Buddy's Warm Under the Collar, and Confused

Early budding during this too-warm Winter.

I took my not-quite-daily constitutional around the park late this afternoon and halted in my tracks to see ... forsythia blooms - in December!!! Way, way too early. They haven't even had a proper cold rest to store up enough energy; maybe that's why the flowers are a pale yellow and not the gold that they usually are in Spring. Global warming is so very real.

All the more reason to bring your once-live tree, if you got one, to be chipped for Mulchfest (where it can eventually help other trees and plants in the city) rather than relegate it to a landfill. Do it, folks! And remember to strip it of ornaments, lights, tinsel.

It was still so warm out, and, happily, the days are lengthening ever so gradually enough that when I got home I was able to do some composting and check on the Jardin. And lo and behold, my hydrangea is budding, too - it thinks it's Spring already. Which means as soon as we hit a freeze, those buds will die, and there will be yet another year without hydrangeas. And this particular hydrangea planter is on a part of the terrace that's in full shade. I don't know how to better mimick Winter.

I am not sure what's going on with the tricolor peach (that I thought had died two Winters ago, but seems to have sprouted suckers this past year), but some of the branches of the suckers seem decidedly green. I can't recall whether they haven't gone dormant and brown yet, or if they did and are now showing signs of coming back.

I wonder whether in time we'll all need to move toward plant varieties meant for much warmer climates.

Our poor, confused plants and planet. We need to do much better, much faster, with more means, greater creativity.