Did you notice some perennials sprouting in the soggy, warm start to winter?
You’re far from alone. There have been reports of unusual garden growth throughout our area — from hostas pushing through the ground to lilac trees budding.
Experts say that, depending on the type of plant and its region of origin, this can happen naturally, and we may just be paying closer attention due to the unseasonal weather. But for many other species, growth at this time of the year is a concern because it could stress them out when the temperatures ultimately plummet.
Then there’s the underlying condition showing its symptoms here: climate change.
“It’s not a blip; it’s a serious change in the world environment,” Simcoe County Master Gardeners member Cynthia Lauer said. “We know climate change is here with us. We’re seeing it now. It’s going to continue. We’re seeing premature bud break on trees and shrubs; we’re seeing weird things that are out of sync with their natural rhythm. Plants need to go through a winter to grow properly and thrive.”
Frank Ferragine, the Bradford-raised horticulture expert who appears daily on Citytv’s Breakfast Television and often goes by his Frankie Flowers moniker, says he has heard reports of roses blooming into December in Niagara Region, and garlic and daffodils sprouting elsewhere in Ontario.
His mother was harvesting parsley and other herbs from her garden for Christmas meals.
Plants need a cold winter, too, because the weather acts as a natural cleanser for disease, bacteria and insect populations. Snow, of which there has been little consistent accumulation so far, also acts as an insulator.
“Mother Nature would love to see a gradual cool-off,” Ferragine said. “You get into cold temperatures, which is a dormancy period, a gradual warm-up and go off into summer. What we’ve been seeing, because of climate change, is these dramatic swings. We go from warm temperatures — the last week of December, we had significant rain, warm conditions and the plants are like, ‘Hey, it’s spring,’ and the buds start to swell — then, boom, we go down to a windchill of -13 (C) and no snow.”
Inconsistent frost-thaw cycles may also push new garden additions that have yet to strongly root to pop out of the ground; Ferragine suggests keeping a few bags of soil handy and covering the plant’s base when that happens.
Plants can survive these types of incidents, in isolation, especially if the spring is wet.
“If we have a dry spring, it means the plants will be stressed in the winter, stressed in the spring, and then we get the hot, dry summer months,” he said. “That’s when they’ll die. It’s not a good thing.”
But it’s the long-term implications — the inconsistent spring weather, the lengthened periods without frost in the fall, the changes to food production that increase grocery prices, the introduction and thriving of new plants from historically warmer climates into the local ecosystem, and the adaptation of the winter tourism sector — that need to be monitored.
“What can you do? Nothing,” Ferragine said. “The weather’s the weather. Take everything with a little grain of salt. But things are changing. Overall, the (current) damage you’ll see is not significant. It may actually open up our suitcase of different plant material that wouldn’t survive because the winters were too cold. Many of our plants are able to withstand this. But will it create the best, most exceptional gardening season? No. Will it reduce the amount of fruit production yields? Yes.”
Lauer agrees and suggests residents try to adapt and do their small part for the environment by planting native, pollinator-friendly species around their homes.
“The weather’s going to be erratic,” she said. “It doesn’t mean every year’s going to look exactly like this. This interferes with (a plant’s) natural and normal growth process ... that’s evolved over thousands of years. It weakens (their) immune system. It disrupts their normal resilience. When trees are under stress, it makes them more susceptible to diseases. This picture is not an optimistic one. The effects are cumulative.”
Neighbourhoods that prioritize native plants create a zone for pollinators, like bees, that can reap long-term environmental benefits, Lauer said.
"Everything is connected," she said. "What you want to build up is a contiguous connection. There's an interdependence between the soil, the plants, the insects and the birds. Of all the plants, the native species are going to do the best in the environment they're finding themselves in now."
“Get used to it,” she said. “What’s weird is actually going to be more normal.”
