Juneuary Bloomin' is Stinkin'

The year 2007 has come in like a March lamb-- looking for and finding spring break. There isn't much to expect from March when it really gets here weeks from now.

The morning weather forecast today included a now rare term- snow shower- that may grace nearby mountains tomorrow evening. We'll see if the season yet turns seasonal.

Seems that no matter where you find your information here in Washington DC; the papers, on the radio and TV, in blog postings, and in your own backyard, the pervasive mild weather is causing people to ponder global warming.

Whether the past two months of warmth is a manifestation of progressive planetary heating or not (I see too much out of doors not to believe it), our normal, cold, late fall settling into winter with those subfreezing mornings and blustery PM northwest winds hitting you in the face on the way out of the office has not yet arrived.

El Nino is part of the explanation for record highs these past weeks throughout the northeast and northcentral states but even meteorologists are beginning to include "global warming" in their explanations of the strange warmth that has gripped the landscape.

For every flower that prematurely comes into bloom now, there is one less flower and likely a reduced number of seeds and fruit that will feed wildlife or people in spring and summer. When astronomical spring in the northern hemisphere arrives just past midnight on March 21, 2007, it is likely that we'll see fewer flowers than "normal" and although we'll likely be disappointed and concerned, bees and butterflies have a lot more at stake. They'll likely be facing a food shortage!

Most plant-focused people talk about the crocuses, daffodils and Yoshino cherries in bloom in the nation's capital. I'm thinking skunk cabbage, the first of the native spring flowers to bloom in our area. Normally, bloom is the last week of January or first few weeks in February. That has changing noticeably over the past thirty years however.

Last week (January 4) when a colleague asked if I had a digital image of this swamp plant--a Philodendron relative-- in bloom, I told her no. And then on a hunch, I walked a few hundred yards from the office to our local red maple seep and found over a dozen blooming in our sixty degree temperatures. Not only were the flowers open, but the small flies they rely upon for pollination were visiting their flowers. Read more about skunk cabbage and phenology.

The flowers of skunk cabbage as well as the spathe, that awesome purple and green shield over the flower, AND the plant's leaves do smell somewhat unpleasant if you crush them. So be careful when you go out to look for this first bloomer.

Spring in January is what really stinks!