Dayton "Dirt" - March 12, 2016

With the weather this past week and the forecast next week it looks as though spring is on a rapid march in March! Looking longer term, cooler temperatures would definitely “work” better as early warming will cause new growth and early flowering of many plants only to be nipped by frosts. One hopeful aspect of the unusually warm temperatures is that at least there is some rain and the ground is not beginning to crack from dryness such as was the case in 2012.

This weather now reminds me of the year 1973 when temperatures like now were very warm at the tail end of February and early March with the warm up ending the 17th of March with a 1 foot snowfall. Afterwards, the warm up was then gradual resulting in a beautiful spring albeit that May was extremely rainy.

Work at the nursery is speeding up too with operations in full swing on multiple fronts such as in the greenhouse perennial potting, rose potting, the receipt of some balled and burlapped nursery stock and the clean up of perennials in the over-wintering huts.

Two more winter seminars are scheduled including one by Judy Semroc who will present The Life and Decline of the Monarch Butterfly. The good news this year is that the Monarch is on better footing with the “luck” of more favorable weather during their migration and over-wintering in  Mexico. The bad new’s is that the Monarch is still below the numbers needed to have a stable population that would not be wiped out from a severe “hit”.

Let’s hope for somewhat of a cool down so that spring will arrive slow and easy instead of coming in like a lamb and going out as if it were the month of May!

Tom