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Spring splendor already colors Mill Creek Park
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The flowers at Mill Creek Park have bloomed a month early this year as a result of the extreme warm weather that has persisted in the area this spring and late winter. There could be a price to pay for the early warmth, however. The flowers could wilt and die faster as a result of the early heat.
By Elise Franco
Youngstown
Spring has sprung about a month ahead of schedule across the Mahoning Valley and especially inside the Mill Creek MetroParks.
A mild winter and unseasonably warm February and March caused spring flowers to begin blooming early at the MetroParks’ Fellows Riverside Gardens, said Keith Kaiser, horticulture director.
“We’re about a month ahead of where we’d normally be,” he said. “For us, this year, the flowers started coming up about the 20th of February.”
Those walking the garden grounds today are sure to see signs of life on many trees and in some flower beds. Tulip leaves are up, and Kaiser said they should peak in mid-April instead of May.
Daffodils, which usually peak in April, are already in full bloom.
“We may not even be able to have our [daffodil] event in April because they’ll likely be gone by then,” he said.
Kaiser said park staff is doing what it can to extend the spring-flower season, which generally lasts through May. But he said an extended period of hot weather or a spell of temperatures below freezing could have undesirable consequences.
“Hot days make the flowers wilt faster,” he said. “Any heavy snow or temperatures below about 30 degrees will affect the plants that are open and in bloom.”
Ellen Speicher, assistant horticulture director, said she’s spent five years unofficially tracking blooming patterns for Jetfire daffodils, a miniature, early-blooming variety.
In 2008, the flowers were in full bloom on about April 14, she said. Each year, the flower blooms about a week earlier than the previous year. This year they were in full bloom by March 19.
Speicher said the exception was 2011 when they bloomed in early April.
“It struck me that in the last five years the bloom date basically spans a month,” she said. “This particular daffodil is supposed to bloom the first week of April, which has been my experience with them over the past 10 to 15 years.”
Speicher said that most of the plants and flowers are adaptable. She said it’s possible that years from now March blooming will become “the norm” if weather patterns continue to change.
“There are some plants that perhaps won’t do well with that change in season,” she said. “But I think that’s probably already happened before. Flowers are already blooming earlier than they did 20 or 30 years ago.” Kaiser said the early spring season isn’t necessarily a negative event and has helped increase foot traffic inside the gardens.
“It’s really helped us financially,” he said. “I just can’t really recall the last time this happened, at least not this extreme.”