Warmest winter ever? Maybe.

I have been in the gardening business for over 20 years and I can not remember a winter as warm, and with as little snow as we are having this winter, or should I say this NOT winter.

According to my friends in the weather office at WBZ Boston; we are on pace to have the lowest snow fall EVER for the month of February, are on our 5th consecutive month of above normal temperatures, and if it doesn't snow again, the least amount of snow fall ever for the year.

Quite a difference from winter in New England last year!

Remember February 2010!!

That would be my wife in our Driveway, She's 5, 7"

Thank goodness I didn't need anything in the Shed

So what does this "Snowless Winter" mean to us gardeners in New England?  Will our flower beds, trees and shrubs, roses, fruits be okay?  I spoke with one of New England's largest nursery suppliers today and he said that although most plants will be fine there are some varieties of woody plants that may not bloom as much as they would have if we had had more days below freezing.  He also said some varieties of fruit trees may not produce as much as in year past as they need an extended period of below freezing temperature to produce, although this we won't know until the summer months.

Another effect of the warmth is that many ground animals like squirrels, mice, chipmunks and voles have been more active this winter and as such are out more in search for food.  This means they could be going after your flower bulbs, especially since the ground is not completely frozen, at least around the Greater Boston area.

Today it reached 57 degrees and I was out in my back yard and snapped this photo of some new growth emerging from my Clematis Paniculata.  Really, starting to grow out in February?  Just crazy.

New Growth in February?  Clematis Paniculata

Well, with only one more week of February left what can really happen at this point?  Yes, we can still get snow but once March hits it usually doesn't stick around.  So my finger are crossed that the weather remains calm.  I can't believe I've used my snow blower only once this year.   We've had  a whopping 7.6 inches of total snow fall this winter I've been able to manage it with just a shovel and a broom.

Spring is ahead.  Pemberton Garden Center is beginning to fill up with all it's gardening supplies.  A customer asked me today, "When are the Pansies coming".. Funny...

It will be here soon and I look forward to the time my customers come back into the garden center with their tales of how their garden faired over the winter.  Some years it's a lot of sad stories, some years great successes of survival.  Although I am not sure what I'll hear in about 6 weeks it won't surprise me if someone said their impatiens survived a this New England winter that wasn't.