Spring Weather 2011

[Maggi Young]

Well, I'm not counting any chickens before they are hatched because I know well enough that we can have frost and snow even on the 12th June in Aberdeen
(though thankfully that does not happen very often).... but today is really lovely.  
Bright sunshine, temp. got to around 20 degrees C in the sun at lunchtime.... around 17 or 18 degrees now. Quite breezy  but still shirt-sleeve weather.
Actually,  this would qualify as a darn good day in Summer in Aberdeen so for Spring it is quite delightful!

[mark smyth]

we're cloudy but 15 just now.

White has given way to yellow which is very quickly changing to other colours

[chasw]

Nice here at the moment also ,wish I could have said the same at the week end,took Jan to Brugge(Friday) for her Birthday,and it absolutely poured down

[ArnoldT]

Snow flurries here in NY this morning  37 F

[alpines]

Winter officially changed to Spring at 1921 hours in Kentucky last evening. It was 80 degrees (26C) at 5pm and 69 degrees (20C) at 6am this morning....but wait !!!! Thursday it's going to be 47 degrees (8C) going down to 32 degrees (0C) overnight.
More swings than Blackpool Pleasure Beach !!!!
But still.....the trilliums are in leaf, as are the dicentras and epimediums. Hepaticas in flower, erythroniums in bud.......who cares about the weather.....bring on the plants.

[angie]

Maggi it certainly felt good today in Aberdeen, long may it continue.

Sunny Aberdeen seen from the bottom of my road.
Crocus I planted down the road. Bags were reduced to 50p a bag. I bought 5 bags, wish I bought more now.

[Knud]

What wonderful pictures, Angie, and idea of planting along the road. Very nice. We are not that far from sunny Aberdeen, but we haven't had anything near your recent spring days. This last weekend we had 7-8 C and sun, which at least brought some of the crocusses out, and with them a sense of spring. My C. korolkowii hails from last year's Discussion Weekend, the Dutch collection.

Spring certainly has started late here this year, and last week even the blackbirds gave up and started singing at sunset in spite of quite wintery conditions. But importantly, from today we will be getting back all the light we have done without this last half year.

Knud

[angie]

Hi Knud

Isn't it lovely to hear the blackbirds sing. A couple of weeks ago the blackbirds in my garden were singing and it was freezing, I felt so sorry for them.

You live in such a lovely place, some day I hope to see it for myself.

I hope my crocuses bulk up as they are so nice when the sun shines and that's not very often in Aberdeen.
Hope it gets warmer with you soon. We probally will be back to cold wet conditions soon.

Angie

[Knud]

Yes, Angie,  blackbirds singing is almost reason good enough to work in the garden evenings. They keep at it here until early to mid July. A few years ago I was in Edinburgh early December, and it was quite cold. Late one evening I walked through Princess Street Gardens, where there was a winter's fair on, with lots of lights and activity, - and a blackbird singing! I was very surprised, and thought at first it must be "piped" through some loudspeaker, but no, there it was high up in a tree. We have them here during winter, they never sing at that time, but they do enjoy the apples in our old Brambley tree.

This part of Norway is a nice place if you don't mind the climate, and it is worth a visit. Be sure to let us know if you make your way. We are close to the sea (live on an island), nice beaches, beautiful farmland, and fine mountains where the alpine flora is not rich like many places, but interesting. The second picture is taken from the north of the island with a view to the mountains. Many people do mind the climate, though, rarely a real winter, and very rarely a real summer. The plants seem to like it, in particular many of the alpines, I suspect that their growing season is exactly that: not a real winter and not a real summer.

Knud

[angie]

Hi Knud

That's a beautiful view. My friend lived in Norway for seven years and then moved here to Aberdeen. She said she much preferred Norway. She is now in America but still has good friends in Norway. She always said that I should make a point if going for a visit and I would love the scenery. I will email her and ask where she lived.

I feed my blackbirds with apples they seem to love them. I also bought some apple trees so hopefully I will get a crop this year for them.

You will have to post some pictures of your garden in spring. I was at Maggi and Ian Young's the other day and I couldn't believe the colour in their garden, mine is disappointing at this time of year. Another week or so it should start looking better. I never used to be into alpine plants but when I ran out of space I started looking at smaller plants and now I am hooked onto alpines.
Look forward to see some pictures soon.

Angie

[Stephenb]

A powerful storm passed over yesterday with hurricane force winds on the coast causing a lot of flooding and an avalanche that swept away a house and two dead. This morning, many people on the coast are without electricity...
 
Here's a picture from the house yesterday:

[Maggi Young]

Oh dear, Stephen, that's not the sort of Spring weather we hope for,  is it?
Striking photo, though.



Knud, what a view .... I can just picture Barbara planting her tree seedlings to enhance it even further!

[RichardW]

it's days like today when I really love my job 

drops now replaced by drifts of Scilla bithynica

[tonyg]

Sunny Aberdeen seen from the bottom of my road.
Crocus I planted down the road. Bags were reduced to 50p a bag. I bought 5 bags, wish I bought more now.

£2.50 very well spent 

[angie]

Stephen, that's awful. Here we are having some lovely weather for this time of year and you on the other hand have had a terrible storm. So sad to hear that two people are dead.

Toni I like a bargain, just wish I got more only made it half down the roadside.

Angie