Crocuses – They’re Up!

The crocuses are up! These are late winter, early spring flowers. They are early bloomers and hardy so that they can often be seen peeking out from a coating of snow. They come in purple, yellow, white, orange, and blue with variations of shading and spark an anticipation of the coming season even when the weather is still cold and gloomy.

This year, however, the weather has been atypical in many parts of the U.S. We have been having unusually warm weather here in the northeast. This may cause both a delight and a dilemma. The crocuses have come up earlier than usual and although they are certainly appreciated are the bees ready to do their part to pollinate the plants? And are the other flowers that are blooming before their natural time going to survive? Crocuses and daffodils probably will but others may not.

Plants usually take their growing cues from lots of areas such as the season, the amount of sunlight, how much rainfall, whether or not the ground freezes. Much as we can be confused by unusual weather, so can the plants. It will be interesting to see how this warm winter affects plant growth in general.

Mind you, I am not complaining. I love to see the burst of color from the crocuses and I look forward to the early daffodils and the late hibiscus and everything in between. Though, as the saying goes, they should live and be well. Us, too, so we can enjoy their beauty.

Something about crocuses:

http://www.gardenersnet.com/bulbs/crocus.htm

Factors that affect plant growth:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/plant-growth-factors.html