The spring of 2023 may go down in local history as “the spring that almost wasn’t.” For those of us who love spring flowering shrubs and look forward to a colorful display every year, this spring’s performance was a bitter disappointment!
What I’m talking about is the significant lack or loss of blooms on many early spring shrubs and small trees. When my golden forsythia, that most dependable harbinger of spring, didn’t bloom, I was heartsick!
As the season progressed, there were more shrubs that suffered the same fate. To name a few in my own garden, the Winterhazel, Pieris, Dogwood and Azaleas either never bloomed or produced so few flowers that I barely noticed them. So, what happened to those long-awaited and coveted spring blooms?
Like many mysteries of nature, there’s no short answer here, but if we look back over the last year we can better understand the causes. Our relatively mild winter with sporadic record-cold temperatures was coupled with low snowfall which offered little protection for our plants, shrubs and trees. Add to this the ongoing drought of 2022 and 2023 and it’s easy to see how the combination of these adverse conditions has profoundly affected our plants, literally nipping many of them in the bud!
Though there is little we can do to protect our gardens from record-cold temperatures, we can help them better cope by keeping them well watered, even into late fall. Products like Wilt-Pruf are useful in preventing desiccation due to water loss, and a winter mulch of compost around young shrubs and trees will also keep them hydrated and help protect them from extreme temperature fluctuations.
There will never be a “perfect” year in terms of growing conditions, and Mother Nature has her own agenda that doesn’t include consulting us! As gardeners, we must learn to accept the bad with the good and focus on those small triumphs that always seem to come along. Who would have thought that 2023 would be a banner spring for the humble Mountain Laurel, but I’ve never seen them more beautiful!
