The 100th flowering plant Index - 2010-2013

TPP's 1st day of flowering log provides some interesting data. On May 5th, the 100th different plant in our gardens flowered. This is considerably later than a typical year, if such a thing exists.  In 2010 the 100th flowering event was reached on April 21st, and in 2011 it came on April 27th.  So 2013 is 8 to 16 days behind.  However last year was just much abnormal. The 100th flowering event took place on March 25th!  It was ridiculous!  The 100th flowering event sort of evens things out by taking into account a large number of plants and their reactions to weather events.  In general this date is reached in late April, but obviously a great deal of variation occurs with spring weather events.  Now if something like the melting of the Arctic ice cap alters the pattern of the jet stream, then things may get earlier or later, depending.  Too often we tend to say things, like, it's a late spring, or an early spring, but only when you have some data do you have some real information and the ability to compare.  Only wish our flowering log contained several more years of data.

Garden Flowering Log - 2011

Data collection on the 2011 flowering of perennials in the Phactors garden is complete. There were losses and additions, a few things died or failed to flower, some plants flowered for the first time, so the total is still somewhat in question and will require some more analysis as it appears a couple of flowering plants were missed in 2010. However the most interesting finding so far is that the average flowering date for 2011 was 9 days later than for 2010. Your first reaction is why were they so late? But perhaps you should ask why was 2010 so early? Two years of data does not generate a trend. 2011 did have a cold wet spring, but April flowering only differed from 2010 by an insignificant 0.75 days. While August and September were hot and dry, June and July were reasonably nice, but the late summer flowering dates averaged 11 and 12 days later than the year before. Clearly more data is needed. It gives you something to look forward to that first data point of spring!