Anticipating Spring
Winter containers in the Wharf, March 13, 2015
We are waiting with bated breath – waiting for the snow to melt. I was so encouraged last week on that one sunny, fifty degree day. The refrain of the Wicked Witch of the West was playing over and over “I’mmm meelllting, I’mmm mellllting!”in my head. Now the temperature has dropped back to the low 40’s and the pace of the melting has slowed considerably. My wager is all clear by April first, but who knows?
Narcissus in Fort Point Channel park in March 21, 2012
Phlox subulata ‘Emerald Cushion Blue’, March 21, 2012
Prunus x incamp ‘Okame’, Urban Arboretum March 2012
We have very little in the way of blooms on the Greenway at the moment, so I revisited photographs from previous years to see how different the timing might be. I went back to 2012 for a very warm, early spring that had the maples, crocus, narcissus and even cherries blooming in the 3rd week of March. It seems almost impossible given the forecast today.
Hamamalis blooming March 18, 2013
Crocus in the lawn March 18, 2013
2013 was not so very different, later than 2012 but earlier than we are this year. The daffodil foliage was just pushing up out of bare ground and the crocuses held tight due to a chill in the air. However the ground was bare, and the grass an early green.
Eranthus hymenalis Urban Arboretum March 18, 2014
What surprised me was how slow the start was last year, in 2014. There is very little difference between then and now. At least until you account for this year’s snow piles, still and monolithic, and hardly any open ground yet in the garden beds themselves.
Salix buds,or Pussy willows, March 13, 2015
Where are the sun worshippers and rain dancers? The plants are ready with flower and leaf buds waiting for unique triggers to swell, split open, unfurl and show off. Usually the lengthening days coincide with warmer temperatures helping to bring early flowers, leaves and hatching insects all out in a coordinated event. We will wait and see, and I will give an update in a month. Imagine! we are bound to have an exciting, colorful few weeks when everything is, finally, springing into action.