!
ReplyDeleteOur deep freeze last April haunts me. When it feels like spring, smells like spring, it starts looking like spring but we are still in the dead of winter.
ReplyDeleteBut I sure like your view!
We won't see spring here in central British Columbia, Canada until May, and we usually plant our gardens around the middle of May. It depends on the year; sometimes it can be earlier. It's a short growing season, but it is quite productive. There are some fantastic gardens, and it seems everyone has a patch.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a pussy willow in years, Lisa, and sure hope yours delays opening until it's truly spring. Once things go dormant in the north you want them to stay dormant, not poke their buds out to see if spring has arrived.
ReplyDeleteAustin weather makes large swings in temperature, too - saucer magnolias are fooled and frozen quite frequently - hope yours escapes that fate!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I've enjoyed the warmer weather, but I also remember how heartbroken I was last year when the beautiful spring flowers were ruined by the freeze. I think I'd rather freeze all winter than have the spring flowers ruined again.
ReplyDeleteCarol, I may have sounded happy about the spring "peepers" but I am not. I realize that my garden will be set back as it was last year. :(
ReplyDeleteJim, I hope you don't have much spring showing. While the warmer weather feels good to me it isn't so good for the garden as most of the commenters have found the past year or so.
Mary, I completely agree. I am haunted too. I didn't even look at the Hydrangeas. Too depressing.
April, we shouldn't see spring here until at least March.
Hi Annie, I hadn't seen a pussy willow in years before I planted this one last year. I just kept thinking about it and in the corner where this one is growing there appears to be an underground water sourse. So things I have planted there before haven't done well. Now you can imagine what a willow will do. It is holding up quite well. Plus I remember being facinated by the fuzzy catkins when I was a child.
Our Magnolia rarely is very pretty. It is frozen out many years. It will be another disappointing year most likely.
Yes Robin, I am worried about early flowers coming up again this year. I haven't seen my daffodils yet thank goodness. Some of my friends were lamenting the showing of their daffodils already.
The weather has been wonderful but we all know it won't last. Do the plants know that too? Love all the photos shown. The hellebores are so very tough, they know how to withstand that cold/hot cycle. It is almost the time of year when we cut the old tattered leaves off so the flowers will look fresh and clean, here in Tennessee anyway.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was such a day: temperatures around 10° C and bright sunshine...almost like a first Spring day!One easily forgot that it is only January. But today we have quite the opposite again: cold, rainy hours...a typical winter day! I do hope it will stay like this for a while.... for the sake of our plants. Winter is still ahead of us....and a gardener has to be patient ;-) !!
ReplyDeleteSeveral of my Hellebores have formed buds. But then they always form them early & just sit there 'til about March. Most plants won't be fooled by warm weather now. It's unseasonably warm weather in March that's the problem.
ReplyDeleteGreat spring promises, for sure. I have hellebore envy, of course, because they don't like the winter/spring wet of my garden. We've had the big melt, and it smells like spring here too, but tomorrow, I'm going out to spread hay over some of the heathers and heaths and a few other sometimes fussy plants, because we KNOW it's going to freeze again, and hard.
ReplyDeleteOooh... I just love seeing new growth on the hellebores. With so much else resting at this time of the year, I appreciate their tenacity even more. :)
ReplyDelete