Suddenly Spring.... Part 1

Winter seemed to drag on and on, teasing us with 8-24 inch snowfalls followed often immediately by 40 - 50 degree F days and snow melt.  Still, during the coldest weather, much of the garden slept under a generous snow cover, a welcome change from last year.  Our garden suffered tremendous damage when unprecedented warm weather kept the ground from freezing.  The resident moles and mice enjoyed a generous buffet of rose and hosta roots, echinacea and other perennials, and almost all of our crocus and tulip bulbs.  The cost to replace the lost plants was staggering.  (A total of 26 roses, almost a dozen hostas, most of our echinacea, and nearly a thousand bulbs was lost to the critter buffet.)

Spoiled by such an early spring a year ago, when I flipped over the calendar on the first of March this year, I was ready for some color.  Last spring, the snowdrops and hellebores had already been in full bloom for a week when I photographed them on March 9th.  This spring, it was the end of the month before we saw even our first hints of color.

The calendar said that spring was officially here on March 23rd, but it was another full week before spring truly arrived in this little corner of New England.

When I photographed the garden on March 30th, the snowdrops were blooming but the hellebores had barely poked their heads through the detritus of last year.   But once they started to wake up, almost overnight, they were standing tall, their cheery faces open to the sun.

This year, for the first time in several years, we have crocus popping up everywhere, singly and in large clumps.  Over the past few years, the mice and voles had eaten the many hundreds of bulbs that we had planted many years ago.

Clumps of purple, yellow and white giant crocus had slowly diminished and by last spring, except for a rare single bloom here and there, they had all but vanished from our garden. And replanting had proven futile.  After the passing of our cat, Frieda, the voles had claimed the garden as their own. 

This past fall, having finally gotten some measure of control over the critters that had been damaging the garden during the winter, we replanted many of the bulbs.   When we finally decided it was safe to replant, it had been too late to acquire the giant crocus I favor.  Since the smaller variety was in plentiful supply, we opted to try them to see if in fact we had the upper hand and we were not disappointed.  Planting nearly a thousand bulbs acquired at an end of season sale, our minimal investment blessed us with loads of springtime color this year, something we had been missing more and more over the past three years.  And it gives us the confidence to plant more of the varieties we love this fall.

Here in New England, April flowers brought May showers.  Despite unseasonably cool temperatures  and a lack of early spring showers, the several late season snowfalls were apparently adequate to meet the needs of all of the early bloomers and since the beginning of April, there has been a steady rainbow of color.

April 9, 2013:  Within days, the hellebores were blooming en mass.

April 9, 2013:  The last of our original purple crocus.

April 9, 2013:  We breathed a sigh of relief when the first crocuses pushed through the soil.

April 9, 2013:  The miniature iris are often one of the first things to bloom, but even these little gems took their time showing their vivid blossoms.

April 9, 2013:  Miniature Hyacinths sprouted en masse.

Mid-April, 2013:  The forsythia is in full bloom, as are the cherries and creeping phlox.  The hellebores have continued to grow and bloom, and daffodils and grape hyacinths can be seen poking out from behind other perennials as well.

Mid-April, 2013: The saucer magnolia was stunning, and beat the star magnolia by a full week.

Mid-April, 2013: A gorgeous saucer magnolia blossom, sprinkled with raindrops.

Mid-April, 2013:  Usually the star magnolia is the earliest of our magnolias to bloom.  This year, the star was the johnny-come-lately, blooming a full week after the saucer magnolia, with the blooms opening at almost the same time as the leaves.  Although the tree seemed heavily budded weeks ago, the bloom seemed lackluster and short-lived this year, possibly due to the weather.

Mid-April, 2013:  Usually not in full bloom until a week or two after the saucer magnolia, the buttery blossoms of  the yellow magnolia Elizabeth opened even before the saucer had reached its peak.

Late April, 2013: Usually the daffodils are a week or two or more ahead of the tulips.  I plant them together because they give extended color in each spot when they bloom sequentially, but even more than that, I hope that the daffodils will discourage the voles from eating the tulips.  When we planted these bulbs last fall, we mixed an assortment of bulbs in pink, yellow, and white blends, planted 15-30 bulbs together, and left it to luck to see what would bloom in each clump.

Late April, 2013:  An assortment of pink tulips grown together makes a bouquet too beautiful to cut and bring indoors.

Late April, 2013: Tulips and daffodils are abundant throughout the perennial and cottage beds. The grape hyacinths, which had been blooming for weeks, were still in bloom for World Hyacinth Day (May 7th), although the common hyacinths were a few days late for the party.

May 8, 2013:  The grape hyacinths have been blooming for weeks, the perfect early spring  ground cover.  We have them planted around most of our spring flowering trees.

May 8, 2013:  Although we have lilac varieties that bloom early, mid, and late spring, the common lilac, Syringa vulgaris, is going to be in full bloom for Mother's Day this year, right on time.  Since I was a young child, I've always associated Mother's Day with lilacs.

The color parade continues.  Tomorrow, for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, I'll post photographs of the garden as it looks this week.

Welcome Spring! Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, March 15, 2012

March 10, 2012 - a surprise storm 

Spring arrived early in New England.  This is usually the time of the month when I am anxiously waiting for the last of the snow to melt and for the first signs of spring to appear.  Last year at this time, we were still digging out of one of the snowiest winters in recent memory - more than 9 feet (almost 3 meters) of total snowfall. Ten days ago, we awoke to a wholly unexpected four inches of fluffy snow that almost completely melted away as we thought about shoveling over breakfast.  It was the second such snowfall in as many weeks, and accounted for most of the snow we saw this winter.

This past weekend, we were outside in spring and summer clothing, enjoying temperatures that soared into the 70's F (20's C ), far above the norm for this time of year. With temperatures expected to top  80 degrees F (26 C) today, it's hard to believe that we are only into the third week of March.

The snowdrops weathered the snow quite nicely.

Compared to past years, the crocuses, hellebores, and snowdrops are blooming more than a month ahead of schedule.

The snowdrops first appeared during the last week of February and were covered with snow in the last storm.  When I was photographing them again this week, I noticed for the first time the way the center of each blossom is a beautiful layered rosette of white petals edging in green. With their faces looking down at the ground, I never looked closely inside the blossom before!

I never studied the faces of the snowdrop blossoms before, which are angled down toward the soil.

The daffodils will opening in a matter of days.

Clumps of miniature iris are blooming very early.  Usually they bloom much later, at the same time as the miniature daffodils which are planted in the same border but which have barely started to show buds.

Over the past two winters, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of squirrels and chipmunks and the beds are dotted with the openings to tunnels dug by the voles burrowing through our gardens.  Last spring we noticed a significant decrease in the number tulips and daffodils, evidence of winter feeding on our bulbs. This spring, the amount of bulb loss is even more concerning.  Where we ordinarily had large clumps of crocuses, scarcely a handful remain and some clumps have disappeared completely. 

An opening to a tunnel created by a burrowing vole.  In some areas of the garden, the tunnel network is so extensive, the ground actually feels spongy.  At right, now that the perennials are beginning to sprout, they make a tasty treat for chipmunks and voles.  This was a newly awakened hosta, whose tender shoots made a tasty salad for one garden visitor.

The best known harbingers of spring, most of our clumps of crocuses have been decimated by the voles.  We'll plant more in the fall, but we'll need to address the rodents this summer.

The honeybees have returned.  The hellebores have been alive with them from dawn to dusk, a most welcome sight!

The mauve and aubergine hellebores opened earliest and have been blooming since the beginning of the month, through two snowfalls, in fact.  The lime green ones are now budded and ready to open, and the white ones opened on the 17th.

The miniature hyacinths seem to be the one spring bulb that the voles have avoided.

This past weekend we filled all of our planters with perky pansies.  Another spring fixture in New England, usually we don't plant these until the end of April.

The rich mauve were not available, but the blue is definitely eye-catching.

The koi came out of hibernation and started schooling this week, which occurs once the water temperature in the pond is a consistent 50 degrees.  We'll start feeding them Cheerios in a few days if they remain active.  For now, they are feeding on the algae which remained in the pond and grew over the winter and early spring.

The star magnolia and yellow magnolias have plump buds.

Although the star magnolia usually opens well before the saucer magnolia, this year might be different.  Several of the saucer magnolia buds have started to open already, about 6 weeks ahead of schedule. With the leaves having fallen, we were able to see a nest that sat in the top of the saucer magnolia.  Hopefully, it will be reclaimed by another family of birds this spring!

In New England, lilacs can usually be counted on to be in bloom for Mother's Day.  They are already beginning to leaf out and buds are already formed and beginning to develop.

Like the lilacs, the cherries are budded more than a month earlier than usual.  We usually see the tree in bloom at the end of April. I won't be surprised to see the tree in bloom before the end of this month.

Whether it's from the effects of global warming, sun flares, la nina, or other variables, the mild winter and early spring, though most welcome to those of us who love to garden, may also lead to a variety of other issues we will need to contend with in terms of insect and rodent population shifts. It's hard to think about negative consequences, however, as I listen to the birds singing through the open doors to the patio where the temperature has now reached the 80 degree mark.

As a native Yankee, even though I am delighting in this glorious respite from winter, I still recall snowfalls well into May and I am not forgetting the age old warning not to plant tender annuals until "all danger of frost is past".  April Fool's Day is less than two weeks away and it would be just like Mother Nature to follow this blissfully summer-like weather with a spate of frigid weather and perhaps even yet another snowfall.  With that in mind, we are limiting our planting to pots and raised beds that can be easily protected if the weather changes dramatically. 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is the brainchild of Carol, who blogs about her gardening escapades at May Dreams Gardens. Like me, Carol is a lover of spring (May in particular) who invites gardeners to record the blooms in their garden every month throughout the year on the 15th of the month. You can read more about it on her blog where you can also find links to tens of dozens of other gardens who celebrate their gardening blooms each month with Carol. Click here to visit Carol's fabulous blog!