Perennials awake
The perennials are
waking up much earlier than usual this year. New plantain leaves
are pushing their way up through the muck where we wear the "lawn" down
to bare soil in front of the door every winter, and the Egyptian onions
have been sending up scads of new leaves for a couple of weeks
now. I even saw a speedwell flower Sunday, but wasn't quick
enough to capture its smiling face before a deluge washed everything
away.
As
heartening as these signs of spring are, though, I feel compelled to
ask the weather to slow down! You see, the same
warmth that wakes up the onions is also tempting my fruit trees and
vines to burst open their flowers far too soon. I can already see
green in the swollen pear and kiwi buds, which means those buds are at high
risk of being frostbitten when the inevitable cold
swings of March return. Luckily, my peaches (the only fruit trees
old enough to bear fruit this year) still have tightly coiled buds, and
I'm sending them soporific thoughts. Please, don't open until
April!
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
Our blueberries are already flowering but since we're a little further south than you are, the flowers may be okay. I remember seeing neighbor's blueberries flowering about the same time last year and plenty of fruit in the summer.
I hope all of your trees can hang on just a bit longer!