In Chicago, many people evidence memory lapses around the concept of spring in the garden. Our last frost date is around the end of May, but after a long winter like this year, people's expectations cloud memory. They often recall spring happening earlier than it normally does.
We had an early warm spring last year, so I checked some of my photos from my own garden on April Fool's Day of 2010. Above you can see the Hellbore which today has about one stalk. One of my favorite tulips below (Tulipa turkestanica from the high mountains of Central Asia and usually pretty comfortable with our extreme springtime weather shifts) hasn't even appeared yet. But despite the cool temps, there are signs of growth in the ground...I noticed foliage from Coral Bells, Valerian, Rue, Bleeding Heart and False Forget-Me-Not. The Geranium macrorrhizum (Bigroot) has been verdant for a few weeks.
3 comments:
It's been very difficult to have such a long cold winter come just after a year with an early warm spring. Last year I dug my parsnips in mid March, which was early, but this year my vegetable garden still has several inches of snow covering frozen ground. Snowdrops are up, as are the very early miniature daffodils, but everything else is snow covered. We have some mild days coming up, so maybe I'll begin to see some plants soon.
Hang in there Altoon! I never achieve it, but always aspire to be unattached to the weather. After working with gardens and gardeners professionally for a dozen years, I try to really believe that it is all "interesting," Every year there is something, both difficult and magical.
The ducks finally arrive for a brief fly-in on April 2nd — the latest arrival date in the 14 years they have been coming to the pond. Two weeks later than last year which was such an early spring. I think that's the problem — we know it wasn't the norm but it was so wonderful!
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