That's an interesting question Will.

I was surprised at how little new growth push I saw on my recent conifer delivery. Today I visited a local nursery that has some nice conifer stock and most of it has been there two years+ and they all were pushing growth pretty strong.

I'm always more concerned when plants jump the gun and start to develop new growth early. My area of the country has more of the extremes changes in temps this time of year and I'd prefer slow gradual temp changes.

Here's gradual for you. I have a remote outdoor weather station that shows today's temps:

High: 46
Low: 43

Had over an inch of rain as well but the forcasts are promising mid 60s but Monday.

The one good side effect I do know of is for early blooming types of plants, bulbs and trees. They open very slowly and thus the color is around longer. I had tulips lasting several weeks last Spring.

I am fascinated with the weathers affect on plants.

Hi Will. I suppose that most of the fall/winter plantings will be putting a lot of energy into establishing a root system that can support/feed the plants wich have either had their roots severed (B&B) or wich are no longer on a drip feed or other fertilising program (in the case of container-grown plants).
Day-lenght and soil t are probably the main regulating factors here.
Personally I prefer a 'wet' spring with perhaps less spectacular growth.Once established,plants soon catch up and your patience will be rewarded! T.

I've gone on to modify my seasonal calendar as such:

Spring(early March to late June): Very gradual changes in temperatures, cloudy days common, especially in early spring. Occasional snows still, usually melts in 24 hours. Plenty of rain, like the clouds, especially early in Spring. Very few days below 30 or above 60.

Summer(Early July to early October): Extremely dry and comfortable warm. Cloudy days rare and rain ever more rare. Our climate is desert-like in Summer, without the extreme heat. Rare to see days over 90.

Fall(Middle October to late November): The season changes literally overnight. Goes from days in the 70s to days in the 50s and frost occasionally. Leaves change rapidly(and extremely colorful) and drop less then six weeks after fall starts.

Average daily highs drop from 59 on October 1 to 46 on Nov. 1 - It gets chilly in a hurry.

Winter(Early December to late February): LOTS of rain, 8+ inches a month, wind storms, the occasional snow storm, usually accumulations are brief. Dark, cool days with almost no sunshine. Did I mention rain? We can get 25 inches of rain in winter. Temps rarely make it out of the 40s and rarely dip below 30.

The summary is a mild, long spring, followed by a very dry, pleasant summer, a very quick autumn and a dreary, soggy winter.

If you're still reading - descibe your seasons, I'd love to see the differences.

Spring here often starts out cold and winter like, then quickly over a period of a few weeks quickly goes into summer marked by inconsistent sporadic late cold outbreaks. We do manage to squeeze out a couple weeks of pleasant mild spring weather mixed in. Early on highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's ending with highs around 80 and lows around 60. Few days below 20 or above 85. Cold outbreaks can bring in highs in the 30's and lows in the 20's at anytime in March or early April, while warm outbreaks can bring in highs in the 80's and lows in the 60's at any time from March 1 through April. When they hit in May they bring high temps in the 90's and lows in the 70's. Clouds come and go, but can persist for a week to 10 days on rare occasion. Severe thunderstorms become common in late spring, but can hit at anytime in spring. Extremely windy days aren't uncommon. Spring here is from March 1 through May generally.

Summer starts out warm and wet and then becomes hot with very unpredictable rain. Severe thunderstorms are common in the first 1/2 of summer, and most days are sunny to partly cloudy with virtually no day where the sun doesn't shine at some point. Rain becomes erratic in mid June, with no rain occurring for 2 or 3 weeks at a time not uncommon in July, August, and September. High temps start out in the 80's in June, but quickly rise into the 90's with lows in the 70's in late June with a week or 2 or 3(depending on the year) of temps above 100ºF mixed in and we most always have high humidity throughout summer, much higher than people unfamiliar with the area expect. Summer here last from June through early October generally.

Fall is warm and mild and an unusually strong cold front often hits in the later part ushering winter in overnight. High temps start out in the 70's and low 80's with lows in the 60's and 50's, ending with highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's. Fall starts off averagely wet (3.5" of rain average in October), but turns consistently drier throughout(1.25" of avg. precipitation in December). Most days are partly cloudy, but clouds can stick around for as long as a week to 10 days sometimes, much like spring. Very windy cold days aren't uncommon when those first big cold fronts hit. Fall generally runs from early October through mid-late December here.

Winter is marked by cold, relatively dry weather marked with outbreaks of mild warm days and frigid arctic days with the cold outbreaks being about twice as common as the warm outbreaks. Most days are partly cloudy or sunny, and the months of December, January, and February are by far the driest months of the year here with each averaging about 1.25" of precipitation. Average high temps range from the upper 30's to the mid 40's and lows average in the 20's. But in cold outbreaks temps can dip below 0 with highs in the teens or even single digits, and during mild outbreaks temps can hit 70. Very windy cold days or very windy warm days happen a lot, with the cold ones more common. Most any snow or ice or freezing rain we get completely melts within 3 or 4 days the majority of the time. Winter tends to run from mid-late December to about March 1 most years here.

Sorry if that was a bit lengthy, but the weather here doesn't seem to lend itself to a brief summation at any time of year.

The length was needed and enjoyed, great description. It sounds like your weather is nearly the opposite of ours here in the PNW - at least besides the warm to hot/dryish summers. I would still guess you get much more rain then us from June through Sept.

How does it affect your conifers and other plants? Can you grow japanese maples? Abies? Cedrus?

Spring is always very slow here, as the North Sea is at its coldest (about 6 or 7°) at the end of the winter. The North Sea keeps us nice and 'warm' (well, nothing like as arctic as you'd expect for 55°N latitude!) through the winter providing excellent protection from Siberian cold, but come the spring it has given up all its heat, and then it takes the whole summer to warm up again to about 13 or 14° by September/October.

There's been a couple of years here in the recent past when the April mean temperature was colder than the January and February mean temperatures, and March has been the coldest and snowiest month in several winters (tho' not this last winter, January was coldest this time).

Resin

It doesn't seem to affect most plants that much and indeed helps many along that need the heat. It does preclude me from growing some of the conifers which prefer less heat though. The late cold blasts in spring we sometimes have do wreak havoc with some plants some years. I do have to water drought intolerant species during the hottest, driest parts of the summer also.

Japanese Maples do fine here, some Abies do to(primarily only 1 species widely available though), and Cedrus does relatively well here also. Although, I don't really see too many old Cedrus around, then again they haven't been selling them around here very much for more than about 20 years or so now either. We seem to be able to grow some plants that some don't think should be winter hardy here. I think they benefit from our up and down winter temps, allowing them some sort of recovery time in between the cold spells.

This has definately been the worst season I can recall for the heatlh of some of our trees here in the PNW. Makes me wonder what global warming has in store for the summer.

Off subject here Will, but the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden (at Weyerhauser Corporate HQ in Federal Way) is having their annual plant sale tomorrow and sunday. Terra Nursery will be there and they have alot of great trees at very reasonable prices. The owner John is a great conifer guy with a ton of knowledge. Tell them Jim sent you.

It seems so far this Spring is unusually cool. Firefighter, I'm in Oregon City just south of Portland. It doesn't rain nearly as much as it used to. But it's colder, and the summers are longer, drier and hotter.

The past winter was too cold, too much snow, too much ice. We were afraid our roof would collapse. Our Eucalypti, for the most part, croaked, and they were gorgeous. Total bummer.

Supposed to be warm, sunny and dry this weekend. That will feel great! Hope there's enough rain after that to really get tree rootballs soaked. We've had mostly very light mist here. I have to water supplementally, but my yard is still in the "establishing-trees" phase.

Hope it warms gradually and we're not suddenly baking in summer heat and dryness.

Being from the coastal Northeast, Spring is often a real disappointment--too chilly, too rainy, too stormy, too overcast. This Spring has actually been quite nice here though. The mini-drought has ended, temperatures have been mild, and there is a good amount of sunshine. Things seem to be greening up or flowering quite nicely. I remember tooooo many seasons where it was cold, plants and flowers were on hold until Mid April or latter and then suddenly it was full Summer (so if you blinked you missed the Spring only to find the tulips baking in the pre-Summer heat).--Still by Mid-April, we're basically free from a damaging frost. It really is the shortest season here. Fall is best (and the longest season). First frost occurs rather late in the year (Mid-late November and really hard frost may not arrive until Mid-December; I remember seeing geraniums and impatients in bloom until mid-December years past!) So, right now I am enjoying a decent, real Spring previously known mostly as an idealized fantasy. Happy gardening!

This is some crazy weather.. we were above 80F in late February, record high for a couple of days. Then, last week we got back to 'normal'. Last Friday it went down to 16F. We are not frost free until mid-May.
One thing I have noticed is that the last 2-3 spring haven't been as windy as they used to be. My tulips are in full bloom now, lasting 1.5-2 weeks.
Also, summer rains start earlier and last longer!! summer highs are also lower due to the rains. Winters are slighly drier..

osprey

I don't know what is considered 'normal' over here in Dallas area. it seems to be different every year. It may be influenced by La Nina and El Nino weather phenomena. We had very dry and warm winter thanks to La Nina. The only thing that is constant every year is the threat of tornado and hail storms... Anyway after very dry winter, we had above average rainfall for March which was very nice.

Haha, if it's too warm the problem is global warming. If we have an average winter it's global warming. And if it's much cooler than normal it's still global warming. Never mind the fact La Niña is in effect and we're at solar minimum.

This winter is the worst I can recall. The April of today is very much like the January of 90s when winters were very mild and wet thanks to El Niño.

Well, the one thing most climate experts agree on is that global warmings impact will be wide varied depending on where you live. Central states, for example, are suggested to see temperatures 10+ degrees warmer then coastal states(on top of the differences now), while global warming can also cause strange drought/flood conditions because it changes cloud formation and storm intensity as well.

It's really impossible to look out your window and say, he look, global warming my ass, it's below average temperatures. It's the overall picture - though in some extreme places(the arctic), the changes are/will be obvious.