Capricious April

 

April 8, 2021

The forsythia bush in our garden came into full bloom today. I cannot remember it flowering this early in the spring.* We have had a few warm days between cold spells the past couple of weeks, but today the temperature rose above 20 C by noon. Mom loved forsythias and hoped that they would be blooming for our wedding on April 26, 1975. But it was a cold April and they were not out yet that year. In our region, early blooming of  fruit trees can spell disaster for farmers if a frost comes when the flowers are still out. Much as I enjoyed being outdoors today, this is too early in the month for this kind of display. 

The saying, "April showers bring May flowers" is often inaccurate. The ground is very dry and while there has been some rain, it is well below average. Wasps have been buzzing about, and as they usually build a nest in one of the mature trees, we are trying to discourage them this year with a decoy nest. Time will tell if the false nest is effective in staking our territory in the garden. Pollinators are important but I can do without wasps. 

We went for a walk along the Grand River yesterday. The river is at summer levels and is flowing slowly in this section. Coltsfoot was blooming along the trail, an introduced plant from Europe that has taken hold in North America. The usual April birds, other than Red-winged Blackbirds were scarce which is surprising, as this is usually a good location to see a variety of water birds.

May 11, 2020

This photo was taken last year on May 11, 2020 in the same yard. April was much cooler and the forsythia came into bloom slowly at the end of the month. We seldom have snow that stays on the ground this late in the spring. Climate change is occurring but it is hard to judge its speed by looking at the month of April which can be wintery, summery and everything inbetween.

*Looking back on my older blogs posts, I saw that 2012 had an exceptionally early spring and our forsythia bloomed on March 21! The warm spring that year saw 70% of the apple and stone fruit crop in Ontario lost to frost damage that occurred when the blossoms which came out early were frozen. We can expect night time frosts until the middle of May.