Interesting spring


This has been a very interesting spring for plants in our area.  First, the
spring has been very late,  I'd say at least 4 weeks late.  Normally the
peonies are in their prime for Memorial day,  this year they hadn't started
to bloom.  Some trees were very late leafing out especially cherry trees and
some apple and ash.  Now to the iris,  I raise mostly TB's and I noticed
that many were not as vigorous as in years past and the bloom stocks were
not as tall.  They just didn't seem very happy!!.  In talking to a friend
who is with the plant science department at Montana State Univ at Bozeman.
Montana, they had the same type of growth as we did here in the Prickly Pear
Valley at Helena, Montana.  Just now some of my prize TB's are blooming when
they can,  I say this as I've noticed frost on my neighbors roof nearly
every morning when I get up at 5:30.  Some Spring.  I also noticed that many
of the chokecherry bushes along many of our blue ribbon trout streams are
dead this year.  I mentioned this to one of the nurserymen and he felt the
same as I did that it was a combination of three things.  We had a very dry
and hot summer and perhaps the watering in fall was not adequate, the snow
on the ground which was not that much (less than 6 inches) was there all
winter and we got a lot of sun burn especially of junipers and some pines
and finally we had a very early hard frost, well before the plants had a
chance to start to get themselves for winter.  Its always interesting to
record the happenings in the garden and then compare them to past years,
this one will have a star by it and not for its great spring but the
opposite.
Caroline Hudnall
Zone 4
Helena, Montana


 

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