Springing up Before Spring

It’s beautiful as it falls; it’s a pain when it accumulates to six inches on the ground. It’s so pristine, all that white; it’s a checkerboard of tracks after New Dog goes exploring; it puts needed moisture in the earth and it makes fun puddles to splash through, but then it freezes again and becomes dangerously black.

Snow. Hey, it’s February after all and we can never be sure what kind of weather we’ll have around here in February. Sometimes, we have a preview of spring, which gets all you gardeners excited and itching to start planting. Sometimes, during those brief glimpses of warmer weather, our perennial bulbs decide it’s time to send up shoots of green. Grape hyacinths, crocuses and irises are stirred to break their winter sleep and seek the sun.

You can’t fool Mother Nature, so the best practice when you see spring-blooming bulbs activate during the winter, even getting snowed on, is to just let those bulbs do their own thing. Don’t pile a bunch of mulch over them to protect the tender green shoots and don’t panic. Those warm spells we had between October and Christmas (a distant pleasant memory) stirred bulbs to activity. It’s much like the procedure we use to force bulbs in the house during the winter, but what happens to the ones outside in the ground?

Bulbs have a lot of antifreeze in them, so to speak. They might send up floppy new leaves, but the bulb’s stem producing properties are not awake yet. They will survive just fine, thank you, with only the greenery above ground. Those tender-looking leaves can survive while the stems and flowers are still cozy and warm inside the bulb. Temperatures have to be in the 40-to-50-degree range for several weeks before the stems are stirred to grow.

Irises are usually the first of the larger flowers to bloom in the spring, with the smaller tulips some time later. Irises just don’t need as much time to develop stems. So, you may see your spring bulbs bloom right on schedule and you may see them develop later than usual. Either way, we have to trust Mother Nature to know what she’s doing.

Meanwhile, I try to be upbeat while dealing with all the white stuff. I’m grateful I had the strength and energy to clean the snow off the car with the long-handled car washing brush. I’m especially thankful that the car started and navigated the distance up the driveway without getting stuck. I will bow down before the furnace that has not had a temper tantrum and stopped working. And I’m thankful New Dog hasn’t run off to explore but instead has decided that his backyard is far enough to go in the snow. And, of course, special thanks go out The Neighbor, who came over to light the gas logs for me in case we lost power, and the friend down the street who plowed enough of my driveway for me to get out. It’s almost as good as spring.