By Kim
Bagby, EMG, VMN
So much for
getting all of last season’s leaves off the trees! Ready or not, spring’s here.
What a wild ride we’ve had with the weather these last few weeks. What seemed
like spring a few days ago now looks a lot more like false spring, or fool’s spring.
Is there actually a definition for that? Is this “official”, or just us
complaining about yo-yoing weather?
It’s
probably all the above, and if you want an internet search rabbit hole to fall
into, look for phenology and climate change. Long story short, phenology is the
study of how the climate influences the natural world, and climate change is,
well, climate change. Per the Old Farmer’s Almanac our projected last freeze
date in the South Boston area is the 17th of April. We’ll see.
The
definition of false spring is a late winter or early spring warming period
followed by a return of freezing conditions. Sound familiar? Of course it does.
We do this every year, and reverse the process in the fall. It’s looking to be
a trend that those last frosts come earlier, and the first frosts later.
The seasonal
transition from winter into spring is driven by the amount of winter chilling
we’ve had, the spring warmth triggering growth, and increasing day length.
Phenology hasn’t been well-studied in the past but is coming more into focus as
scientists try to zero in on the actual impact of climate change. It’s a
fascinating subject, and it’s outside my wheelhouse—though I can see it through
the windows.
Spring is
always a delight for me (well, mostly. Not a fan of mud). I spent years in more
arid climates than ours here. No redbuds or dogwoods; scant forsythia and
spirea. And no violets!
The lovely Viola
sororia—the common blue violet, or dooryard violet, or meadow violet—this
little flower goes by many names. It’s native to eastern and central North
America. It’s a herbaceous perennial that self-seeds and also spreads by means
of rhizomes, which are underground horizontal stems that travel out from the
plant to start new plants. Irises and lilies grow the same way.
Violets like
moist, rich soil and dappled sunlight, which describes most of our lawns! It
also tolerates wet or clay soil and will even tolerate juglone, the natural
chemical black walnuts put out to discourage other plants from growing in its
root zone. They seem to grow about everywhere!
The nectar
from the flowers attracts butterflies and bees, especially fritillary
butterflies and solitary mining bees. Birds and small mammals eat the seeds.
Rabbits love violets. Deer, not so much. Not everyone likes them in their lawn,
either, but these sturdy, early-spring flowering plants support pollinators
that don’t always have a lot of flowers to choose from yet.
So even
though the dead beech leaves are still rattling on the trees, awaiting the next
generation, and the National Weather Service is predicting some really cold
overnight temperatures, I’ll take the appearance of violets in my grass as a
definite sign of spring’s arrival. One of the ephemeral delights of the season
alongside the dogwoods and redbuds. Enjoy them—they’ll be here all summer and
well into the fall, but this is their best time of year.
Many thanks
to our Virginia Cooperative Extension Southside Master Gardeners and Virginia
Master Naturalist Southern Piedmont Chapter, and to all the people who volunteer
for our communities. Many, many more thanks to our late mentor and friend, Bill
McCaleb. And congrats to our new Master Gardener Interns!
The Virginia
Cooperative Extension Halifax Office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday-Friday. If you have gardening questions, you can reach an extension
master gardener or extension staff member by sending an email to ask@ssmga.org
or by calling the Halifax Extension Master Gardener Help Desk at 434-830-3383.
Be sure to give us your first and last name, telephone number and the nature of
the call. The help desk phone is routinely checked Monday-Friday. Someone will
get back to you, although it may be from a different telephone number.
