witch hazel

Aprilish Snow Precedes Cold Snap

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.

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Signs of Spring and Hungry Rabbits

Looking over the photos on my phone, I begin to understand why I haven’t written much this winter. I have a lot of photographs of my icy sidewalk as I struggled to keep up with it. Several years ago the city required us to replace our sidewalk, and the inspector who came out insisted we lower it. We did. There has been runoff onto our sidewalk after heavy rain ever since, but it was not a problem until last month’s weird storm. The sidewalk was still extremely warm when it hit; I took the last set of icy-sidewalk photographs on February 21, and by the following day it was melted. Finally. All that ~~fretting~~ scraping and chipping gave me a chance to keep an eye on the witch hazel. Continue reading “Signs of Spring and Hungry Rabbits”

The Last Week of Winter, in Bloom

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.

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The Annual Witch Hazel Watch

December and January were pretty warm, relatively speaking, and I was wondering how it would affect the witch hazel. Last year this plant bloomed on January 15; not this year. My guess is that the plant did not know that it was officially winter. The ground was not frozen at this point.

Witch hazel flower buds. Photographed on January 2, 2021.

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Sort of Winter…

I passed a neighbor’s yard on my lunchtime walk, and noticed that the Lenten roses were erupting in flower stalks. I knew I had to check my witch hazel.

Witch hazel. Photographed on January 15, 2020.

It’s blooming. Those are not the only flowers, either. At least a quarter of the buds are open. Those little petals roll up like blow ticklers when the temperature drops below freezing; a cold front is breezing in right now.

This is certainly a little early. Earliest? I am not sure. I will have to check.

The witch hazel is making its move from interesting winter flower to green shrub in the background.

The leaves remain deeply corrugated as they unfurl and reach full size.

The Answer Is February 3

What was the question? When will the witch hazel bloom?

Closeup of three witch hazel flower clusters with unfurling petals. — Witch hazel in bloom. Photographed on February 3, 2019.

Last week, snowstorms and windchill warnings; this week it has reached 50°F twice. Icy rain will follow later in the week, which could make commuting far too exciting.

…And When Do Those Flowers Fade?

April 11, 2019. At this point, they are pretty well gone. Two weeks ago, they started crinkling up as it got warmer, but the scent was amazing into the first week of April.

Fading witch hazel flowers. Photographed on March 23, 2019.

That’s the end of the winter flowers. Spring is here.

Ominously Springlike, the Other Shoe Has Finally Dropped

The latter half of December and the first week of January felt more like early March than early January. The lawn greened up a bit, as did various ground-cover plants. Continue reading “Ominously Springlike, the Other Shoe Has Finally Dropped”

November: Dark Days and Erratic Weather

We’ve had snow, icy fog with heavy frost, rain, and plenty of gloom. Dark days, yes, but I am not going to talk about the thick, dark clouds—they have no redeeming characteristics.

Snow

We have awoken to snow-covered plants and cars several times already. This is my kind of snow: pretty, and not sticking much to any pavement that would require shoveling.

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Winter Seems to be Winding Down

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.

Photograph of late winter flowerbed edge showing a very small remnant of snow — Is this the last of this winter’s snow? Photographed on February 25, 2018.

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