ST. LOUIS – It’s not abnormal for temperatures to dip to or below 32 F well into April. Although hard freezes get more uncommon toward the end of March, the problem this year is that many of our blooms are ahead of schedule.
These early blooms are a direct result of the mild weather.
“I would say, especially with our cherries and our crabapples, (they’re) probably at least 10 to 14 days ahead of time than they have been usually in the past,” Daria McKelvey, supervisor of the Center for Home Gardening at the Missouri Botanical Garden, said. “This is the cultivar Malus Cardinal and typically, it does bloom around opening day for the Cardinals, but this year it’s quite early.”
Being ahead of schedule also comes with a risk.
“This morning, when I came out here, the flower clusters were drooping a little bit. They perked up a little bit with the warmer, with the day warming up,” McKelvey said.
Damage from sub-freezing temperatures will vary for each plant species and also depend on how far along the blooms are.
“Some of the tender growth, if it’s already popping out, you might see a little browning on some of the edges, whereas things that are fully blooming, like some of our flowering trees, you might see some petal drop,” she said.
You may notice your magnolia trees looking droopy after the cold but that’s also because they’re past their peak. Overall, they had a great year.
“It was a great year for magnolias. It’s always a nail-biter with the weather. This time we had that nice warm up and they came out and bloomed beautifully with minimal damage, so it was just really good,” McKelvey said.
And things that haven’t started to open up yet should be okay.
“Like our redbuds around here are just, they’re not there yet so hopefully that won’t cause too much damage or at all and will be fine. I’d be more concerned if they were all the way opened up, then there might be some issues,” she said.
The first day of spring is Tuesday and starting this Thursday, the garden will be open until 8 p.m. to enjoy the spring blooms.
