Is it springtime? Not yet; flowers are blooming too early due to warm temperatures

We’ve had unseasonably high temperatures here in Wisconsin for much of October and November.  

Because of this, we have plants that are blooming because they’ve convinced themselves that it’s spring. To quote our very own Michael Jesiolowski, Director of Horticulture.  

In the garden we can find Rhododendrons, Irises, and the lone daffodil wondering where the rest of its friends are. A lot of times, this can happen because of stressful conditions throughout its growing season. We were pretty dry toward the end of the summer and through the fall, so that contributes to drought conditions for these plants who are just trying to grow and stay strong!  

In our lone daffodil’s case, it was planted quite close to an evergreen Taxus shrub and that created enough insulation to keep it warm enough to think it was time to bloom! The same can be said about our irises. However, the irises are planted near a building that puts out just enough heat for our little pals to wake up early.  

Pictured: Narcissus Pseudonarcissus (Daffodil Flower)

When early blooming happens, it means that we potentially get less blooms in the spring for certain plants. Specifically, the woody stemmed plants who grow thick stems like rhododendrons. This doesn’t kill them, thankfully. Flowers that are native to Wisconsin or hardy (like our other perennial pals) are resilient, so they’ll survive like nature does. But we won’t see them until the spring after as long as next winter isn’t warm like it has been! 

However, on the other side of this crazy weather, November has been unseasonably cold. Because of this, we have broad leaved evergreen shrubs like the Rhododendrons who are getting hit on every end being too dry, too hot, too cold, everything in the book just like us Wisconsinites, but just like us people, plants adapt to the weather too. When rhododendrons get too cold, they curl their leaves inward to avoid direct sunlight to combat evaporation. This phenomenon is called thermotropism. 

Pictured: Rhododendron

Spring plants blooming in October and November has been happening all over the Midwestern U.S this year according to David Stevens at the UW Longenecker Horticultural Garden, and Markis Hill in Kansas City where they found their Lilacs were having a second blooming cycle, so they got to smell that sweet scent one more time this year. This was due to extra wet conditions during the growing season that caused a bacterial blight known as; pseudomonas syringae. This, coupled with a rather extreme spectrum of weather all summer long and into the fall period when plants are supposed to be going dormant has contributed to all the right conditions for the plants to have some screwy growth patterns.

All photo credits: Marsha Mood Photography  

Sources used:

Stevens, David. “Spring in October? Why Some Lilacs Are Blooming Now.” UW Arboretum, arboretum.wisc.edu/news/arboretum-news/spring-in-october-why-some-lilacs-are-blooming-now/. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024. 

Hill, Markis. “Did You See Your Lilac Blooming in Fall? Here’s Why That’s Not Your Imagination.” The Kansas City Star, 22 Nov. 2024, www.kansascity.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/kc-gardens/article295623484.html.