Each Little World

What I learned from this week's weather

Ignore the calendar. 

I have decided that it is no longer possible to judge what the garden or weather should be doing based on past experience. From here on out I need to simply pay attention to current weather reports and hope for the best. April is always a changeable month here in southern Wisconsin. But late snows and frosts may be our new normal, given the big snow storm we had last year on April 18th.

If frost is predicted, I always cover a few plants. But with Saturday's heavy wet snow and possible frost, I covered many more things knowing the weight of the snow could break stems and flatten a lot of tender plants. It was a one-two weather punch, but everything seems to have come through OK. 

The following photos show what I mean about April being a changeable month. 

April 26, 2019

April 26, 2018: The pink Peony and Hellebore from above looked quite different last year on the same date (two photos below).

Stay calm and let the plants carry on. 

I covered a ridiculous amount of plants last Saturday working a couple of hours outdoors while it was snowing. I used 19 containers including a cardboard box to put over plants. I threw two bedsheets and four huge contractor bags over a series of 25 bamboo stakes, mostly covering my tree peony and species peonies. A few kitchen garbage-size bags went over wire cages that were in place to protect plants from the rabbits. And I piled shredded leaves on a few emerging plants.

I've decided it was worth it to cover the Peonies given the number of big heavy buds and the height of the plants. The only Peony I did not touch was still less than a foot high and has already recovered from being flattened by the snow. I covered emerging plants that were new last autumn and not totally acclimated to their new climate having come from nurseries in the Pacific Northwest. But all my native Trilliums, the Epimediums, the Hepaticas, Hellebores and Martagon lilies did not need any special care. I covered the Trilliums because I did not want them flattened by the snow, but the ones that were not covered are just about back to where they were. 

In retrospect, I'm sure that part of the reason I crazily covered so many plants is that our garden is part of a big tour this year. I did not want to start the season with the potential loss or damage to major plants. Now I have to clean up all these containers and get the mud off the bamboo stakes — once the rain stops. Somehow I always forget about all the cleanup from covering plants!

Say it ain't so!

Another box of mail-order plants will be delivered to my house this afternoon. Got a lovely group from PDN yesterday along with bulbs from Brent and Becky. Since it is supposed to rain this afternoon I thought it would be a perfect morning to get them all in the ground. 

The overnight lows have been in the 40s so I figured I was safe to go ahead. Until I checked the weather again. Apparently it may snow 3-5 inches on Saturday and go down to 28°! Usually a late spring snow is wet and heavy but the temps stay above freezing. 

The garden is in full spring mode with Trilliums, Primula, Epimediums and species Peonies all starting to bloom. Ferns are emerging all over and lilies are up a good 4 inches or more. Protecting things by covering them is going to be just about impossible. I'm trying not to get frantic as the weather is always this changeable in April. So I am hoping this will pass us by as most of the predicted rainstorms have done all month. 

I put all my new plants inside these low ceramic pots on the side of the house where I've decided to leave them. That way I will be able to get them into the garage if the bad weather really hits here. The haul includes three kinds of Hellebores, a mini Hosta, and two kinds of ferns.

Back to winter

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! We did not get the big storm that was being forecast for the Midwest on Wednesday. But what we got was nasty enough that it has me concerned about my garden. Here's a closeup of the fat buds on my foot-high species Paeonia mairei on Tuesday afternoon. 

The same Peony on Wednesday afternoon with an old sheet draped over a plant hoop. The snow was coming down fast, the temperature was down to 33°F. (-16.11°C.) and high winds and freezing rain are next on the agenda. 

Paeonia japonica on Wednesday afternoon. The buds are less obvious in this photo but the plant is covered with them.

With these Peonies up a foot or more, I was worried about damage from the weight of the wet snow as much as everything else. But most of the plants I wanted to protect were too big already to fit under these big buckets. 

There are nice big clumps of Martagon lilies (below), Hellebores and Fritillarias all budded. But they are going to have to make it on their own. Too many plants to protect even if I had a good way to do it. After waiting a year to see all these treasures, I am going to be devastated if this weather kills all these flower buds.

At the same time both Mark and I are well aware that an early or late snow makes the garden shine.

The water is a sheet of rippling black glass and the stepping stones and gravel are warm enough that the snow melts when it hits them. Thus the garden has many more textural contrasts than when it is totally snow-covered.

We fired up the Weber grill (foreground above), set up the furniture and basked in the sunshine and warmth Tuesday afternoon, refusing to believe the weather reports. 

I just went out to check on things and it is so cold and windy I am leaving my crazy plant covers in place for now. Much of the snow has melted and these Martagon lilies seem to be taking it all in stride this morning. 

Wednesday vignette

It took me a little while to figure out what was wrong with my Japanese maple that is right off of our deck. Finally the snow at the edge of the house has melted enough that I could manage to walk out and take a closer look. This is an Acer palmatum dissectum with a single trunk. So what is that other trunk that is visible on the left?

I realized a branch had broken off the big Honey Locust that towers over the house. It clearly had fallen straight down into the branches of the Japanese maple and was lodged in there rather nicely. It's more obvious when you look at it from the back side — which I was able to reach wearing Wellies and climbing through the snow. If you follow the fallen branch structure all the way up, you can see that it is actually taller than the maple tree itself. 

Luckily I was able to pull it out with no damage that I could see. It's been stuck in there through ice and wind storms but I decided I did not want to let it stay in there any longer. So one bit of spring cleanup taken off my list. My little Japanese maple is all ready for the wind and rain that are predicted for the next couple of days.

Trapped in a white world

We are finally seeing sunshine but it has been cold enough that not much melting has occurred — except for icicles on the north side of the house for the first time in ten years!

i have not been out into the garden since I don't remember when. It is still buried under snow. I guess the good news is that it is slowly disappearing as I can now see the support posts for the bridge over the dry stream. The snow has been so deep that it is too dangerous to try to walk around out there with shrubs, rocks, stepping stones, water features and all manner of buried booby traps.

Much warmer temperatures are forecast for the next few days — along with rain and flooding. So we shall see what things look like later this week. I would love to see a little bare ground.

Snowdrops make an appearance

Ha! Don't be silly. We still have deep snow cover though the temperatures are finally rising up to normal for this time of year, so perhaps Spring will make an appearance. Despite the weather I do have snowdrops, courtesy of Carolyn's Shade Garden in Bryn Mawr, PA.

I have ordered snowdrops "in the green" from Carolyn Walker a few times over the years. Buying them this way — in growth — is the best way to guarantee snowdrop success according to the experts. Though it will be a while before they can go outdoors, they should manage quite well potted up by a sunny, cool window. 

I've found ordering snowdrops "in the green" has advantages that I had not realized when I first ordered some:

1. First, I get something green and growing at the moment when I am most desperate to get out into the garden, but can't yet do so.
2. Unlike a bouquet of Tulips from the grocery store, these plants will go into my garden and not onto the compost heap.
3. And most important, when I plant them out, all the spring bulbs — including other snowdrops — will be emerging. I will be able to easily add these newly-arrived snowdrops to groups of the same already in place in the garden. And I can see where there are holes at this season where I can easily slip in a few new snowdrops. Something that is very hard to do in the autumn when I could plant them as dry bulbs. By that time of the year I can't remember the spring garden at all, nor can I work well from photographs. So snowdrops "in the green" are a win-win purchase for me. 

Carolyn mailed them last Monday and they were at  my door Wednesday morning. You can see how they were packed in shredded paper that cushioned them from the slightest bump or jarring. I slowly let the shredded paper slide into a plastic bin until I could see the ziplock bag holding the plants. 

I double-checked Carolyn's receipt against my original email order to her and then got to work potting the snowdrops up. I'd brought a bag of potting soil and a group of pots from the cold garage into the house a few days earlier in preparation. I knew I would not want to work with such cold material, nor would I want to subject the plants to yet another shock.

I bought some very typical varieties like G. elwesii ex Carolyn’s Shade Gardens (a species snowdrop from Carolyn's own naturalized plantings) and G. nivalis ex Carolyn’s Shade Gardens (another species snowdrop which Carolyn described as the "progeny of the vigorous strain that has thrived on her property for over 100 years".) The pots are on a shelf under my big Boston fern. 

I also opted for two snowdrop varieties that are new to me: G. 'White Dream' (syn. G. nivalis ‘White Dream’) which have a pronounced white stripe on the leaves and according to Carolyn are a vigorous strain and should multiply rapidly. The stripe is visible on the few larger leaves but not from the angle I took the photo.

The other new variety for me is G. ‘Jonathan’ (unique single snowdrop, G. elwesii) with extra large, globular flowers and broad blue leaves. It was found in 2000 in a North Yorkshire garden by snowdrop author Michael Myers. The picture below is from Carolyn's website, but you can easily pick this one out in the photo of my group of potted snowdrops. It reminds me somewhat of G. 'Diggory,' which has large flowers but is much more expensive. 

My two G. 'Jonathan' bulbs!

Everyone is potted up with their id tags, ready and waiting for the snow to melt and the ground to thaw so they can be planted in the garden. Exactly how long a wait that proves to be is anyone's guess!

Dealing with snow, ice and a garden

We've been gardening at this location for more than twenty winters. Many of them have been like our current winter: cold, snowy and icy. Every time the driveway is clear, it seems to snow again. We are careful about what we use to melt any snow or ice on the driveway, knowing it can have a negative effect on our plants, trees and shrubs that line the street and our drive. If you are new to gardening in a snowy climate or would like to see if you are helping or harming your garden with your snow removal techniques, this article on the Chicago Botanic Garden's website tells you everything you need to know.  

One of my favorite images from the Chicago Botanic Garden that Mark took on a winter visit a number of years ago. We went to hear U.K. garden designer, Dan Pearson. 

. . .

Just saw this excellent list of winter garden advice from Proven Winners, so I am linking to it here.

Is winter over yet?

It started snowing again sometime after we went to bed Saturday night. I knew it was more than just a potential storm warning when I heard the plows go down our street while I was still half asleep in the early morning darkness Sunday. 

We woke up to a lot of new snow on the ground. The wind was gusting and snow was still coming down as dusk fell Sunday evening. I haven't kept track of every snow storm but it certainly feels like we've been having at least one per week since New Year's Eve. And we're still a month away from the Vernal Equinox! 

The other zonal denial

Since I don't have a greenhouse or room indoors to keep marginal plants alive when the temperatures fall, I've pretty much avoided growing things above my USDA Zone. But in the spring of 2017, I tried a little zonal denial by planting a beautiful Alstroemeria 'Inca Ice' and a Sarcococca 'Fragrant Valley.' Both of these are plants that typically need a zone warmer than where I live. But these varieties were both listed as hardy for my zone. Alas, they died along with a depressing number of older shrubs and trees in the winter of 2017/18 when we had extremely cold temperatures with little to no snow cover. In fact, our biggest snowfall last season happened in late April.

PHOTO: DEC. 15, 2017

When I look at the print garden catalogs that are now arriving in the mail, I always look to see what zones are listed at the end of a plant's description. When I go plant shopping online, I tend to click on all those special ways of digitally searching — like listings of new plants, rare plants or those that a nursery has hybridized themselves.

Now and then I look at what plants a nursery offers that are specifically appropriate for my USDA hardiness zone. When I used my Zone 5 as a search tool recently, I had a bit of a lightbulb moment. Something I've known for as long as I've gardened in Wisconsin was right there in front of me; I realized I had been seeing it but not really acknowledging it in recent years. 

What I saw were the temperatures that go with a Zone 5 designation:

USDA Zone 5a:  —20° to —15° degrees F.

USDA Zone 5b: —15° to —10° degrees F.

In reality, we recently woke up to a low temperature of -28° with a wind chill of -48°,  significantly colder than the expected lows for Zone 5.

PHOTO: MARCH 2, 2017

According to the map, I live in Z5b. I have an urban garden which makes it a little more protected but I have been ignoring, if not denying, that very cold zonal truth. We've had multiple snowstorms since the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21). They've beautifully covered garden with a deep blanket of snow which I hope was enough to protect everything from the Polar Vortex temperatures we just went through. We had a few days were the temps went up into the mid-40s: a change of 70°almost overnight. Then back to snow and freezing rain and snow again. 

Despite all of our talk about warmer weather as part of climate change, it is the drier winter with little snow cover and cold temps like we had last year that is deadly for gardens like mine. Rather than playing with Z6 plants, I should be thinking about Z4 or even Z3. Time to get real in the garden again. No more planting for hotter summers. It's the colder winters that I need to be thinking about when I go plant hunting from now on.

Something wicked this way comes

I took this photo last Thursday afternoon as we were waiting for the next round of ice to fall on us. In a matter of minutes the weather went from from pretty to petrifying. This kind of heavy ice load on the trees and power lines is definitely worrisome. We were lucky and did not lose power though neighborhoods near us were without it for hours.

The wind came up in the evening and lots of twigs and small branches came down. But we all discovered the big thuds we heard on our roofs were not falling branches. It turned out those loud noises that sounded like they were above us were actually at ground level. They were frost cracks: booms resulting when the rainwater in the ground next to house foundations quickly froze. Who knew?!

The sun was out blindingly bright on Friday and Saturday but the cold temperatures meant that barely a drop of ice melted. Our street is pretty clear but many side streets are dangerously slippery and icy. That's our weeping white pine which is right on the other side of the window glass. A dusting of snow came down late Saturday, so the ice is now covered with white. It's too gray today to do anything but stay indoors and try to distract myself from the weather forecast by counting the days until Spring.