because I looked at my garden journal entry for this day last year. As I type this, it is snowing and there's couple inches of accumulation on the ground. Last year on this date it was sunny and 73 degrees. All my Hellebores were blooming, the Scilla and Daffodils were also in bloom. All the Snowdrops were done blooming and the Crocuses had nearly finished. It is very unusual for there not to have been at least one day in the 70s by this point in Chicagoland.
Because I'm not a sadist, I have chosen not to post a photo of how the garden looks today. Instead, here is a photo from yesterday showing a rare, unprecedented event at Squirrelhaven:
the Winter Aconites blooming with the Giant Snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii). This is what I had in mind when I planted this area. Sadly, most of the Aconites have disappeared. I blame the squirrels.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
I Must Be a Masochist..
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17 comments:
Okay,
Third times a charm, I have tried to post here and at the choco bunny post but no luck...Love the public enemy #1, too funny.
Strange about the weather, it is oddly cold in parts of the country, maybe the unusual warm weather last year has confused us?
Gail
I was just watching weather on the news - they said last year by this date we'd already had five 70+ degree days.
In the south suburbs it's rained, snowed, sleeted, hailed, and even thundered today. Now it's back to snow.
We're having it bad over here too. Snow over Easter, a reasonable day yesterday (yippee!), but buckets of rain today.
Still, it means the warmer, better days will be much more appreciated :)
Uh oh. Take those aconites off the bulb order, we don't need any more squirrel delicasies. But they leave the snowdrops alone? I was just reading in a bulb catalog that the crocus tommasineanus is less tasty to squirrels also. That is what I thought was planted, but instead they are chrysanthus. Got to get this right, darn little varmints. We are about two weeks behind here on the bloom times also, according to photos and records. That may be a good thing due to last year's killer cold snap, the plants have adjusted.
Frances at Faire Garden
Gosh MrMcD, I will have to get my journal out from last year and see what was going on. I know we were in FL about this time and when we came home the garden was all abloom and then the big freeze hit. I hope that doesn't happen again this year. I feel certain all is moving slower this year.
I am surprised the squirrels would eat the eranthis and not the crocus. Snowdrops are in the same family as daffodils and poisonous to squirrels, voles, etc., but I know rodents eat crocus. Eranthis and snowdrops share the trait of establishing much better when planted "in the green," that is, after blooming but before going dormant. This pretty much means getting them from someone else who is growing them, though I have read if you soak the dormant bulbs for a day before planting, it increases your success rate.
My plants were further along last year, too, but when I look at records going way back I see that things are about where they often are at this time of the year. We always remember the good years, and then we expect every year to be like that.
I live just a couple hours south of you, and like you, I remember many March days (even February some years) in the 70's. Let's hope this means when spring arrives this year, it will be here to stay. Like Lisa, I hope we don't get a hard frost just as everything starts to bloom, as we did last year.
I have trouble with winter aconites too. The few that survive come back every year, but don't increase except to make a slightly larger clump. Did you see the patch that Barbee has? That's what I had in mind when I planted them.
Squirrels can be very hateful...for some reason, they decided to dig up every onion bulb I planted this year. Why? They certainly won't eat them...so, I replanted and covered with a row cover...we shall see...
Gail, Garden Girl, & Lisa - I have weather records going back to 1995. Last year was unusually warm, but this year is way behind the average. The only comparable year was 1996, when things were even farther behind.
VP - I agree we will appreciate the warm weather even more. I fear, however, that around here it will go straight from this to the 80s (around 23C).
Frances & Kathy - I don't think the squirrels ate the Aconites. Rather, it appears they dug them up while burying their peanuts. (I found peanut shells laying around.) I suppose I shouldn't put all the blame on them. I did move some perennials around in that area last year, so I may have done as much damage as the squirrels. I did catch one squirrel in the act of chomping on some Crocus flowers which I hadn't gotten to spraying yet. The little pigs.
Rose - I hope so too. But with the way the weather's going this year, it wouldn't surprise me if it snowed in May.
Entangled - thanks for that link, her Aconites look so good. Mine used to look like that & had even self-sowed, so there is hope for them to recover.
Jean Ann - there is no telling with the squirrel mind. Maybe they were looking for nice soft ground in which to bury nuts, but didn't like the onion smell of the soil. I hope your onions survive this.
One of my Southwest suburban cousins called me yesterday while she drove through the sleet and snow so I knew things were bad again. What a pity you can no longer see your flowers, MMGD.
Chicago weather is weird - the first week in April 1975 brought a real snowstorm ...I can remember trying to shovel a foot of snow from the drive. The upside was that the lilacs had one of the best floral displays ever.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
It was warmer this time of year here in central Indiana as well. This year not a bloom yet, but getting close I think. We had thunderstorms last night.
just dropped in from across the pond and have enjoyed my first visit to your blog. Love the images further down of spring emerging through the soil. Squirrels are a nuiscance, they steal all my Fritilaries.
Annie - don't pity me yet, most of the snow melted & everything that was blooming is fine. It was just a momentary lapse of a person who is sick of wearing a winter coat.
Karen - soon, very soon, your little flowers will awaken from their winter slumber. Hopefully not to be zapped by a late freeze.
Zoe - thanks for visiting! I thought Frittilaria was supposed to repel vermin, I mean rabbits & squirrels. Or maybe that's just the Crown Imperials. I don't have any Frittalaria here, but at my last garden I grew F. meleagris. There weren't any squirrels there. Maybe it was a good thing that I never planted any here.
I was just reading on someone else's blog that things were behind this year. But a local gardener told me yesterday that this was the first average spring we've had in a long time. We had a devastating late freeze last year and I'm on pins and needles this year hoping that doesn't happen again.
Bad critters! You're probably right about the squirrels, although I would think that aconite, being related to buttercups, wouldn't be that appealing. But it's nice to see that squadron of snowdrops and the crocus, and those dear little aconites too. You're closer to spring than we are, but we're all way behind, and getting weary, aren't we?
Phillip - I guess normal is all relative. I remember how much colder winters were in the 70s, so it could be we've all gotten used to warmer winters & springs. I think that April freeze was worse for southern gardeners than for us in the Midwest, where things weren't quite so far along. Let's hope there won't be a repeat.
Jodi - There are supposed to be some tri-color Crocuses blooming with the Aconites there, but I haven't seen any of them yet. Maybe the squirrels dug up the Aconites to get at those Crocuses. Spring is slowly making its way to you. Here it seems to be coming on in fits & starts.
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