I mentioned in last weeks garden post that I’m not much of a fan of spring bulbs. Specifically, that while they do provide a burst of color in early spring, their bloom time are so transitory that it is possible to completely miss out on when the bulbs are actually in bloom. As an example, these two pictures from the same spot in the garden were taken a little less than week apart:
Nothing much going on here on April 2nd… 
Mini-crocuses in full bloom on April 6th.
Fortunately, I happened to be sitting on my patio enjoying the unseasonably warm weather when I noticed a spot of purple nearby. Had the weather not been so nice I might have completely missed these flowers.
I’ve also had problems getting my bulbs to spread out, or to use the gardening vernacular, I can’t get them to “naturalize”. The picture below is from the garden next to my driveway. This section bakes in the summer heat and it’s filled with drought and heat tolerant plants. Years ago, when I installed this garden, I planted over 60 daffodil bulbs of different varieties. As you can see, there are only a few survivors. Daffodils are supposedly drought tolerant, so I am not entirely sure why they aren’t doing well.
Let’s take a stroll to another part of the garden, specifically let us look at the leaf buds on the trees. I’ve noticed that the buds on several of my trees and shrubs are already starting to swell, which is a couple of weeks early in my neck of the woods. That isn’t in itself a bad thing, but even as I type this the Colorado Front Range is getting hit with “Snowmegeddon II”, a blizzard with temperatures forecasted to drop into the 20’s tonight. Because most of the buds hadn’t completely leafed out the plants should be alright. Last year my area got hit by a late cold snap that zapped the new leaves and set the trees back a couple of weeks (https://www.mrvintageman.com/this-week-in-the-garden-april-18-to-may-21/).
Some trees and shrubs are “smart”, in that they delay their leaf-set until they are “sure” that the weather is going to stay consistently warm. Below is a picture of the Bigtooth Maple (acer grandidentatum) that shades my patio. I was surprised to see that this particular tree already had swollen buds. Surprised, because Bigtooth Maple is a native of the intermountain west of the United States and you would think it would be programmed to wait until later in the spring to begin leafing out. That’s gardening for you; every year is a new surprise.
Post Script: fallout from the second major blizzard to hit the Denver Metro area in the past couple of months (Snowmegeddon II). Well, the most recent spring snowstorm has moved on, but not before dumping about 8 inches of snow in my yard along with overnight temperatures in the teens. As you can see by the picture below, the daffodils blooms I showed above are toast. The bulbs themselves will be fine. The concern about plant damage isn’t the snow. Most plants and bulbs in my yard can easily shrug off snow. It’s the low temperatures that are the concern. Temperatures in the teens can cause the moisture in the leaves and stems to crystalize and damage the vascular system of the plants.
Fortunately, the snow actually acts like an insulator from the worst of the cold, and with the temps rising to the low 40’s the day after the blizzard, the plants should rebound quickly. The daffodil blooms, however, are probably done for the season.
The silver lining from this most recent dark cloud is that I was able to get the lawn and borders fertilized before the storm hit. All that rain and snow is going to green things up nicely! Now I just need to get the lawn aerated. Anybody know a good aerator person in the Denver area that they would recommend? My guy stopped doing aeration.
If you have any pictures or stories of your yard or garden that you would like to share, please send the pictures and details to MrVintageMan2@gmail.com.
