Spring Starts Early in Houston
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Posted by Robert Dailey Feb 17, 2009 |
Here in the Houston area, we’ve basically got two seasons: Summer and Not Summer. Spring is actually a short time between what passes for winter here and real summer.
Actually, the temperature has not been too bad this year. Hurricane Ike devastated most of the coast, but brought with it very mild weather. So what could have been an extended summer for 2008 was, in fact, a relatively short one.
This past winter was relatively mild, and now, spring rains are arriving with increasing frequency.
But spring is definitely here. I went out to prune a fig tree in the community garden and it’s already budding out. Someone pointed out to me today that the weeds are already getting out of hand in the native plant garden that I also manage with the help of some really dedicated master gardeners.
I’ve scheduled a workday the first week of March for our master gardeners to descend upon the gardens, but I’m afraid their work is going to be cut out for them.
The spirea has taken off too, and some of it is beginning to look like trees. Several of them are taller than the buildings they are supposed to be “accenting.”
I’m afraid that we’re going to have a lot of pruned branches for the chipper-shredder.
But once we get the garden spruced up and mulched with pine straw, it’s gonna be a knockout this year. I can’t wait.