Sunday (March 13) I noticed this little Iris reticulata blooming in my front garden. This plant is often the first one to bloom in my Minnesota garden, and 2016 is the earliest ever for it to bloom.
In 2012, a notably warm spring, the plant bloomed on March 15. However, in many years, it is well into April before it blooms. Here are the bloom dates I have noted in the blog in the past:
2009 — April 16
2010 — March 25
2011 — April 4
2012 — March 15
2013 — April 22
2014 — after April 20 (no exact date noted)
2015 — last year I dropped the ball and did not note when the iris bloomed.
As you can see, there has been almost six weeks in variation when the iris blooms. I’m actually hoping we get some cooler weather over the next couple of weeks—spring needs to slow down. One thing I remember from 2012 is that the fruit trees bloomed early. Later there was a freeze, causing devastation for apple growers around the state.
Is anything blooming in your garden yet?
I’m away from my garden and have been for the last month so I don’t know what blooming. Apparently the snow is gone which is good for me since I’m going home soon. I take note of the date for early daffodils. They aren’t the first to bloom but they really mark the start of true spring for us in Quebec. Usually they bloom around mid April but I’m hoping this year they will be earlier.
Mine bloomed over the weekend too!
My crocus are blooming now, too. This is extremely early for Minnesota!
Beautiful little iris. Nothing is blooming for me yet but one of my little primrose is up. I just planted them last year so not sure of their habits yet. I remember the early spring of 2012. Our Apple tree was loaded with beautiful buds. The weather service was predicting a cold snap so we tied cotton sheets around the top of the tree to try to save the buds. Unfortunately when we unwrapped the tree, we lost all of the buds anyway.