What Season Is It?

Without looking at the calendar, imagine how difficult it would be for someone waking up from a coma to determine the month. We, and many parts of the country, have experienced unusually warm temperatures during October and November. Locally, many long-standing records fell. Also imagine how difficult it is for a plant to determine the month.

Trees and perennials have genetic coding to process their response to the seasons. It gets cold and days get shorter, must be time to drop leaves and go dormant. It warms up and is sunny, must be time to sprout spring growth. Plants don't have calendars; they react to the changing climate.

In the last two weeks we went from summer to winter. Though it is November, we were seeing 80 degree days. Then we rocketed through fall. Two days ago it was 70 degrees for a high temperature. Yesterday was 60, today will be 45, and tomorrow has a forecast high of 30 degrees. Thirty degrees as a high temperature! That's a change of 40 degrees within a three-day period. Throw in some snow and it's a drastic change for us and for plants.

Put yourself in the shoes of your plants, or rather, the roots. Colder temperatures and shorter days caused leaves to change color and growth to slow. Then a long period of warm weather interrupted the normal dormancy cycle. Some plants got confused. Della has a peony that began to show bud growth. My hardier herbs began growing new shoots. The sudden freezing temperatures and normal late-fall weather will wreak havoc on some of these plants.

Weather patterns that are atypical will often cause mass death. Plants that would normally be prepared for winter are still unprepared and will be caught by surprise with rapid changes. They may not die immediately, but after an unexpected (for them) winter, buds and tip growth may be compromised next spring. I lost a cherry tree to similar conditions a few years ago. The buds were fooled in the fall and froze in the winter; in the spring there was not enough leaf growth to sustain the tree and it died in the heat of summer.

Lucky for your plants, you can read a calendar and watch for weather forecasts. Look for unexpected bud or leaf growth. If you've had unusually warm weather in the fall and suddenly cold is coming, protect susceptible plants until they can make the transition. This may mean covering them with straw or a blanket. Do what you can to minimize extreme changes in temperature. After a few days of continual cold, the plants should get a clue and finish their winterizing process.

Even if a plant has lost its leaves the soil has remained warm and root growth has continued. When the soil freezes too quickly the new roots can be killed. If you still have bare soil, apply mulch. A thick layer of bark, leaves, straw, or rock will moderate the changing soil temperature and give the roots a little more time to acclimate.

Every year there are plants that don't make it through the winter. Gardeners often accept it as a normal expectation. If you go from shirtsleeves to a jacket overnight, it's a sudden change. By recognizing how the weather affects your plants, you may be able to save some that otherwise would have been lost.

Without looking at the calendar, imagine how difficult it would be for someone waking up from a coma to determine the month. We, and many parts of the country, have experienced unusually warm temperatures during October and November. Locally, many long-standing records fell. Also imagine how difficult it is for a plant to determine the month.

Trees and perennials have genetic coding to process their response to the seasons. It gets cold and days get shorter, must be time to drop leaves and go dormant. It warms up and is sunny, must be time to sprout spring growth. Plants don't have calendars; they react to the changing climate.

In the last two weeks we went from summer to winter. Though it is November, we were seeing 80 degree days. Then we rocketed through fall. Two days ago it was 70 degrees for a high temperature. Yesterday was 60, today will be 45, and tomorrow has a forecast high of 30 degrees. Thirty degrees as a high temperature! That's a change of 40 degrees within a three-day period. Throw in some snow and it's a drastic change for us and for plants.

Put yourself in the shoes of your plants, or rather, the roots. Colder temperatures and shorter days caused leaves to change color and growth to slow. Then a long period of warm weather interrupted the normal dormancy cycle. Some plants got confused. Della has a peony that began to show bud growth. My hardier herbs began growing new shoots. The sudden freezing temperatures and normal late-fall weather will wreak havoc on some of these plants.

Weather patterns that are atypical will often cause mass death. Plants that would normally be prepared for winter are still unprepared and will be caught by surprise with rapid changes. They may not die immediately, but after an unexpected (for them) winter, buds and tip growth may be compromised next spring. I lost a cherry tree to similar conditions a few years ago. The buds were fooled in the fall and froze in the winter; in the spring there was not enough leaf growth to sustain the tree and it died in the heat of summer.

Lucky for your plants, you can read a calendar and watch for weather forecasts. Look for unexpected bud or leaf growth. If you've had unusually warm weather in the fall and suddenly cold is coming, protect susceptible plants until they can make the transition. This may mean covering them with straw or a blanket. Do what you can to minimize extreme changes in temperature. After a few days of continual cold, the plants should get a clue and finish their winterizing process.

Even if a plant has lost its leaves the soil has remained warm and root growth has continued. When the soil freezes too quickly the new roots can be killed. If you still have bare soil, apply mulch. A thick layer of bark, leaves, straw, or rock will moderate the changing soil temperature and give the roots a little more time to acclimate.

Every year there are plants that don't make it through the winter. Gardeners often accept it as a normal expectation. If you go from shirtsleeves to a jacket overnight, it's a sudden change. By recognizing how the weather affects your plants, you may be able to save some that otherwise would have been lost.