The forcast for the morning is a balmy 25 degrees F ! My Japanese Maple is in a Southern exposure and has begun putting on tender new leaves. The only option to protect this new vegetation is to cover it which creates an insulation barrier. It’s not exactly a good fashion statement, but I’m giving my fancy little tree the best chance to avoid damage and possible a costly setback this season.
This is what I saw this morning as I left my home. Two forces coexisting in a beautiful battle, Winter desiring to continue on and on the other side Spring trying to usher in new beginnings. I’m more than ready to leave the cold behind, the Winter snow has worn out its welcome. Beautiful or not I’m ready for Spring.
I was working on a property in Terrace Park, Ohio today and made this wonderful discovery.
What a beautiful yellow flower with an interesting leaf structure, which I found a discription of “Jesters collar”, which I must agree is accurate.
I was not familiar with this flower, but was able to identify it as Winter Aconite or Eranthis hyemalis. This beautiful woodland flower is native to Europe growing in rich organic soils, which are moist but, well drained. Winter Aconite is known to bloom before the crocus and goes dormant by late Spring.
Terrace Park is at a lower elevation of Cincinnati with a small river running along its border. Notice that these blooms are not open yet, but wait, it gets better.
One of the next properties I went to was in Indian Hill, Ohio. To my delight, there were more Winter Aconite, and these were open! 
Indian Hill, as the name indicates is at a higher elevation and borders Terrace Park. The distance between the two properties is no more than two miles, but notice the huge difference between the blooms. This is a great example of how elevations and exposures make the difference.
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I was on a property in Wyoming, Ohio this week and noticed a spectacular Early Spring sight, the Lenten Rose (Hellebore) in bloom.
This is probably my most favorite of the Late Winter and Early Spring flowers, which blooms as early as February.
There is a property in Amberly Village, Ohio that I have found the Hellebore still blooming in August.
The latin name for this Early bloomer is Helleborus Orientalis and is known to be hardy from USDA zone 4 to 9.
I hope these pictures have inspired you to get outside and plant something beautiful. The Lenten Rose does well in partial shade to full Shade. They enjoy rich organic soils that are well drained. Another consideration is to plant the Lenten Rose in a protected area that shields it from Winter winds.
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We have been blessed with some nice weather this afternoon so my wife and I decided to get out in the yard for a while and clean up some of the flower beds around the house and down by the street. I must say that it feels really good to feel the warmth of the sun once again, it’s kind of like an old friend you haven’t seen for a while. Getting down on my knees and working in the flower beds is like an old familiar place that I was happy to reconnect with. Here in Northern Kentucky we are considered a USDA Zone 6, and are seeing Early Spring flowers emerging from the ground as the soil begins to warm. Many of us are starting to get that Spring itch, especially after a more active than normal Winter. That got me to thinking about what I was doing, and what was best for the plants and having a really nice Spring show this year. So I’d like to leave you with a few thoughts before you begin your Spring clean up jobs.
First, regardless of how much you would hate to have a relapse into freezing weather. We must realize that it is possible to get some really cold temperatures until about Mothers Day here in the Greater Cincinnati area, you can check with your local extension office to find out your average last day for frost if you don’t know what it is. With this thought in mind it’s important to know that the layers of debris from last seasons leaves and stems act as a layer of insulation for the very tender and freeze sensitive new leaves you may see emerging from the ground. So regardless of how bad your Spring itch is, sometimes it’s better to wait for a while before scratching it. The results of completely exposing these sensitive shoots too early could be a total loss of flowers for this year. Sometimes patience is the best practice to gain the reward of Spring flowers.
Something else that is useful to know about is, that during this time of the year there are fluctuations in temperature, sometimes very drastic changes. One of the factors is a warmer Spring sun exposure than during the Winter. Surfaces such as brick exteriors of a home, stone garden walls, and stone landscape features can capture warmth and encourage plants to begin producing new tender vegetation sooner than if the plant were in an exposed space where it wouldn’t receive the conditions to promote premature new growth prior to the passing of freezing weather. Since this vegetation is very sensitive to freeze damage it’s important to leave any debris in place and possibly use mulch to insulate it from the possibilities of drastic temperature swings. This is especially important for plants such as Japanese Maples planted in a Southern or Western exposure. Remember to remove excess mulch from around the trunk and off of the root flare of any tree once freeze danger has passed.
If you determine that it’s safe to begin cleaning up the planted spaces then be sure to be gentle while raking and pulling on debris in the beds. More than likely your going to discover new growth directly below last years crumbled up leaves, and once again they are tender and easily broken off by rough handling of a rake tine or overly aggressive hands. Easy does it in the garden, enjoy your time working with the plants. This is also a time that applying a weed control granular would be a good idea. Most of the ones I’m familiar with offer ninety to one hundred twenty days of control of preventing weed germination. Keep in mind, most weed controllers are non selective. This means if you enjoy starting you flowers in your beds from seed, do not apply a weed controller, they stop all seed germination not just weeds. Another thing that would be good to do now is apply an organic compost across your beds, this allows the Spring rains to work the compost into the soils and it will be below any mulch you apply later in the Spring.
I hope you have found this useful as you prepare for a new season in the garden. If you did please help others see this information too by sharing it with them on your favorite social media by clicking the button provided below this article. Thank you for taking the time to allow me to share with you.
~ Michael
White Horticulture 