The Month Was A Roller Coaster
March 27 – Tulipa praestans fuselier
The month of March was a real surprise. Our area hit record highs into the seventies and eighties at some time during the day for six days straight. Sun and temperature combined to push plants up to four weeks ahead of schedule.
March 21 – Narcissus King Alfred
The calendar shows snow in March along with weather warm enough to bring out the shorts and sleeveless shirts. Plants that did not even break the soil surface still covered in snow, were blooming mere weeks later.
March 12 - Pyrus calleryana ‘Redspire’ Pear, will be blooming and attracting bees at the end of March
- 11 March 2012 8 am 40° Sun
- 12 March 2012 8 am 57° Sun
- 13 March 2012 1 pm 51° Sun
- 14 March 2012 9 am 42° Sun
- 15 March 2012 10 am 48° Sun
- 16 March 2012 11 am 52° Sun
- 17 March 2012 9 am 50° Clouds/Fog
- 18 March 2012 3 pm 71° Sun
March 19 – Morus rubra, Red Mulberry behind the garage and so appropriate to have a red bird loudly calling for a mate.
- 19 March 2012 2 pm 72° Sun
- 20 March 2012 7 pm 64° Sun
- 21 March 2012 12 pm 72° Sun
- 22 March 2012 5 pm 80° Sun
- 23 March 2012 2 pm 64° Sun
March 23 – Helleborus Ivory Prince and Pink Frost
March 24 – Rosa ‘Iceberg’
- 24 March 2012 10 am 48° Clouds
- 25 March 2012 10 am 30° Sun
March 25 - Hyacinthus ‘Delft Blue’
- 26 March 2012 10 am 28° Sun
- 27 March 2012 3 pm 46° Rain predicted
French Lilac - Syringa ‘President Lincoln’
Miss Kim Lilac
March 26 – Tulipa batalinii Red Gem, same as those cold ones below.
March 28 – Hemerocallis ‘Happy Returns’ Daylily
28 March 2012 3 pm 56° Rain likely
29 March 2012 3 pm 38° Rain
30 March 2012 3 pm 40° Snow predicted
March 30 5:30 pm, see the poor tulips closed up tight and being pelted by the snow?
March 30 6:30 pm and the crabapple and pear are starting to bloom.
March 30, 7:30 pm, Hyacinths in the snow. (Too dark for a good photo, no flash)
31 March 2012 2 pm 46° Cloudy
March 31 8:30 am
Close-ups from the morning of the 31st. A survey of my garden revealed little damage from the weather, luckily.
Lilac
Pear
Crabapple on April 3, Sunny at 10 am and a quick plummet into overcast weather.
Frost Damaged Hydrangea with leaves browned, April 3, 48° at 11 am.
The end of March brings back the snow and freezes off some of the tree buds with nighttime temps below freezing. It is getting back to more seasonable weather. By April 8th, we will be back into the 60s again.
One final thing… if you did not see my Photoshop tutorial post on applying a texture to a photograph on Green Apples and want to know how I did this antique postcard…. see Texturize a Photo Tutorial.
Amazing how our weather was a tad different…we had many days in March in the 70s and 80s…then suddenly in April we have frost and freezes…too many and I am trying not to lose plants…some are getting mighty tired of the cold after they woke too early…we did not have snow in late March at all…I am hoping the warmth will stay but the long range is for 40s again next week after a brief warm up this weekend. I wouldn’t mind the cold since it is seasonable right now, but for the sake of the plants that are up, I wish we could just stay above freeing.
It was a warm winter here and though it is always possible to have snow in March (in fact, some of our deepest snows have been early to mid-March) it has stayed relatively warm. I just hope it doesn’t mean we’ll have a long exceptionally hot summer.
You have had some crazy weather. Good thing most plants are so resilient! My hyacinth never came up this spring. I don’t know what happened to them. Your blooms and buds are really lovely!
March weather madness. I think it is a worldwide phenomenon. Summer was already declared for us early March then a few days after, it was non stop cloudy/rainy days. Good to see that your garden survived the snow.
Well, we certainly can’t say March didn’t give us all she had. Sun, snow, anything in-between…
(And at least over here in Denmark, April looks like more of the same, i.e. more of everything.)
Four weeks ahead of schedule! Wow! Then the snow – those little tulips look so cold!
Glad to know it didn’t do much damage to your garden, though. The postcard picture is beautiful. Maybe the weather will normalize a bit now that spring is officially here.
I love these posts. Keep up the good work. March was a roller coaster. I am really enjoying the cooler and so far more seasonally appropriate weather of April. Nice hellebores.
Fantastic images!! But I also have to say the the 2nd to the last photo in this series is AWESOME! Love the depth of field and composition of that photograph.. It is fantastic!!!!
Our spring is 6 weeks ahead of time. Some strange weather. Great shots, thanks for sharing.
The spent hellebores look even more beautiful than fresh blooms ..
I didn’t see your tutorial, but then I don’t have Photoshop. One day I will, have seen such great editing.
This spring has really been a roller coaster…. when your plants pop so soon after being covered with snow it makes you wonder just how actively they are growing underground. Snow is truly a blanket on the soil.
Envious of your lilacs!
All of these are beautiful but I especially like that first image. Your March 31st snow arrived here on the East Coast today. Thanks!