Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Bogebam Here, your sinuses aren't the only things confused
Speaker 1: by unseasonably warm winters. Hello pollen. It's barely March, and
Speaker 1: already many trees and shrubs are showing buds that shouldn't
Speaker 1: be appearing until much closer to official sandal season. This
Speaker 1: phenomenon leaves many people wondering what that means for their
Speaker 1: plants and trees long term. In for example, Gibbs Gardens,
Speaker 1: a botanical garden in Ballground, Georgia, opened three weeks earlier
Speaker 1: than their normal schedule of March one, as millions of
Speaker 1: their daffodils were already blooming in February. But is that
Speaker 1: a bad thing? But we spoke with Gibbs Gardens horticulturist
Speaker 1: Erica Glasner. She said, I think the plants will be fine,
Speaker 1: But what it will do is if something else is
Speaker 1: in full bud of for example, and azalea, if we
Speaker 1: get a hard freeze, the buds or open blooms will
Speaker 1: be frozen. And that is the real problem, not so
Speaker 1: much that the weather turns warm early, but that it's
Speaker 1: likely to grow cold again and suddenly. We also spoke
Speaker 1: by email with London based horticulture and plants expert Gina Lorraine,
Speaker 1: as she said, the buds of spring flowers and trees
Speaker 1: have hardened periods that are consistent with slow and steady
Speaker 1: weather changes. One abrupt temperature fall can thereafter do more
Speaker 1: harm than a much colder period in winter that has
Speaker 1: occurred in a gradual manner. Also, a lot depends on
Speaker 1: whether the blooms are open or closed when a freeze hits.
Speaker 1: Lorraine explained there's a difference between a plant having closed
Speaker 1: blooms popping up and one that has already opened them.
Speaker 1: The latter will suffer significantly greater losses because the cold
Speaker 1: weather will almost certainly kill the unshielded petals. Since trees, shrubs,
Speaker 1: and plants bloom on their individual clocks, the potential impact
Speaker 1: is wide and varied. Lorraine said the amount of damage
Speaker 1: done by the late frosts has to do with the
Speaker 1: plant's chilling requirement. It's a minimum time period at a
Speaker 1: particular temperature low. If the requirements are met, after the
Speaker 1: time interval has passed, the plant will keep track of
Speaker 1: temperatures and if it notices warming patterns, it will know
Speaker 1: it's time to blossom. This process is called vernalization. It
Speaker 1: basically tells the trees and shrubs when winter is over
Speaker 1: according to the native climate. Furthermore, warm snaps can sometimes
Speaker 1: wreak havoc on insects or other animals. A population of
Speaker 1: Edith's checkerspot butterflies in the Sierra Nevada of California was
Speaker 1: decimated after a series of false springs in The plants
Speaker 1: had stopped blooming by the time the butterflies emerged and
Speaker 1: had dried up when caterpillars were looking for food. There's
Speaker 1: not much you can due to keep nature from taking
Speaker 1: its course in these cases of second freezes. Covering up
Speaker 1: plants to keep them warm during weather fluctuations can be
Speaker 1: a good idea, but it must be done carefully. Use
Speaker 1: frames or steaks to prevent the covering from catching the foliage.
Speaker 1: Cover the ground around the plants as well, and avoid
Speaker 1: removing any covers too soon. Plants are sensitive to sudden
Speaker 1: temperature changes both ways, so you don't want them heating
Speaker 1: up too fast, say in a bright morning sunlight after
Speaker 1: a frost barring prolonged extreme winter weather. Any effect on
Speaker 1: buds and blooms will likely be limited to the season
Speaker 1: in question, with a bounce back in order for the
Speaker 1: next spring. It pays to know which varieties do best
Speaker 1: in your region, and Glassonare said native and naturalized plants
Speaker 1: are better adapted to surviving periods of drought and cold
Speaker 1: spells out of season. Just resist the urge to jump
Speaker 1: the gun on spring planting, no matter how toasty the
Speaker 1: temperatures in your area, Glasser said, just because they have
Speaker 1: stuff in the garden center, you do not want to
Speaker 1: plant until the soil temperatures have warmed up. Check with
Speaker 1: your local cooperative extension, a small business gardening shop, or
Speaker 1: search for advice by zip code to determine when to
Speaker 1: start your planting. Even if flowering trees and shrubs do
Speaker 1: take a hit, you don't have to fret that all
Speaker 1: that greenery will be lost. Lorraine said. Trees and shrubs
Speaker 1: have more than one batch of leaf buds, whereas they
Speaker 1: produce only one set of flower buds. If the flowers
Speaker 1: end up scalded by the unpredictable frost, they won't appear
Speaker 1: again the same year. Green foliage, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: will the plants will simply reach out their reserves. This
Speaker 1: may be so because leaves are essential for the plants survival.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Leahoyt and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other growing topics,
Speaker 1: visit has Stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production
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