Spring Has Sprung

The birds are chirping & the sun is shining.  Springtime is here!  This is the year that winter never came.  We had cold temps and some minor shoveling early on but easy overall.  I keep thinking we’ll get 1 good storm before April but I saw flocks of geese this weekend flying in formation and robins in the yard.  They know more than us when it comes to the weather.  Very exciting!!!

It may be early to tell but here’s my take on how plants fared this winter: Cold temps came in late fall & early winter.  Plants were forced into dormancy early.  This offers greater protection from desiccating winds.  Mid February-March is when most damage occurs.  As the days get longer plants are coaxed out of dormancy and polar vortexes that come now really beat plants up & rot roots.  We seem to be skipping over that this year.  Buds are already swollen on trees & shrubs.  I’m not seeing any winter damage.  Yea!!!  Now the flip side of this is that mosquitoes, ticks & rodents have been having a soiree all winter and the pressure will be greater because they have had an easy winter too.

Stay tuned, I’m working on some short videos to add to my website that address questions I get a lot like ‘Why my hydrangeas do not bloom reliably?’ or ‘How and when do you prune certain plants?’, or ‘What insect is eating my shrubs & what can I do about it?’. This is going to be a great year! Cheers!!!