Hah! I just remarked in this a couple of days ago on another thread! My garden seems to be a good several weeks behind schedule. And I am more than several weeks behind on my gardening chores!! This old lady is not enthused about working outside when it is wet and cold and for some reason, the odd sunny day seems to always have something else scheduled that makes outdoor gardening time unavailable.

The only good news is that the rhododendron flowering period is extended. Last year, no sooner did the flower buds open then the flowers started to go over in the heat and sun If I got 2 days out of them, I was lucky. This year, they're lasting a week or longer depending on sun exposure.

My collection of Japanese maples is leafing out sporadically as well - some are fully leafed out and others are still just getting started.

Most of our Japanese maples are just opening, as are the big leaf maples in the woods around our place, but the bright green "Lions Head" maple, in the third photo, is looking great and is way ahead of the others.

The red leaf maples are also doing nicely. And of course nothing stops a Solomon Seal. :o)

Yes, everything is very slow this year. But on a positive note it all looks very healthy…and I’ll take this cool damp spring over a heatwave anyday!

Yes, there seems to be no end to the cold weather. I posted a while ago about the ongoing late freezes down here in the WV Oregon also, and they have continued after that post. All of my rhody blooms were ruined by the freezes (frost is too mild a word!) except 'Crater Lake' and it is indeed blooming forever (Hi Pam) since its been so cold, cloudy & rainy. I record rainfall here and just went over 50" as of yesterday. I had to haul many potted annuals & veggies into the garage this week and cover tomatoes to prevent them from freezing, repeatedly. All of the new growth on my new little Ginkgo was destroyed on April 14 and it is just now, a month later, initiating some paltry new leaves. All of the Ginkgos at surrounding nurseries have the same damage.

Hiya Klark! I am a bit surprised by your unseasonably cold weather. I always thought that the greater Salem area, indeed the entire Willamette Valley, had a pretty benign climate since it is so suited to the wholesale growing nursery industry. But I guess climate change is being felt everywhere.

No late frosts here. In fact, outside of that cold snap we had right after Christmas, no frosts at all!! But then being only a block off the Sound does have some advantages. The disadvantage is that it also keeps things pretty moderated. Doesn't get very cold but neither does it get very warm. And this spring is particularly chilly. It's going to be weeks before the air and soil temps are warm enough to plant my tomatoes out!! On the plus side, maybe the sweet peas will last later into the season :-)

I'm afraid you are right about growing stuff in the WV. It is a temporal problem, not a spatial problem.

A couple of examples of how much slower this year. These two photos were taken 2 years apart.

Yesterday:

May 18th 2020:

Same rhodie.

Salem weather temperatures have been historically more extreme than Portland (also in the Willamette Valley), dipping below zero in 3 different years. The coldest being -12F in 1972, a year when Portland did not come close to zero.

For the past 30 years, average annual low in Salem was 17 degrees versus Portland's 21, a half-zone colder. But Salem's 30-year averages includes several single-digit temps while Portland has none. I would expect the same for Albany and Eugene.

Agreed, Logician, the valley will have extremes compared to Portland, but what seem like temporal anomalies to me are 115F on June 28 and 24F on April 15.

But I've been here less that two years, perhaps these events are not unusual.

In our case we haven't seen any extremes, just colder and wetter than usual, and the plants are feeling it.

The 115 of last year was a thermal anomaly; Salem records go way back.

The crew in Star Trek: 2nd Generation was often facing temporal anomalies, rather than hot weather.

"I have no further need of these anomalies" JLP.

Going from Junior to Senior (Balloon) in one forum posting was a temporal anomaly!

Gardening and Star Trek, fun! I was hoping someone would rise to the bait.

And as of today, May 20, one month from the summer solstice, temperature at 5am was 33.6F.

Seems a little like..."The final frontier" or "Strange new worlds" or "To boldly go where no one has gone before"?

(hides under desk) I'll see myself out

Today and through the weekend we are going to warm up a bit. Still when I go out to check on the garden I'm wearing layers. More rain coming mid week, though we are seeing more "Partly Sunny". That's PNWese for mostly cloudy.

Layers, check. Yes I've been watching the forecast and waiting impatiently for today, I will finally be planting cucumber seeds.

Regarding tomato plants, this may be of interest to some here. Back in the Seattle metro I always pushed the limits and bucked the local recommendations by planting my tomatoes on April 30 (my birthday) and always had amazing tomato crops, no troubles, ever. So I did the same thing here in the west valley. How has it turned out so far? Well, the May weather was much colder than anything I ever experienced in Washington, many nights in the low 30's, many more nights in the low forties, and many days barely above 50F. Sungold has shrugged all of it off and tripled in size, just incredible growth considering the weather, and flowering too. Prudens Purple has grown modestly and seems to be quite happy, there are flower buds present. Bush Goliath however has really struggled, immediately turned from green to a purplish brown hue when planted out and has barely grown at all. It is just now starting to green up again. Maters are definitely not all created equal!

"Where is your tomato logic now, Spock?" --Leonard McCoy

"You green tomato eating inhuman alien!" Also McCoy

Despite still being on the wet and cold side I'd say it's sprung.

I posted this on another thread but here is one of my rhodies in full bloom.

Beautiful! I thought you grew everything in a pot. :o)

Not everything :-) And the rhodies were here long before I moved in.