Something ain't right

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

Here in northern Ohio on November 5th, the crabapple tree in my yard is in bloom.

[flyarm]

1. In NJ my hydrangea are back in bloom as well and flowering!!!! eom

[kestrel91316]

6. See my post #3 below. Not healthy for the bush.

[Common Sense Party]

24. I'm no botanist, but...aren't hydrangea SUPPOSED to do this?

Some of them, at any rate...?

Is this just the second bloom?

HYDRANGEA, ENDLESS SUMMER – Considered the crown jewel among Hydrangeas. Large mop head flowers that bloom in spring (around Mother’s Day) and repeat through fall give this plant great appeal. Very cold hardy. Blooms are pink in alkaline soils and blue in acidic soils. Matures 3’ – 4’ tall. Part Sun to shade.

[kestrel91316]

2. Welcome to the Brave New World.

[Common Sense Party]

4. Yeah, because Indian Summer has never happened before.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

9. Deleted sub-thread

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[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

19. This is the 3rd bloom cycle

here this year. We had dandelions in January this year.
Something ain't right!

[yardwork]

13. We're having a terrible drought in the southeast. This isn't Indian Summer.

This is climate change.

[Common Sense Party]

16. It's definitely a horrible drought. Droughts have happened before

and will happen again, regardless of human activity. I'd say overdevelopment in the South may be a bigger problem than climate change.

Interesting quotation I found from your drought 7 years ago:


But as unusual as the current drought may seem, one expert contends that it is part of a historically more normal climate pattern. Georgia's State Climatologist David Stooksbury, who also is a professor of engineering in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, doesn't see drought as strange or even unusual.

"The state of Georgia now has returned to a more normal climate pattern, with greater year-to-year variability," says Stooksbury. "Drought is part of the overall history of the Southeast. But the history also contains long periods of wetter weather.

"We will have more years that are extremely wet and more years that are extremely dry, which historically is the more common pattern."

[yardwork]

22. We'll see what happens in the future.

[flyarm]

20. ahhh in Nj indian summer is usually over end of Sept..now it is NOV! and my stuff is blooming!

last year my bulbs bloomed in January and again but puny in May!

My French lavender is in bloom again..and my lilly's are blooming again!..pretty.. but they should not be..i have never seen them bloom in Nov!

fly

[kestrel91316]

3. This happens too often, the tree will just die.

[Warpy]

5. Here in central NM, a mile up in altitude,

I haven't turned my heat on.

I did put a blanket on my bed. I just haven't bothered to do anything but vacuum the floor furnace out and light the pilot.

Maybe next week, maybe not.

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. Fall colors may be sparse this year

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071103/LIVING0402/711030311/1004/LIVING

Fall colors may be sparse this year

November 3, 2007

This is the time of year when many people anticipate a stunning array of colorful foliages on the trees in their yards as well as in the vast expanses of forests. There may be some disappointment this year, however.

On a recent trip to Chicago with my daughter, I was in a state of disbelief when I discovered there was no more foliage color there than when I left Shreveport. Only two years ago, my wife accompanied our daughter on a similar trip at the very same time to Chicago and brought back photos of the trees in a multitude of blazing colors.

And I recently heard Vermont, a state known for its beautiful fall foliage, has much less color to offer this year.

Why the difference? Well, it is primarily a climate-related happening.

The climate just prior to the late fall, which features a string of cool, clear days, bright sun and downright chilly nights, strongly favors the striking fall foliage colors that we have come to admire. Since we have had mild temperatures that still are hitting the 70s by day and not too many really cold nights, plus far less moisture than is needed, I would be somewhat surprised if we get very much attractive color in our trees this year. Too often we go from green leaves to brown foliage with little color showing before the leaves turn loose and fall to the ground.

...

[mopinko]

12. it has been very dry here.

it takes some rainfall to make good colors. it has been dry most of the summer.

[rurallib]

10. Iowa here - autumn colors nearly 30 days late.

They used to pick up leaves til Nov.1. Now they start on Nov. 1.
I am predicting no snow here this year.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. New map reflects warming in area

http://www.rrstar.com/homepage/x481175542

New map reflects warming in area

Nov 02, 2007 @ 11:44 PM
By Geri Nikolai
RRSTAR.COM
ROCKFORD -

Karen Harding can’t believe it’s November as she strolls through her northeast garden and sees flowering nasturtiums, roses, delphiniums and impatiens.

“Nothing should be blooming this late,” said Harding, owner of La Paloma, a garden open for many public and private events.

As temperatures become higher in many parts of the nation, gardeners and businesses are enjoying mild fall days that persist into November here this year. In northern Illinois, gardeners agree they still need plants that can handle winter temperatures of 20 below zero or worse, but they also see things changing.

The National Arbor Day Foundation agrees. It has published a new map of hardiness zones, which gardeners use to select plants that will survive their winter. Northern Illinois, which was on the edge of Zone 4-Zone 5 in the old map, is squarely in Zone 5 in the Arbor Day version, indicating warmer weather. Central Illinois, all Zone 5 in the old map, becomes a warmer Zone 6 in the new one.

‘No doubt we are warmer’

The map puts much of the nation in warmer zones. Gardeners here acknowledge that’s happened, but say it hasn’t gotten warm enough to switch to plants historically grown in warmer climes.

“There’s no doubt we are warmer than usual and have been for some time,” said Bill Shoemaker, senior research specialist in food crops at the University of Illinois’ Horticultural Research Center in St. Charles.

Jim Knoll, a landscape architect and teacher at Kishwaukee College in Malta, gives an example.

“This week, I was at a nursery in Kankakee where they harvest bare root plants after the leaves fall off,” he said. “Usually they are done before Thanksgiving. Not this year.”
Marty Mullen, who runs an irrigation and landscaping service, is changing his work schedule.

...

[Kolesar]

14. Our rhododendron is starting to bud flowers

Same climate

[Klukie]

15. I'm in Erie Pa...

I just got a weather alert saying that a lake effect snow watch is in effect for tomorrow afternoon into the evening. I don't think we have even dipped into the thirties overnight yet.

[Systematic Chaos]

17. STILL hitting the low 80s nearly every day in Vegas.

Should only be around 70 now.

Only a consistent 10-15 degrees above normal. Nothing big. :eyes:

[losthills]

18. We had snow in September...

and now it's like Summer again.

[madokie]

21. a couple weeks or so ago our lilac bushes were blooming

nothing like a bouquet of lilacs to warm the heart of ones love

[hatrack]

23. Just got my last watermelon of the year (I think) on Sunday

This was in west-central Missouri, a region not normally noted for balmy November weather suitable for growing watermelons.

Anecdotal, I know, but we still haven't had a real frost, let along a hard freeze. We still have Malabar spinach thriving in the backyard.