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| One of our many blizzards. |
According
to the “Midwest Wine Press”, our wine grape crop (used to make wine) is predicted to be substantially curtailed during 2014 due
to the cold winter. Those predictions may set the price or availability of your favorite local wines.
University
of Illinois Extension predictions for winter wheat and oats jumps around as
they try to guess if the majority of the crops will have a yield. Locally, our winter of snow cover may have
helped that situation.
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| Our country road got a little deep at times. |
Although
there’s been much talk of a ruined orange crop, it appears Florida’s fruit and
vegetable crops have not been damaged as much as originally thought. I mention this as a cost issue for consumers.
Illinois
peaches, apricots, nectarines and sweet cherries may fail to produce this year
because the extreme cold has destroyed the buds. Apple, pear, sour cherry and plum buds should
have survived. Later in the spring other
factors such as extreme temperature changes, how sunny a freezing day is, how
late in the spring these cold temperatures continue, the amount of freezing
wind, and whether you turn around holding your nose with your left hand will
tell the tale of this year’s fruit production.
If
you’ve planted a tree, bush or perennial that is almost cold hardy in our Zone 5 with complete success over
the past few years, those plants may not survive or will be damaged this year. Some plants that may not survive the “Winter
of 2014” are southern magnolia, nandina, pieris, and crape myrtle. If any
“almost” warm climate trees die – you will have at least celebrated a few years
of exceptionally lucky growing.
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| There's an 18 inch raised garden bed under the windmill and a driveway buried in front of the bed. |
The
extreme cold may not kill your plants, especially with the ample snow cover,
but the fluctuations (especially rapid fluctuations) between warmth and cold is
a plant killer.
Freezing
and thawing may cause a plant to “heave” out of the ground exposing the roots
to cold and drying winds. Strawberries
and chrysanthemums are prone to heaving.
Extension
specialists are predicting spring flowering buds on forsythia, dogwood and
lilac will not bloom but the plant won’t die.
Plants
in containers are toast and the pots will probably have cracked.
Holly,
boxwood, some Japanese maples and rhododendrons are especially prone to winter
burn from wind. Unless protected from cold
wind, most will have to be pruned severely to remove the dead. Evergreens continue to lose water through
their leaves even in cold weather. An
extreme windy cold can cause needle drop at best or kill the tree at worst. We may see many white pines loose their
needles and eventually die this year.
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| Snow pillows on the garden bench |
Insects
will have had a tough winter, too. Those
that winter above ground (or their eggs) may be killed. Praying Mantis eggs may be killed unless they
are under snow or protected. The good
news is the deep frost level may have killed grubs including Japanese beetles.
As
the snow melts faster than the ground warms, some plants may sit in water too
long and it will smother the root system or cause root rot. A fast melt could cause most moisture to run
off, taking precious top soil and little will be absorbed to combat
drought. Good news is it will eventually
enter our waterways. The bad news is
large ice jams may do tremendous damage by ripping out vegetation as it moves.
Are
spring and summer going to be a garden bust?
I’m sure there are many perennial plants getting ready to be absolutely
beautiful. Deal with the damage or death
of those that were just too fragile for the Polar Vortex 2013-14 and move on to
something else. It may be of little
comfort as you tally up the cost of damage in your yard or fields but it’s
given the Midwesterner an opportunity to talk weather like crazy and feel slightly
superior for having personally survived.
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