ha!!!!

ken

Crocus blooming here and some early Tulips. Cherry blossoms opening. We're not too far off here in the Pacific Northwest despite 'chilly' temps in the low-mid 40s for highs. We did get some great sunshine for a brief while but temps never rose into the 60s.

-Will

We are still in for a week of temps in the 40s...so Prunus mume is -not- going to be blooming at the end of February as it does sometimes. But I can hardly complain. I'd love every winter to feature long, steady periods of cold...no huge snowstorms except in New England (sorry guys!)...and no temps below 12F. It's the winters that have long stretches in the mid 60s followed by a sudden plunge to 0F that are most damaging.
Because it was slightly warmer than average until January 1, my Mahonia X intermedia started blooming in December and has been in bloom the entire winter. Witch Hazels were coaxed into blooming by the brief but insanely warm spell around Jan 30th, and peaked in mid Feb.
Back on topic, for some reason Thuja 'Green Giant' turned more brown this winter than they have in the past, even though it was overall rather mild in terms of usda zone. (techincally, I'm right on the border of 7a & 7b) It might have been windier than usual, and IIRC we had a period of dry soil some time in the autumn, then a huge repleting rainfall. This might have meant it was still sucking up water when the cold weather came.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 9:22

I moved this as being inappropriate for subject matter.

Dave

This post was edited by dcsteg on Fri, Feb 22, 13 at 6:28

I've wondered what affects the depth of color change, a la your Thuja...for example my Juniperus c. 'Kalebab' was late turning this year and the color was much more muted than past years. I also feel like my Cryptomeria were late to turn - all of them. How much of this is temperature, anyone know? Other factors such as stress? Unlikely in my case as it seemed to be pervasive, not just across genera but all over the garden.

The strangest thing to me is that some Cryptomeria like 'Elegans' turn brown in an incredibly mild place like Eureka, CA, even before there's a frost at all. And at temperatures that are barely cooler than summer. Must be triggered by daylength.

'Elegans' and the finer-textured, bluer plant that otherwise resembles it are prevalent on the northern California coast. They do all color there in winter the same as up here.

Eureka ain't San Diego, but it does have warmer winters than up here, with various trees and shrubs prevalent in the landscape that can't be grown farther north.

That would be Mahonia x media, rather than M. x intermedia.

This post was edited by bboy on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 12:18

"Eureka ain't San Diego, but it does have warmer winters than up here"

Yes but the CA entire coast has a ridiculously low variance between winter & summer highs: 65F to 77F in San Diego; 55F to 66F in Eureka. Santa Cruz really goes out on a limb with 60F to 74F.
Your summers actually manage to be warmer than Eureka's, as well as your winter being cooler. (I wouldn't say colder in the grand scheme of things. You're not Fargo! Seattle's high is 45F in December.) I'm just surprised they bother to seasonally color there; particularly since winter has more rain and you'd almost expect that to make them to start growing at that time. It's interesting how quite a few East Asian plants will cotton to summer dry/winter wet places - in Barcelona there are giant Pittosporum tobiras including some that looked semi-wild and certainly not watered. (they might have been another species, but that's what they looked like) Their winter wet is a little different though; peaking earlier but lasting longer into the warm season.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 13:59

What I learned (if I can remember back that far!) in plant physiology is that these kinds of things are triggered by photoperiod (generally measuring the absence of light rather than the presence of it) and then affected by other factors such as drought, temperature, etc. The reason being that the photoperiod is 100% predictable whereas the weather is not. That's why I'm so curious about variation in coloration from year to year, when obviously the photoperiod didn't vary. Here, at least, I think that all of my Cryptomeria color to some extent with the exception of 'Sekkan'.

This is the first real winter in several years. Well over 30" of snow this winter with Feb slightly below average for temps.

Wonder what March is going to bring? I love to plant during the dormant months but it might be a while with lows still hovering in the teens.

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Wow...

Spring in my garden begins with this Rhododendron called 'Olive'. The blossoms usually get hit with a frost or two. I pruned it to have an open look. It seemed appropriate considering it's location in front of a pond and a Chamaecyparis nootkatensis.
Mike

My Prunus subhirtella 'Pendula' starting first ...

{{gwi:652059}}

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wbgarden spring time

Here is a link that might be useful: Dwarf confers garden

Yeah, March is here alright. Day after day of leaden gray skies, spitting snow-flurries and incessant NW winds.

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:
when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."
Charles Dickens