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First signs that spring is coming

James Freyr

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posted 5 years ago

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Share pics of nature that indicate spring is coming!

Today is February 2nd, I'm in zone 7b in Tennessee, and I just took these pics of wild blackberry and daffodils.

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daffodil.jpg

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Jay Angler

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I've got crocus *trying* to bloom, but they're in standing water and the forecast is for snow today and Tues. I'll try and get a picture of something determined enough to cope with Mother Nature's current obsession with "wet"!

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Travis Johnson

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I live in Maine and this year I am still waiting for winter to come. The ground is not even frozen, and we have yet to get any snow. It is Feb and we have not got either cold nor snow...

This is the same weather pattern we had in 1994, and back in 1907 too; kind of odd, but it happens.

Jay Angler

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The green sprouts near the back are Day Lily shoots - the type I can add the flower buds to stir fries. There's no point letting them bloom as then the deer spot them and eat them all anyway!

The green sprouts in the Allen Block are fall flowering crocus. They are huge compared to the tiny leaves of spring crocus.

The green at the right of the picture is Rock Cress, but it stays green all winter in this location, so I can't consider it a sign that spring is coming.

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Timothy Markus

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I have some choice words for you people who are posting greenery on Feb 2.

I did a firewood inventory yesterday and I've got enough for another 11-12 weeks, maybe a bit more. That should last me the rest of the winter.

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Sonja Draven

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Spring isn't actually here yet. LOTS more gray, rainy days in our future and probably ice and maybe snow. But, this daffodil greenery gives me hope on the interminable gray days.

I also realized when I was out the other day, that most plants here don't actually sleep in the winter. They just pause. I feel very blessed to be on my land and observe that this year.

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Skandi Rogers

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Travis Johnson wrote:I live in Maine and this year I am still waiting for winter to come. The ground is not even frozen, and we have yet to get any snow. It is Feb and we have not got either cold nor snow...

This is the same weather pattern we had in 1994, and back in 1907 too; kind of odd, but it happens.

This, I'm 7b we've had TWO days so far this year where it dropped under freezing, I've got autumn flowers still going and my winter aconites and snowdrops are in full bloom nearly a month early. I have a plum tree that is close to flowering and my last frost is still 3 months away! It's going to be a horrific growing season as none of the pests have been killed and weeds have grown all year.

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Bryant RedHawk

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The records I've been keeping on the weather patterns since we got this piece of land indicate that in Arkansas, the season we call winter has been moving further so that over the past three years cold has lagged to the point of now being 2 months later than it came even in the 1990s.
December has had more rain than in the previous 10 years, January saw us at +6.8 inches of precipitation, all rain. January saw temperatures as high as 70f and the lows stayed in the 20's, Feb. is looking like the same.
If you chart the weather you can see the evidence of global warming especially if you add a chart line for sea levels.
Our peach, plum and pear trees are swelling their buds since we still have not had more than two days in a row of below 30f since November.
This week they are calling for 3 days in the 20's and 30's for lows, which means I either loose this years fruit crop or I cover and heat the fruit trees.

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Jay Angler

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Bryant Redhawk wroted:

Our peach, plum and pear trees are swelling their buds since we still have not had more than two days in a row of below 30f since November.

I will just add that some fruit trees, such as apples I believe, actually *require* a period of a minimum degree of cold in order to produce a crop. If that "cold period" continues to reduce will those trees adapt to the new norm, or simply stop producing? I suspect the changes are too fast for tree evolution, so this further supports the importance of planting polycultures with many varieties of food sources to compensate for losses of certain crops.

We too have had atypical rain patterns for the last year. I planted fall wheat and it looks as if it all rotted, or at least couldn't grow faster than the slugs could eat it. Late Sept used to be the time to plant it, but I'm thinking I may need to try again in the very early spring, and hope it will ripen by fall. I don't plant a huge amount, but it was fun this winter making some no-knead bread mostly out of grain I'd grown and harvested myself - a friend has a machine that ground it for us.

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Bryant RedHawk

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Exactly right Jay, I don't expect anything from the apples this year since we didn't even get close on chill hours.

Joshua Bertram

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Seeing as how it's supposed to be in the high teens or low twenties (F) tomorrow morning, I'm guessing some/all of this will die off.

I forgot to take a picture of the ash tree that's blossoming (honey bees were buzzing all around it yesterday).

Zone 8a here, so it's probably not too unusual to see this stuff pop up, but all these are volunteers from stuff I let go to seed last year, except for the goji berry along the fence that are leafing out. I really enjoy having a cilantro "weed" problem. lol

Excuse the mess, there are lots of projects going on, and a lot of clean up to do.

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Jay Angler

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Sigh - two days after taking my pictures it snowed! At least the snow didn't stay. At 5 days into February, we've already had over half the usual February rainfall, and it's rained all day today. The forecast is promising sun later this week. If not, I may just have to haul the canoe out to get to the goose shelter (just joking - I'll manage in my Wellies if the mud doesn't suck me down for the worms to eat.)

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Catie George

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Excuse me, but what??? Please tell me these are pictures you've stolen from last year. It's February!!! Like, I've moved to a climate with a 2 month longer growing season than I'm used to, and I don't expect to see snowdrops until mid to late March.

Do you guys seriously call EARLY February spring? Like, does this happen every year? I had always assumed that the more southern climates had spring at about the same time as us, maybe some flowers in March, but just less extremes of winter. I'm really struggling with the idea of spring being February. Daffodils are MAY flowers.

Sincerely, someone who grew up with snowstorms and subzero temperatures on Easter, Halloween (gotta size those costumes to fit over a snowsuit!), and occasionally Canadian Thanksgiving (early October), and an occasional June hard killing frost.

(and yes, unusually mild winter here, too, I shovel the walkway, but I've only had to shovel the driveway twice this year)

Jay Angler

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Sorry to break it to you Catie George, but unless you're further north in Ontario than Lake Superior, I have flowers in February despite being closer to the geographic North Pole than you are. Most of the populated parts of Ontario and all the big cities (I'd actually have to check the latitude to know if Thunder Bay is further north than my home, but it would be close) are clearly further south than the southern third of Vancouver Island. But alas, spring may come earlier, but it lasts *much* longer. We have something here called "Junuary" - in other words, our June is more like your April. When Paul talks about how much better direct-seeded tomato plants do than transplants, I simply think - location is everything. My sister lives in Burlington Ontario, and if we planted tomatoes on the same day, hers would ripen sooner, assuming mine even survived. So please do not despair - every ecosystem has its pros and cons and permaculture is all about making the best of what you've got!

Besides, I've heard that Ottawa Ontario doesn't have 4 seasons at all. They've only got two seasons - winter and construction!

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s. lowe

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raspberries are starting to leaf out, two of our blueberries are already blossoming, cherries down the street are in full blossom, I've seen my first daffodils of the year in full bloom. It's spring here

Hugo Morvan

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Same thing in France, wet, wet, wet and a only few days of frost.
I've heard the cranes, they usually return a few weeks later.
It's unusually warm in the south of France.
I've noticed quite some slugs and caterpillars even flea beetle damage and i saw one slow fat flea beetle.
We've had the same thing going on with late heavy frosts in April or May even destroying fruit crops and saplings.
I've been planting apple trees root stock to graft on and am aiming to get races that fruit at different times, there are people who have a different kind of apple every month, even in winter.
I should rejoice spring is coming and hate to sound like a grumpy old goat, but it feels like a trap that's set up.

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Dan Allen

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Peaches, plums and lychees are blooming here. Mangos have set pea sized fruit. Figs and blackberries are ripening. Corn is about knee high. Maple trees seemingly leafed out over night recently. But no frost or freezing temps this winter, so it's kinda felt like spring all winter.

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Jay Angler

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@Dan Allen - beautiful photos - those look like peach blossoms to me. They look very happy! (Which make me feel happy just looking at them.)

@Hugo Morvan - I totally understand how weeks of rain can bring out the grumpies in the best of us. If there's snow, it brightens everything up, but low rain clouds/mist seem oppressive like the sky is pushing us down. I hope you find a few simple pleasures today to raise your spirits to soar above the rain-clouds! Think of how permaculture can help us out-smart and even reverse "weather weirding".

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Kj Koch

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Here in central PA we had a spring like day on Monday, it was sunny and hit the low 60°s. Of course we are now back into the muddy, chilly, windy February I expected. This morning it was pouring and like a switch was flipped it started snowing. We only got 2" but it's COLD now. Enjoy your green guys!

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Sonja Draven

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Yesterday, we had a glorious sunny day in the middle of all the gray. I worked on various projects including cleaning up my mom's memorial site. Her first flowers were blooming. :)

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Kc Simmons

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We haven't really had a winter here. We'll get a couple of days in the 40s, then back to the 60s-70s for a week. It did snow overnight last week, but it was gone before noon the next day, and temps were back to 60°F.
My apple trees still have leaves from last year, and I'm finding a lot of giant ragweed seedlings in the field, which don't usually germinate until April.
My roses have been blooming on & off all winter. Normally I cut them back around valentine's day, but they're all full of buds & flowers now.
The only thing I really worry about is the lack of cold making it a bad pest year. The bug population has stayed pretty consistent all winter, which could be an issue in the garden this year. Our average last frost date is somewhere in mid-March, but I remember we once had snow on Easter weekend (about 10 years ago).

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S. Bard

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We’ve had a rather dry and warm winter so far, so lots of activity already happening in my garden.
Really happy to see the first wood anemones and wild white violets peek up. Such a splendid sight!
Also have wild onions and wild garlic shooting up everywhere in our forest right now!
I’ve also got some broad leaved waxy like plants shooting up, but I can’t identify them. Anyone have a clue?

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Nicky McGrath

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Ha, I'll get back to you in a couple months!

Though maple syrup season is always my first indication that winter is coming to an end, and hopefully that's just 2-4 weeks away.

Ellendra Nauriel

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My first sign of spring is that the chickens are being noisy again, and are laying more eggs than they did last week. This in spite of there being a foot of snow on the ground.

They were quiet for almost 2 months. It was nice. I like the eggs, but I wish they didn't feel the need to announce them to the whole neighborhood!

Liv Smith

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Yes, spring is definitely coming.

I never get tired of this view☺️

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Lee Gee

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Found this in my travels today

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∞

J Grouwstra

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S. Bard, I like that small blue flower, the Anemone hepatica. For the one you're trying to identify, have you tried a Yandex image search? Works much better than a Google image search.

In the veg garden, I like to see the grey shallots emerging, like this one I've planted on the slope of a Hügelbeet. Some autumn planted shallots don't wait until spring, but these grey ones usually do.

GrizeSjalot.jpg

J Grouwstra

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S. Bard, having done an image search. I'm thinking those waxy leaves belong to Arum maculatum. It fits your region and the season. The leaves will just have developed and later in spring there should be distinctively shaped flowers. But I've certainly been wrong sometimes when trying to identify things...

S. Bard

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J Grouwstra wrote:S. Bard, I like that small blue flower, the Anemone hepatica. For the one you're trying to identify, have you tried a Yandex image search? Works much better than a Google image search.

Yes, anemones are some of my favorite wild flowers. So far I've spotted 2 different variaties on the property. I'll see If I can snap a pic of the other one as well.
As for your tip to try Yandex, you were right! I am now quite certain it is a type of Arum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araceae), could be Arum maculatum.
Looks like it has pretty flower too! Yay!

Anita Martin

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This is the third winter in a row that is much milder than usual with hardly any snow and less frost days than usual.

Today was warm enough to do some weeding in the veggie patch.
I have some overwintering chards and beets and the sprouting broccoli, the garlics have come up nicely.

Apart from that, not much flowering going on: the snowdrops are just emerging and some speedwell under a bush.

Lots of green things though and swellings buds, and bees quenching their thirst (we have had lots of rain over the winter so the clay soil is still heavy and cold).

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S. Bard

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Wanted to share another pic of the forest anemones in our garden. Two weeks ago I only spotted a few of these. Now they’re everywhere. This is the first spring at our property, and it’s such an absolute delight to see these guys pop up everywhere.

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Jay Angler

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A friend of mine is a pro:

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J Grouwstra

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And where nests are being built, eggs are being laid...
In this time of year I often come home to find some geese eggs on the boardwalk. Of course it's not the geese that lay them there. A couple of old guys from the village often poach them, and then they leave a few for me. I love an omelette. They're not really interested in the eggs, or not in as many as they find. The geese population has skyrocketed over recent decades here, it's good to keep them in check a bit. These same guys who poach geese eggs hang nest cages for swallows and other birds, they are bird lovers. But geese we get too many of.

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Pearl Sutton

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There is an abandoned nest in the tree out front. I don't know if they get reused, but there were some nuthatches hopping in and out of it today. Either house hunting, or getting design ideas "Oh Arthur, look at the mud work in this one!!" :D

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Jay Angler

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My Muscovy ducks have started laying... I'm *not* ready... sigh

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Heather Sharpe

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The Sandhill Cranes are making their return flight! I just love the sounds they make.

“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.” ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer

J. Graham

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I just got my first tick yesterday! Hooray!

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Nina Ro

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The tree frogs have started croaking in the evening again!

James Freyr

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A plum tree I planted last year is in budswell.

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Matt Todd

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I'm not seeing much in new growth. But I was standing in the forest yesterday and heard the worms wriggling in the leaf litter for the first time this season!

I don't own the plants, they own me.

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