After unseen temperatures for years here, down to -12°C the weather is warming up again. 15-16°c this weekend. Before the cold spell, a few maples had begun to have their buds swelling (Acer laevigatum, Acer elegantulum), but now others are about to bud out : Acer tegmentosum : Acer elegantulum : Acer rubescens : Acer 'Katsura' and 'Orange Dream' are also earlier than other palmatums/amoenums, as usual :
Swelling very nicely indeed Alain, further along than mine, but the weather this weekend will dictate the early maples progress. Who will have the first Katsura to leaf out this year?? Wonder if it will be earlier than previous years?
It's hard to tell : sometimes buds swell but don't open until a month later. If the temperatures get colder, they'll wait a little longer. Apparently, if the afternoon temperatures will stay around 12°C in the afternoon in the coming two weeks, at night they might drop a bit. 'Little Princess' is another one that buds out very early, shortly after 'Katsura'. I had a look at mine, none show signs of waking up soon, whereas I have this photo taken on February 6th, 2016 showing it was much more advanced. But often, the younger the tree, the earlier it buds out :
Here are a few of mine taken this afternoon. Going quite nicely now the cold has gone. Vitifolium, Sangu Kaku, Kandy kitchen, Green dissectum, Grandma ghost, Bi hoo and Aconitifolium x2.
I do worry about how early it is though. Still 12 days to March. We do suffer from late Spring frosts her !!
Early spring? Not here. And even the stupid rodent (Punxsutawney Phil) predicted six more weeks of winter in early Feb. Seasons have been slightly shifted here lately, starting and finishing late. All of them. After the rain overnight, the stream is melting, but everything else is snow covered. And we are expecting 6-9” more snow on Thursday. I envy you Alain!
I understand you Nik. I love a few days of snow, I miss it when there's none, but I enjoy even more when the Spring comes. Here are a few pics I took this morning, snowdrops that had flowered before it snowed but survived, a crocus, some "Veronica persica" - it escaped from a botanical garden in the 19th century and is now endemic, we call it "Véronique de Perse", and a daisy. When looking at the photo, I saw the big leaves at the top, it's a local orchid, Himantoglossum hircinum, I have about half a dozen in my small garden (no pesticides, no fertilizers, no weed-killers on the "lawn" - if you can call that a lawn ^_^) :
Acer tataricum var. ginnala is always one of the first to bud out : Acer elegantulum is slowly developping : Acer (x) shirasawanum is preparing : ... while Axcer laevigatum is well on its way now :
Looking good Alain, good old Katsura !! hope you don't get the cold spell that is being forecast for here in England. -3°C tonight and for next three nights. My Katsura always gets hit. Nowhere near yours yet though, 'thank goodness'.
Still no sign of spring here, no snowdrops, no crocuses, no daffodils, no Cornelian cherries, no witch hazels, nothing... But I have orchids indoors to keep me in good spirits.
It seems to be an early spring here in Minnesota. We have had temps this past week ranging from 32-42 with night lows in the mid to upper 20s. We have a few cold nights coming up but the forecast is showing 40s and even some 50s this week. I started putting my trees out last week to start warming up the cold frozen pots theyre in and now can tell the buds are starting to push out a bit. I almost feel like I should keep them in my pole barn to help prevent them from budding too early. If we were to get a frost I would move my trees inside the barn at night so I just leave them by the barn for now. What do you guys think, should I keep putting them outside when it’s above 32 degrees F?
I can imagine . . . the contrast of harsh winter conditions persisting outdoors to the tropical conditions indoors as evidenced by your gorgeous orchids is quite breathtaking.
@Hobbiest4Life good morning and welcome to the forum, Regarding your question on bringing your trees out, I protect my small trees that are in small pots until the latest frost has gone. Now over here that can be the end of April. But my larger pots will go out and stay out from the middle of March. Yes there is a risk of leaf burn, but if the trees are healthy and strong they will cope just fine. Just a footnote, do keep an eye on the long range forecast. If you have a good 14 days ahead of over 32°F at night then from now on you should be safe.
Hey thanks for the reply. I bring the pots back inside every night since it generally gets below freezing. Starting Tuesday the lows will be above freezing so might just keep them out those nights. The day time highs will be 40s and even a few days of 50s. They get protected from frost and will be until the last day of frost. I just wanted to make all was well bringing them out this early since our last frost isn’t generally until the end of April. With this warm up weather, I imagine they will be pushing some strong buds within the next month.
I think you're doing the right thing. A friend of mine spent over a year in Minneapolis, and when back here, he appreciated our "mild" weather in Spring... ;°) ... though we're going to have a few nights between 0°C and -2°C at the end of the week, nothing serious really.
We had quite a few snow storms this winter, but the temperatures never got below 20 F much here. After the snow finally melted, I noticed this morning a few shoots emerging...
Good morning Harry and J, I've just been looking at N @Nik photos still showing a lovely Winter sky and now yours with a late Winter /Spring new life theme. Great photos to start the day with. I do enjoy the time differences on the forum.
A few good days of sun this week. Shin kotohime Shishigashira Beni chidori Goshiki kotohime Kotohime Shishio hime Taimin nishiki
So much more advanced than any of mine. They certainly like their location. You are also obviously looking after them very well indeed I. Well done you.
Not sure I am way more advanced than you D, except for 'goshiki' and 'shishio hime' that stayed outdoor, the rest of the maples in the pictures were in the greenhouse with a heater during the hard frost we had a few weeks ago, so that may explain their early buddings with the warm days we have lately. I may regret they already leafed when it will freeze again lol.
Ahhh a greenhouse and heater, now that explains it, Lol. They just might have to go back in there again.
