Erratic winters and early crocuses
The first crocuses
opened on February 3 this year, and the Wood Frogs hit full chorus on
February 5. Meanwhile, the human chorus of "this is a crazy
winter" just gets louder and louder.
However, take a look at the
graph at the top of this page, showing average February temperatures at
our closest major weather station for the last 64 years. (We're
actually a zone colder than them, but the trends are mostly the same
here.) Isn't it interesting to see that January 2012 is only the
13th warmest year during that time period?
This post is in no way
related to global climate change, in case you're curious. No
single data point (and no comparison to the past 64 years) proves
anything in that respect. My thesis is --- our weather is always
erratic, so enjoy the crocuses when they come! I transplanted
some of our little beauties into our forest
garden island so I
can watch them out the kitchen window. I suspect no one else gets
so much mileage from a few little bulbs.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
Did you see the revised plant hardiness map? Zone 7 is moved closer to us.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2025
The detailed map probably puts you in zone 6a. http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/#
Joey --- I did see that, but couldn't remember if we used to be in zone 6a or 6b.... I noticed that Mom has been moved to zone 7, though.
I've been reading various blogs that mention the way climate change will impact gardeners, and I think it's a pretty tricky subject. The highs and lows are both likely to increase, so I'm not sure whether someone who used to be in zone 6 and who is now in zone 7 can get away with planting more warmth-loving perennials. If it wasn't such a depressing problem for native ecosystems, I would find it a fascinating thought problem.
Anonymous --- Interesting to hear the difference between new and old bulbs! These are all old bulbs from about six years ago, many of which have turned into clumps.