However, I fear, the drought lives on. While it is not obvious to us now, since moisture demand on surface soils is light do to reduced evapo-transpiration demand of the dormant season, our weather patterns have, in fact, resumed the trend towards drought. November and December precipitation totals are again below normal, repeating the fall and early winter trend of 1998 in 1999.
Our entire early winter in fact appears to be a near repeat of last year. In addition to lack of precipitation, very warm temperatures again predominated in November and December. And the US Weather Service tells us that the La Nina conditions continue in the southern Pacific Ocean- just like last winter. The forecast therefore is for a continued warm and relatively dry winter here in the eastern US. Now all this aberrant weather is good news for your heating expense but could have adverse impacts on your garden.
First, let's look at the water regime in our soils. As our plants in temperate climes go dormant in late October and November the demand on soil moisture is greatly reduced. Most plants simply aren't drawing much moisture from the soil as life functions aren't active. Deciduous plants and herbaceous perennials that die back in fall go almost completely dormant and draw practically no moisture from the soil.
Coniferous and broad-leaf evergreen trees and shrubs go dormant also, but do draw a reduced volume of moisture from the soil to maintain leaf turgor. This will occur as long as root zone is not frozen solid and adequate moisture is available. When the roots can't take up moisture either because it is not present or is unavailable due its being in a solid state, these plants are subject to injury. We often refer to this as wind burn, as it often becomes most apparent after a we have a hard cold wind event that arrives with a cold front in conjunction with one of those frigid Canadian high pressure systems. Brrrrrr. All that cold, low humidity air moving past the leaves sucks the moisture right out of them- quickly. The result is a browning of the foliage. Normally, a fully dormant and healthy plant properly acclimated to our zones can endure this weather with minimal permanent injury. Often, the foliage regreens when dormancy is broken. The native eastern red cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) is a prime example of this phenomenon.
