Idea Transcript
http://www.parispi.net/lifestyles/features/garden/article_982585c0-1a0d-11e7-80f9-2bf0ff275e92.html
March winter, after winter’s summer, brings brown city Apr 5, 2017
April is deemed “the cruelest month” in the British Isles and over much of Europe. That designation is referenced with the habit of a high pressure weather system to set up over the North Sea and send shivering cold down its flank during that month. Most Brits have never experienced a Tennessee March. Talk about cruel! We know what cruel is here in the Tennessee Valley. Though April sometimes brings late frost here (i.e. as in 2007, when cold damage went rampant on Easter Sunday), we generally are not surprised when the Ides of March play their role to perfection, if you can call it that, just as they did in Caesar’s day. The problem with our March winter this time around was that it followed on the heels of a January and February summer. Everything was well ahead of where it should be in mid-March when 20-degree temperatures wreaked havoc with early bloom. Only the fittest, most cold-resistant flowers escaped unscathed. A reading of 20 degrees when buds are still dormant is one thing, but 20 degrees when they are half- or fully-open is quite another. Pinks, mauves, whites and yellows morphed into dirty browns overnight. The cruelest lick on our place was an ‘Elizabeth’ magnolia, which bears (or should bear) cream-colored chalices of flowers some 5 inches across. We had one day of it, then brown city. Same with the pink early magnolias. A friend in Illinois tells me he can predict when one of the last killing freezes of winter will occur. It’s just the time these kinds of magnolias burst into flower, usually late April there. At any rate, cold damage from the March winter probably won’t leave lasting problems if we measure “lasting” on into next year. This year’s legacy of it will be in such things as hostas, which were up a month early and which will show scars from the freezes with leaves that will be singed brown at their extremities. After all, the raison d’etre of any hosta is with the foliage. Blooms there indeed are, but they are secondary to the leaves. Then too, some early leafing woody plants will show scars this year. Japanese maples, some of which were outright killed in ’07, should (should!) be OK. They weren’t quite in full leaf, and the later leaves could camouflage the earlier burnt ones. Some early emerging perennials will suffer temporary damage. The foliage might be singed, but flowering probably won’t be harmed if it is in late spring or summer. Toughies like hellebores, which have been out since early January, lie down on a freezing morning but rebound quickly with moderating temperatures, their flowers not hurt in the least. Same with early bulbs. Crocuses, daffodils and such are not hurt permanently even by 20 degrees, and most of them bounce right back up. It is hard to imagine, but we had tulips flowering before February was out. I think that is a first for this climate. They folded with the first freeze, but straightened up with the sun. The second and third freezes had the same result, but they bounced back every time. In fact, we had tulip bloom longer than usual this year because of the cool temperatures. Some years, dry, hot winds have coincided with tulip bloom and shut them down in a few days. We had almost a full month of tulip flowering from 100 planted last fall. It is just over as we speak. I used to go all to pieces when these weather disturbances occur, taking down the longed for flowers. With age, more resignation sets in, and the old “wait ’til next year” philosophy is embraced. Or, even more philosophically, “there’s always next year.” Sometimes there isn’t. JIMMY WILLIAMS is the garden writer for The Post-Intelligencer, where he can be contacted on Mondays at 642-1162.