In late April a snowstorm dumped a very-surprising-for-that-time-of-year 6 inches of snow. I thought the shrubs and trees and perennials would be really slow to come up this year. Boy, was I wrong! Instead they came up faster than in a normal year. The same thing happened with the migrating birds. I thought they’d be very late. Instead they showed up early (VERY hungry) and moved through our area much faster than normal on their way to Canada.
May was very wet and often chilly at times. I planted all my flowerbeds in the mist and rain. The soil was so cold that my hands started to go numb. Four days later we broke a record for the warmest Memorial Day weekend ever recorded for our area. The high on Sunday of that weekend was 95 degrees (F). If only my seedlings could talk they would’ve had some choice words for the roller coaster they were on during their first 5 days in my flowerbeds with a 60-degree temperature swing. This past weekend we were back to chilly again, and I wore a long-sleeved shirt to go birdwatching. But I see a high of 89 in the extended forecast (next week). Good grief, I can’t keep up!
I finally replaced all the plants that died over winter–either by buying new ones or dividing plants I already have. Some of my perennials think they live in a rain forest the way they are behaving after all that May rain. I can’t tell where one astilbe ends and another begins in this part of my yard. The poor irises are trying to come up for some air:
The tips of all the astilbes burned in the 90+-degree heat, but the oven was only temporary and they recovered quickly, so I expect them to bloom like normal:
The only sign of stress on my flowers seedlings was that some of my marigolds’ foliage turned a little purple, and the leaves of some of my begonias got red blotches (sunburn!):
Everything is growing like a weed (including the weeds!) but so far there aren’t a lot of blooms. I did see some volunteer columbines peaking out from among of some of my daylilies:
And Iris ‘Edith Wolford’ is brightening up the joint:
There are buds on most of my plants now, so once the warmer weather arrives later this week, my flowerbeds should start bursting with color.