Spring update #3 Tree Leaf out begins, First Daffodil of the Season

Willow with new leaves emerging with Elm in flower behind March 21st 2015

Spring is continuing to progress here in Southern Iowa and now it is really starting to become visible to many residents. Lawns have begun to turn green and early trees and shrubs such as Lilac bushes and Willow have begun to develop leaves adding a rare hint of green on a relatively dull landscape. My Northern Gold forsythia has just started to bloom today which adds vivid yellow. I will post photos once it reaches full flower. As for trees, Silver Maples have completed their flowering but Red Maple flower buds are starting to open. Elms are still in full swing but all of these trees in their flowering stage do not appear to be doing much of anything to most people unless you look closely. Ornamental trees such as Crabapples, Magnolias, Redbuds and Ornamental pear all have buds swelling and breaking but not much easily visual is going on. I noticed my Magnolia has shed the first layer of its buds and flower petals usually become visible next, in the weeks to come they will become spectacular.

 

Tete a Tete Daffodil March 20th 2015

In spring bulbs We have left Crocus season and have entered the Daffodil season as the first Daffodil opened on the first day of spring! ( March 20th ) Daffodils are my favorite flower and I especially like this Tete a Tete variety which is a miniature yellow Daffodil. They tend to be earlier then standard Daffodils but even they are not far behind and will be blooming in a few days.

Siberian Squill March 21st 2015

Siberian Squill bloomed this week as well. These are another "minor"  flowering spring bulb. Only 3" tall but their striking blue flowers look fantastic next to the Yellow Daffodils!

Spring bulbs garden March 21st 2015

Here is a look at how the garden as a whole looks this week. As can be seen miniature Daffodils have begun to flower. Standard daffodils are getting very close to blooming and now just barely see the flower buds on the tulips which means they will not be far behind either. The next 2-3 weeks will be very beautiful week to be in Southern Iowa as some of the most beautiful flowering trees and plants will start to fill our everyday landscapes! Please take a little time to go outside enjoy this wonderful time of year.

2/1/15 Central Iowa Snowstorm Report

Snowfall in Cumming, IA February 1st

Our weekend snowstorm has ended here in central and southern Iowa leaving behind a think blanket of snow ranging from 12 to as high as 14 inches. The concentrated totals between 12 and 14 inches seems to be confined to around from Madrid and the north side of the Des Moines metro eastward through parts of Marshall and Jasper counties.  Here in Cumming I got a hefty one foot of snow. This came on the heels of a very mild end January, and a relatively quiet snowfall season because this snow by far surpasses anything we've had around here so far. Everyone remembers the 50s we had last week week, the ground was thawed and spring bulbs were starting to peek out, So much for an early spring in January! It's this mild airmass that actually helped feed even more moisture into the storm causing the high amounts. The snowfall is so thick I would not be surprised if the ground remained thawed underneath until the snow melts.

Snow covering spruce trees February 1st 2015

Our storm started on the west coast before moving into the middle of the country. Ahead of it continued our mild air mass, in fact the storm started as rain that was falling much of Saturday. I received 0.21" of rain before it started to change over to snow. Colder air was pulled in from the north and temperatures fell to about 33-34.F where is staid for the duration of the storm. Rain turned to heavy snow in this part of Iowa Saturday right around dusk and it lasted all night long and even into much of Sunday. Travel was inhibited and most people staid home, the convenient Sunday timing kept travel hazards to a minimum. Sunday afternoon winters cold air was finally pulled in and temperatures fell into the teens where they will stay for at least one day.

Heavy wet snow causing branches to be weighted down

The snow in nature was a classic concrete style snow. Very wet and heavy. A lack of wind and stickiness of the snow caused it to stick to tree branches and causing some breakage leading to power outages. At one point there were a couple thousand without power around the Des Moines metropolitan area. I found several large tree limbs that had broken off around my neighborhood, thankfully it was minimum around here and the power staid on, which was not the case in all areas. Looks like winter has finally really hit us here in Iowa. When can we look foreword to some decent melting? Not until next weekend!