Crocuses (Photo provided; photo credit: The Morton Arboretum)
Despite the drought conditions in much of Illinois, including abnormally low winter snowfall in Chicago, scientists from The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, say weather permitting, trees and plants in the Chicagoland region are generally still on track to experience peak spring blooms around a normal time this year of mid-April to May. “The current dry conditions don’t necessarily spell doom for this year’s blooms,” said Arboretum Forest Ecology Research Scientist Christy Rollinson, Ph.D. “Because plants are dormant and aren’t expected to emerge en masse for several more weeks, any rain or snow we do get in the coming weeks will have a big impact on water in the soil available to plants. Because plants aren’t active yet, steady rains on thawed soil will soak in and recharge soil moisture quickly. If that happens, trees and plants will have ample water available for when they start actively growing.”
The arboretum says overall, Chicagoland has had fewer warm spells this winter compared to last year, when spring blooms and leaf out occurred unseasonably early for some trees and plants. “Last year, we had a very warm winter that caused some plants like many maple trees to bloom and leaf out early, but we then had a cool early spring, causing other species like many of our oak trees to be normal,” she said. “Because we didn’t have many extreme warm spells this winter, we aren’t currently expecting a wave of very early leaf out, but it’s too early to tell what will happen for plants that typically emerge in late April through May.”
Daffodils (Photo provided; photo credit: The Morton Arboretum)
Spring bloom timing is mainly influenced by temperature, a news release from The Morton Arboretum said, but some early-blooming and hardier plants that can withstand a higher risk of being exposed to a deep freeze, like common witch-hazel shrubs and the skunk cabbage plant, rely on their internal clocks instead and have consistent blooming times each year.
