Spring has come to Minnesota, kind of. Let's face it folks, this past winter has been odd in most parts of the country. Snow where it doesn't snow as a rule, torrential rains for days at a time, tornadoes prior to tornado season, and heat before it's time. I spoke with a man who lives in Illinois around Valentine's day, and he mentioned the nightcrawlers were all over his driveway the night before when he got home after work. No rain to drive them out of the ground, just an early thaw to fool them into thinking Spring had gotten here.
When I say kind of, we have had frost in the last two weeks and as of last Friday there was a warning that we might have freezing precipitation of some kind this past Monday. We didn't have freezing precipitation, but the weather has been what many would call more normal in temperature than it was in the last two months.
Don't get me wrong, it has still been strange. The asparagus plants began emerging in early March instead of May, the rhubarb came up early, tulips, crocuses, hyacinths, and daffodils were too. Many of the fruit and ornamental trees were budding early and their owners were worried about a hard frost or freeze. It could still happen. When I lived in Illinois, we had snow and freezing temperatures on Memorial Day one year. It was common knowledge when I was growing up (also in Illinois) that if you were a serious gardener you should wait until after Memorial Day to think about planting anything.
Not to mention the effect this odd weather has had on our migrating birds. The killdeer, meadowlarks, song sparrows, herons (and in some places hummingbirds) have come home to roost. The flowers that the hummingbirds collect nectar from to sustain themselves haven't even bloomed yet.
White and yellow cabbage butterflies and a small variety of orange/black butterfly (whose name I don't know) have come home or hatched early. At the rate creatures are returning, I almost expect to see Monarch butterflies soon, though their preferred food of choice milkweed hasn't emerged yet from the ground.
Some of the wildflowers that we enjoy in late spring have already bloomed. Many other species of flora and fauna are showing up every day. While Mother Nature has temporarily been fooled and Spring has come early to Minnesota, I hope we don't live to regret it. For my part, I will continue to love the flowers, plants birds and bees and other creatures that grace my yard with their presence.
