February 2016 in the Northern Hemisphere

[johnstephen29]

We don't get it like we used to do we Ian, even the frost isn't as bad as it was when I was a kid. I think people are more softer if that's the right word to use, nowadays they shut schools down at the drop of a hat. When I was a kid we had to go to school no matter what the weather was like.

[Gabriela]

Thanks Robert and Gabriela. 
I feel for your plants Gabriela, snow is a good protection from cold though I don't like it otherwise, it makes everything more difficult when there is a lot of snow (not so much this year). Perhaps your Hepaticas are used to cold do maybe they survive it even without snow cover, let's hope so  .

Thank you for your sympathy Leena, I know you understand. These are extreme temp. for February even here and while most spring flowering sp. are completely dormant, Hepaticas are the only ones with the big, fat flower buds above ground (-28C last night).
Let's say it will be interesting to see how it goes 

What is snow?

Thanks - you made me smile 

[Robert]

Robert,

with the temperature well above 20C I would call it high summer! We rarely get that kind of weather even when we have summer

The spring here at home is a protracted affair As we have no real meteorological winter (the mean temperature below 0C) we instead have a prolonged spring lasting from January till June

Nice Narcissus! I have to wait a month or  more for my first ones. . . .

Trond,

We have had over a week of this "summertime" weather (20 C or more) with more record breaking temperatures the next few days before it is forecasted to rain. It is very strange!    I was out working and cleaning-up the garden yesterday. I was very surprised that most of the plants have held their dormancy. There are the exceptions. There is one cherry tree in full bloom. I tried to take some photographs but they did not turn out. Maybe I will try again today, however my wife and I will be at our Sacramento home most of the day (and I will bring the camera    )

Many of the Narcissus are in bloom now, including some of the dwarfs and a few interesting hybrids. The early Magnolias are in bloom, as well as other early bloomers. The timing is about right. There is even one Ranunculus californicus in bloom. This is a bit too early, however last year I spotted one in the wild blooming in December.

[ian mcdonald]

Stop Press. We have just had our second snow fall of the winter. The first was as bad. See attached. John, I remember riding my bike to school in winter. The fog and frost was so bad we used to have a white front when we got to school. Our school milk quota (a third of a pint) had to be put on the radiator pipes to thaw it before we could get a drink. Like you, there was no shutting of schools in bad weather. We had to step up over the snow to walk to school, about one mile. If there was no heating in the school we kept our coats on. There were not many pupils with colds in those days. Snow drifts in the garden today, img. 1000973.

[johnstephen29]

Those were the days , if I'm honest though I don't miss the snow now we hardly ever get it down here in Lincolnshire. Like leena said earlier it does have its uses in protecting plants from the cold, still hate the stuff though and I hate driving in it.

[Hoy]

...

I don't know, maybe we need a thread called - February in the North of the Northern Hemisphere  Out in the woods yesterday:
Symplocarpos foetidus

Gabriela, can't we just occupy this thread?

Regarding the Symplocarpos I once read they produced heat and it looks as your plant has melted its way through the ice!

[Hoy]

Nothing is in flower here at this time and my Hepaticas are safe under the snow blanket. (They seem to take a lot of freezing though)

The catkins  of this hybrid birch (nana x pubescens) are barely seen through the hoarfrost.




Birchwood. Many trees are killed from attack by the caterpillars of Epirrita autumnata.






Spruce twigs.

[Gabriela]

Gabriela, can't we just occupy this thread?
Regarding the Symplocarpos I once read they produced heat and it looks as your plant has melted its way through the ice!

Wonderful winter scenery Trond!
Don't worry, I don't have that much to show to open another thread  and after all it is more about our continental type of climate, many others forumists are northerly than I am, right?

Symplocarpus is a fascinating 'creature'. Indeed the inflorescence produces heat, up to more than 15C than the surrounding temp., but this year they have also been tricked into early growth. Usually they show up in late March. Apparently other aroids present this phenomenon of producing heat, called thermogenesis. It is believed that the salicylic acid from the plant functions as a hormone and initiate the heating process....I can make a long story. Better one more image:

[johnw]

It will be interesting to hear how those Symplocarpus survive the bare ground and extreme temperatures in Ontario.

john

[Robert]

Trond,

Are the photographs from near your home or in the mountains? It looks like you are still in the grip of winter. 23 C here today.    I can not say that I am pleased. Other than a few snowflakes, basically no snow here this winter either.

Finally another storm is forecast to arrive Wednesday evening. We are back to below average precipitation to-date. In addition, we still have not achieved the precipitation total we reached last year for the whole season. There is much more snow in the Sierra Nevada this year than last year. This is very welcome. I guess I would like to see much more this season. 

[Hoy]

Robert,

Fortunately it is at our cabin! Although I wouldn't mind a blanket of snow back home. it is very cold nights there now and sunny days - desiccating weather

Up here the plants are adapted to harsh weather.


Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) - a very dense specimen. It only grown 5cm/year. Most others up here grow at least 15-20cm/year.




Norway Spruce (Picea abies) - a strange name as it is the last forest-making trees to reach Norway after the last glaciation ended. But it is still marching on and covering more and more of the open alpine landscape.




An inhabitant of the windswept ridges, Juncus trifidus.

[Gabriela]

It will be interesting to hear how those Symplocarpus survive the bare ground and extreme temperatures in Ontario.
john

Well, interesting to say the least. I will keep my eyes open even more in the spring; it is known that extreme temperatures can induce spontaneous mutations. After the past two record cold winters I may have a dwarf form Polygonatum from a clump of P. multiflorum. I have to see how it shows up this year to be sure it wasn't temporary (extremely low with very short internodes but otherwise 'normal' looking).

[Robert]

Trond,

The snow looks very inviting. It was 24 C at the farm today. I worked-up quite the sweat today pruning the orchard. The peaches are already showing color. This is about 30 days early!

High in the Sierra Nevada some of the Juncus species create interesting patterns of dry foliage after snow melt in the spring/summer. The dry foliage looks like the spokes of a bicycle with a tuft of new green foliage in the center.

The following are a few photographs from our Sacramento bungalow taken on Sunday.

Prunus 'Okame' putting on an excellent show of flowers. Prunus incisa will be putting on a mass of white flowers shorty.

Leucojum aestivum are blooming here and there both in our front and back yards.

Magnolia stellata 'Rubra" or something like it. This grows near the center of a bulb - woodland bed in our backyard.

[Robert]

Up at the farm I cleaned up this bed Sunday afternoon. Most of the plants are still dormant, a relief given the warm temperatures for the past week or more. The one exceptions were the lilies that were pushing new growth very early. Fortunately, they are Lilium pardalinum and various forms of L. parvum. The new growth of these are quite resistant to late frost. It will be very strange if we do not get more frost this season.



Starting again with Narcissus cyclamineus. When the drought started 4 years ago I forgot to keep them watered during the summer when they were dormant.    It has not taken long to get blooming plants again from seed. 

[Robert]

The first cherry blossoms up at our farm. This species always blooms and produces fruit (very good quality) extremely early in the season. I bought this tree back in the mid 1970's at Vallombrosa Gardens in Chico, California, from Arthur Wiebe. He called it a "Chinese Easter Cherry" and indeed it generally produces ripe fruit around this time. The species was originally introduced at the U.S.D.A plant introduction garden (long gone now) in Chico in the 1920's. I have never been able to get a positive identification. A long time ago I had someone from the California Rare Fruit Growers check it out. He said it was not even a Prunus. This was complete nonsense.  I know this is a long shot, but any ideas as to the species?