Way Too Early for Blossoms

6 months ago

Honeybees and plum blossoms have arrive early this year. Probably will see another hard freeze and damage the flowers or immature fruit. But the way the weather has been maybe it will stay unseasonably warm. This picture was taken about a week ago. Crazy that the tree was swarming with honeybees and other pollinators.

In other garden observations most of last years kale and broccolini have survived the winter. The garlic is on average 6 inches high. The wasps are waiting for me most mornings to open the cold frames and in they swoop to clean up the aphids on the lettuce. The volunteer lettuce is looking good though it did take a considerable amount of thinning over the winter.

Despite the welcome snow a few days ago the drought persists. The areas that I have not watered over the winter are very dry. Trying to make sure the trees and perennials have at least some moisture. Unless the mountains get a LOT of snow in the next couple months I suspect the water departments will put in place tighter water restrictions.

Featured Answer

catherinet (5IN)

6 months ago

Unfortunately, it's the climate change and will probably only get worse. Some say I'm too negative, but in my life, I seem to feel things that are going to happen more than others. But dang......I'm not looking forward to it. I love this planet and do what I can, but it's nothing compared to what countries do on a regular basis. I don't want to bring anyone down.......We just have to deal with it as we can, with our gardens. But....we also need to do what we can to simplify our lives and consume less, etc., etc., etc. But this country (The U.S. isn't really about the earth, unfortunately.) Thanks for listening, and good luck to everyone with their gardens.

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Comments (8)

L Clark (zone 4 WY)
6 months ago
Wow. yes, we desperately need snow.
Sigrid
6 months ago
You can have some of ours. I'm sick of it, although it's melting fast.
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vgkg Z-7 Va
6 months ago
It was 70F here this morning but by the afternoon we ended up with 2 inches of snow, now the sun is out. As for early blossoms, after 3 months of fridged temps our pear trees were totally dormant up until a week ago. This past week the temps warmed up into the 70's/80's with a record high yesterday of 89F, it beat the old record by 7 degrees. This hot spell has now woke up the pear trees and they went from bud swell to blooming within a week. Thankfully it's turning cold again now and the blooms are only about 10% open, a little thinning is ok. No more 20's please!
gardengrl66 z5
6 months ago
One of our two peach trees bloomed about 10 days ago. (the other is in a north-facing corner) Then we had a big snowstorm :/ we covered it with a tarp and the blossoms seem to have survived. But it is entirely too early for this sort of blooming activity, and I am sure there will be more than one hard freeze before we are done. We will see if we can protect the tree every time!
treebarb Z5 Denver
5 months ago
The apricot tree started blooming 2 weeks ago and did get zapped by the cold snap. That's not unusual and most years I get about 3 small fruit from it. But most things are coming out of dormancy way too early. If we get snow, I'll take the fruit losses for this year in favor of any moisture. I'll get the rain barrels in place once I see a chance of moisture coming. I'm doing the same as you, gjcore, focusing on getting enough water down to keep the trees and perennials alive. I planted 300 buffalo grass plugs last summer and will sow seed of the same if we get moisture. I'm going to let the fescue lawn go this year, just can't justify the water use. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Donald V Zone 6 north Ohio
5 months ago
Last year for the first time ever (10 years) I got exactly one apply on 1 of my 2 apple trees. One. Needless to say it did not make it long (bugs/birds not sure). Same issue, blossom then freeze.
L Clark (zone 4 WY)
5 months ago
My pear trees are about to bloom. I’ve never seen anything bloom in march here. very weird. I’m sure they’ll get zapped and I will get no fruit. boo hoo