Is This Redbud Winter?

In “Is This Redbud Winter?” I relate to the lack of patience we sometimes possess rushing into spring and doing things our way as opposed to allowing nature to follow the natural s

We all have a touch of Weatherman or prognosticator in us I guess and this time of year it’s easy to ‘jump the gun’ just a little…

Is it spring yet?

It has not been a full week since the weatherman said it was now spring. The upper 70 and 80° weather we’ve been having is supposed to plunge down near freezing tonight. Many of our spring flowers have come and gone for the year already, and the legendary Redbud is in full bloom. In fact, the Dogwood trees are beginning to bloom as well as a few of the buds on my apple tree have burst out in bloom. For over three weeks the daytime temperatures have been in the upper 70s and low 80s. This is definitely unseasonal and many of the past record highs have been broken this year. Don't get me wrong, we are certainly not complaining about the beautiful weather so far and most of us are eternally grateful for not only the mild winter, but also the early signs of spring. It’s just about time for a cold spell. We ‘old timers’ see this happen around here each year about this time and last year I even wrote an article about this local phenomenon and called it the Three Winters after Spring. After Redbud Winter we will experience Dogwood Winter usually around Easter time and then finally Blackberry Winter to close out the usual cold spells annually. If there just happens to be a ‘fourth’, unexpected cool spell we even have a winter for that, Honey Locust Winter.

springtime yardwork

Will it or Won't it...

It appears as if nature is sometimes in conflict with itself somehow. The air temperatures warm quickly bringing the early growth and blooming of many spring flowers, but they is something that's just not right. Oh, it's explained and followed each year in the Farmer's almanac and the basic routine never changes. It's as if nature is noticing exactly what needs to be done and when. The first cool spell is always Redbud Winter and it seems to always happen when the Redbud is in full-blown. Just yesterday I strolled through the yard with my camera capturing all the new growth and last night the temperature dropped to 39°. My wife was busy yesterday evening gently covering the tulips and other fragile plants that seemingly had emerged early this spring. Very early this morning, we both listened intently to our local weather forecast to see just how closely our outside temperatures had dropped toward the freezing point overnight and felt relieved when the announcement came that we seemingly ‘dodged the bullet’. We also heard they had scattered frost just 25 miles to the north.

Outside my front door...

beautiful redbud...

with camera in hand

What's next...

It doesn't always happen just like this; sometimes we and our fruit trees get burnt. We all hate to hear that our neighbors might lose all or part of their local crop from the fruit trees, or maybe even a whole crop of our most succulent strawberries are found frostbitten in the fields. Each year it's different and we’ve just learned to cope with it and go along with the signs. We learned a long time ago around here to not try to outguess nature. All we can do is prepare for eventualities and then learn from the self-imposed individual consequences. It all works out very well it seems if we just don't get in a hurry and try to do everything our way as opposed to just let nature take its course. After all, who are we to try and outdo the Creator…