Have you noticed? The weather is playing tricks on the spring plants.
Cherry Trees blooming.
Osmanthus and Forsythia are showing off some tiny blooms.
Spring bulbs peaking–my hyacinth have started to peak through…way too early for these guys!
The mild weather has tricked these plants into coming out sooner than they should. The freezing frost sent the first signal of winter and with the recent upswing in temperatures, these spring plants think its time to show off.
What does this mean? Well, the good news is that it won’t cause permanent damage to your plants. Bad news..those will probably frost over and die and you will have less blooms come spring time. So make a mental note when spring comes and your flowers are not blooming as prolifically as the past, there is a reason–the wild winter weather that tricked them into blooming early.
Enjoy the show while you can…this year it will be a 2-part miniseries of blossoms.
Happy Gardening.
melissa
4 comments
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December 23, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Diantha Pinner
Can a pile of mulch save the bulb blooms at this point? And will my garlic bulb up? I’ve got 3-4″ shoots up. I’m afraid if they die off, there won’t be any bulbs to dig this summer.
December 24, 2011 at 5:18 pm
K. Melissa Kennedy
I have read you can add some mulch but be sure to remove before spring. I have also heard you can put a layer of straw as long as you can see through it a bit (kind like what people do when they seed their lawns.).
I am going to try it and see how it goes.
As for your garlic, in my experience it should be fine. It is usually green and growing in the winter.
Hope this helps!
m
December 30, 2011 at 1:21 am
Adam
Wow! I thought I was the only person who was experiencing this! I live in North Texas and my hyacinths bloomed weeks ago! It was beautiful but, somewhat of a bummer as I look forward to these blooms in the spring!
December 30, 2011 at 4:49 am
christineramsey
I checked with my pal, weatherman Chris Hohmann, and we are officially running just about 5 degrees above normal this Decemeber. Five degrees doesn’t seem like that much but last December was so cold, the contrast is really striking. And like Adam, I was a little bummed to see my Prunus Mumme blooming this week. I always look forward to it in Jan and Feb. Still, blooms are blooms. I take them when I can get them. The upside is we are still eating lettuce from the garden. A very nice New Years treat.