A couple of people I chatted with on Friday used the “s” word when mentioning this weekend’s weather. My response was “Bite your tongue!” After all, our April snowstorm isn’t due for another week or two.
I was wrong. It snowed yesterday, looking very much like an April snow. It stopped before 10 a.m. It was the sort of snow shower that causes weather people to say “It will stick to the lawns, but not to the sidewalks.” (They do still warn you to be careful driving across bridges and overpasses.)
Snow-capped witch hazel flowers. Photographed on March 26, 2022.
Two Mondays ago, March 8, when I went to put away my trash can, I noticed the witch hazel. I noticed it by scent–it’s a wonderful scent–a little spicy, but neither heavy nor overwhelming. The plant is a good 50 feet from the sidewalk. In the light of morning, I noticed that its flowers are all going wah hoo! The petals are sticking straight out.
Witch hazel celebrating the warm sun. Photographed on March 9, 2021.
It is still gloomy, and it has started to snow again. None of the snow we have had this week has stuck to anything more than lawn for a few hours.
They Look Tender, but They Are Not
I drove through a teeny, tiny snow squall on the way home last [Monday] night, but nothing was sticking. It was sticking by morning, but perennials that come up this early can stand a little snow.
Bleeding hearts in the snow. Photographed on April 10, 2018.
I stepped out this morning just to see daylight, and found that there was only one small patch of snow left in my yard. We had quite a pile after the last set of snowstorms, especially in the spot where the driveway snow and the sidewalk snow were piled together.
Is this the last of this winter’s snow? Photographed on February 25, 2018.
Dwarf irises are a neat small flower that normally buds the last week in March to bloom at the beginning of April around here, although not this year; the majority are already blooming. The last time I saw even a hint of buds in February was February 29, 2004.
These dwarf irises were open on February 24. The wispy short plants around this clump are a species tulip.
Dwarf irises are a very nice minor bulb that does not seem to get eaten and spreads slowly, unless the squirrels rearrange them. Our squirrels love to check my work.
The bluebells and the tulips are also up and already struggling under the leaves, so I’ve raked. Dutchman’s breeches do not tolerate leaf cover well at all—which is true of other spring ephemera—but I am uncertain about how those juicy-looking bleeding heart sprouts will do in our current cold snap. Tonight and tomorrow night are supposed to be around 20°F, which seems awfully cold for them.
We are on the late winter weather roller coaster. The weather report says it will hit 60°F on Monday.
