Spring Brings Daffodils!

Warm spring almost summer-like temperatures have been in place for the last several days. Every day has been in the 70s with this final day of warmth being in the middle 70s! Of course as expected this put all the plants on a fast track to blooming. We went from Snowdrops all the way to Daffodils in just a week or so. 

Snow Iris 3/10/21

Snow Iris and Early Sensation Daffodils make a nice combo in the front garden beds! 

First Daffodils bloomed 3/10/21

Here are the very First Daffodils. This variety Early Sensation technically was the first to bloom in the gardens and it has been since its addition. It only bloomed a few hours before Tete a Tete so while first it almost lost to 2nd place. You’d think the variety February Gold would be before but it still has yet to show!   

Daffodils as of 3/10/21

Another interesting fact. So I planted the bulbs in the photo above right along the south wall of the house thinking the warmth there would make the blooms happen a couple weeks earlier then this path in the middle of the front lawn but apparently it really doesn’t make a difference. Even though the ones at the house started growing earlier by like a week and a half they bloomed at the exact same time as these ones way out in the yard. 

Here at the Tete a Tete Daffodils which are a really fun Mini. They smell super sweet and are always among the first to bloom. Ahead of them are dark purple Snow Crocus. 

The Lenten Rose has started to bloom as well. This Dark one was the very first one I added to the garden, I am unsure what the variety is because it was a gift but it sure is pretty!

This one is part of the Winter Jewels mixed so unfortunately I also don't know the type on this one either but I its a rather nice two-toned double. I have 5 Lenten Rose throughout the gardens since they are a rabbit resistant nice garden plant. 

That garden as a whole shows plenty of Daffodils to be seen. They certainly rushed up since I cleaned things off a week and a half ago! I have around 1,200 Daffodils bulbs and 12 different varieties ranging from Yellow, Pink and Orange, Double and Single flowers. They are my favorite flower! 

Zero to 60

Daffodil sprouts 2/28/21

Zero to 60, literally! That’s what the weather has done. The door of cold air has closed and it’s been in the 40s and 50s every day and soon heading for the 60s. The snow has melted off, you can tell we’ve had a hefty snow year though because some shady parts of the neighborhood still have high banks, normally with the amount of warmth we have had it would all be gone by this stage. Record winters of 50+ inches will do that though. What has melted off has reveled lots of sprouts and I kinda had to rush to get things cleared off. 

Snowdrop Elwesii as of 2/28/21

Snow Crocus 1st bloom 2/27/21

Snowdrops are in full bloom this week which is right where they should be this time of year. Oddly though are the Snow Crocus! When I took the leaves off flower buds were already appearing and they were opening as soon as the leaves were taken off. That was strange and the first for me. Also weird they bloomed before the usual second flower which is normally Winter Aconite. 

Lenten Rose 2/27/21

Lenten Roses were also really desperate to be coming out. They were pushing up the leaves. I noticed them really sprouting around the end of January before the big cold snap. I made sure so covered with lots of leaves and snow luckily they made it. I have 5 of these throughout my yard and really enjoy them. 

Garden view 2/28/21

Not much to see here yet but you can see a bit coming anyway, soon my gardens will be filled with thousands of Daffodil blooms! Don’t you just love spring? 

Getting through an "Extreame Winter"

 

Magnolia Grandifloa 2/21/21

 

This year winter started off fairly "average" in the temperature department, we had really no big cool offs or huge warm-ups either. Snow wise however it was actually pretty snowy as it seemed like all the snows we did have which were infrequent came with high amounts each time like 6-12" in 3 or 4 storm spread throughout the season so we were on our way to one of the top snowiest winters ever recorded. THEN February arrived and the ball dropped, temperatures plummeted to the 10s and even below zero and it did rise again for 2 strait weeks. It went from "average" to extreme in just those two weeks according to the Midwest winter severity index.  It was one of the longest-lasting cold snap of this decade. 2 days didn't rise above zero and 11 nights nearly in a row were well below zero. It was part of the same cold snap that greatly effected parts of the deep south by Texas and Oklahoma. Lowest temperature seen was -18.F which was near the record low since the year 2000 which was -20. 

The winter damage is really showing on my experimental Magnolia Grandifloria this year most of the leaves have browned and its likely it will loose all of its leaves. The winter before this I got really lucky, with a maxed out low of -9 barely any leaves browned and the remained on the tree throughout the following summer and it even bloomed! My hopes is that the tree survived and it will leave back out in May and June.

 

Extreme Rabbit Feeding Damage

 The other sign of a harsh winter? Even though extra steps were taken with the fencing as you can see. At least a dozen of more of my shrubs were severely damaged by rabbit feeding. Unusually the snowcover isn't as persistent as it has been this month and the hungry rabbits have no where else to turn but the bark and twigs of shrubs. It's nice to see the rabbits remaining well fed but I'll say its proving pretty costly. Unfortunately these wont recover and will have to be replace. Sure they will try to grow back, but they will be the perfect size for more rabbit feeding next year and it will keep going in a vicious cycle. This isn't the first year either, so I'm going to rethink my landscaping choices going foreword for sure.

Snowdrops as of 2/20/21

 

How about a little good news now? The Snowdrops are showing again! I have to say how impressed of the insulating qualities of snowcover. These spent all that 2 week of below zero weather happily protected under the snow. The past 2 days have been in the lower to mid 30s re exposing these again. Next week when its in the 40s there really going to be happy. I've also see snowdrops blooming as well.

Winter burn free

More great news, Thuja is looking find and dandy! Sometimes Arborvitae can get winter-burn when the sun hits it during extreme cold spells especially when its un established and this being the first winter I will admit I had my concerns. However I checked it out real close yesterday and everything is looking good. It will be really nice to get some spring growth on this one to start filling out that hole from last year.

Blessed or Cursed

 

So I'll be the first to admit snow isn't really my "thing" so to speak. Don't get me wrong its something that's easily tolerable, we live in the "north"  its something that just happens and you deal with it right? Well something I saw on facebook sort of made me look at it in a new light. It was a weather post for a Dallas, Texas news station that was predicting snow in that area. I found myself reading the comments section and surprisingly, not only were the commenters okay with the snow they were hoping and wishing for it! Apparently it had been years since they saw snow and from the way some sounded they would give anything to see the white stuff. 

 

 

Now as a person living in a climate where snow was abundant and plentiful like many people in Iowa- we get it, its easy to want snow if it only comes once every few years and it melts the same or the next day.  However it does make a person wonder, is it curse or a blessing? It is nice to look at and there are even quite a few benefits as well like protecting plants from extreme cold, replenishing soil moisture and even fertilizing as minerals are collecting on the snowflakes as they fall through the atmosphere. Either way this is Iowa and you know what they say S happens, in this case through the S word means snow. Besides it could be worse we could be living up by the Canadian boarder region! 

Little Lucky doesn't mind the snow & cold, he's got a nice warm scarf to keep him warm and besides winter brings low humidity which is great for metal Dinos!