Winter 2014 The Snow Machine Must Be Set On Overdrive

Wow!!
What a long cold Winter it's been. It's March 3rd and here in the northeast, we just had another major snowstorm come through the region. This one skirted us to our south just a bit so we didn't get it with both barrels but, we got enough to turn everything white again. This winter has been 180 degrees different from last year where we only had approximately 1 foot of snow all season. This one we are on the edge of moving 2014 into the third snowiest winter on record. I think this blog makes it evident that I like snow, but being someone with a horticultural background and large interest in specifically evergreens, I also understand the need for clear season breaks from one to another. All plant life needs the change of the seasons to properly maintain their internal life-cycles. Evergreens are a great example, they put forth new growth in the spring only. When the new branch shoots emerge they are tender like the wings of a newly hatched butterfly and as they progress they harden off and look more like their older counterparts behind them. If winter hangs on too long it can throw their internal clock out of balance so that the new shoots appear later than usual. Evergreens depend on those cooler spring months to get off to a good growing period. Once Spring is over evergreens don't really add too much new growth. I don't know how much more snow mother nature has planned to send our way, but the way this Winter has been going I would not be surprised if we get some more before it's over.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evergreen Care: "The Firs An Introduction"

Image
These are my favorites out of all the conifers. One key feature of Firs is their needles, They are an Emerald Green on the top side of their needles and a silvery blue on the bottom. This presents in a duel colored tree and the color changes if the wind blows. The needles on a Fir are not positioned in a 360 degree circle around the branches. Rather they are concentrated at 180 degrees to the branch. This gives the branches a fuller almost fuzzy appearance. It's no surprise that the firs are the most popular choice for Christmas trees each year. The most commonly used are the Balsam and Frasier Firs. These two also provide the best aroma inside the house that we all know and love. If you want to do something special one Christmas, consider getting a live tree instead of a cut tree and plant it outside in your yard after the holiday. But, enough about that, I'll do a post that goes into more detail closer to the holiday.  There are quite a few different specimen choices when i...
Read more

Off Topic, But Necessary

Image
Today I had the privilege of putting out flags on the grave sites of our veterans to prepare for the memorial holiday. It was part of my sons Tiger Cub Scouts Project. Every year they get together with our local V.F.W. and help them. It was a great chance for me and my son to do something together. He had no trouble understanding why we were there and how important they were. We were there for about 3 hours. There were plenty of volunteers. In all total 1500 flags were placed. When we were done we looked across the cemetery and the first word that came to mind was...sobering. This was the local cemetery in my home town of Bensalem. There was a sea of flags. Add up all the cemetery s of our country and the picture would be staggering. I told my son that this is what it took for our family to be able to live the life that we live. This Memorial Day will be particularly important for us as our nephew has just deployed with the Marines to Afghanistan, this is his first o...
Read more

Evergreen Care: "Do's And Don'ts"

Image
 This post will center mainly on the Conifers such as Spruces and Firs. First I would like to give you some explanation for the shape of the aforementioned types. Nature gave them their conical shape for a reason. This shape sheds snow very well and can still hold a large amount of snow on its branches. The tree's branches are distributed in such a manner that each one can help support the one above it. So when it snows there is a cascading effect. The snow weighs down an upper branch that rests and is supported by the one below it and this continues until the bottom branch is reached and it rests on the ground. This information is key and its significance will be more evident in the list of Do's and Don'ts. See the accompanying photos of my own Blue Spruce, pictured above. Conifers unlike deciduous trees do not hibernate in winter. They will slow down their metabolism to react to reduced sunlight but they maintain their Chlorophyll levels year round. That is why it is cr...
Read more