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| hibiscus flower in champagne |
It wasn't my imagination, the weather stats bear it out, this year was weird. It was the second wettest year in Chicago history (at least since record keeping started in the late 19th Century). But the precipitation seemed to come in several large blasts: the February snowstorm that boasted the most snowfall in one day (13.6''), contributing to the season ranking third for most snowfall, the flooding rains of summer (count 'em, all three), with the heaviest single-day rainfall on record of 6.86" on July 23, gusts up to 90 m.p.h. in June, and the freak severe storm that left us without power for nearly a week in July.
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| there's a redbud under there somewhere |
Then there was the blast furnace of July, with five consecutive days in the 90sF, concluding with 99-degree highs on the 20th and 21st, making this July the third hottest. As a grand finale, we had a warm fall and start to winter. And that's just the weather.
In the garden, more poppy seeds than ever germinated, but many got tracked to other parts of the garden, including one that ended up in the Nanoprairie.
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| Papaver somniferum and Penstemon 'Pike's Peak Purple' July '11 |
Then there was that wacky Colchicum 'Zephyr' that decided to bloom in spring
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| April 16, 2011 |
Well, I'm out of time, so I'll just wish everyone a Happy New Year.
10 comments:
The poppies do seem like a happy accident :-) Let's hope the weather is better for you next year!
Happy New Year Barb! Here's to a little more normal of a weather year!
All the best to you and yours in 2012, MMD! Weird here as well.
At least every day/season is not the same. I have enjoyed your posts this past year. I look forward to your 2012 posts. Happy New Year to you and yours.
All hoping for better weather in 2012. I forgot about your power outage. Happy New Year my friend.~~Dee
It was good to read your summary about Chicago's weather - I had forgotten the milestones you mentioned. Looks like the 2011/2012 Winter will be a record-breaker too -- with barely any measurable snow through the end of December (2011).
It's always a pleasure to stop by and see your view of our area. MMD, you are quite a garden resource! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year. 2011 was quite different, it seems. Hope that 2012 is more "normal", if we even know what normal is any more.
All of this weirdness makes us wonder what 2012 will bring us. It will be fun (?) to see what happens. Happy New Year.
Scott Weber - whatever the weather brings, the garden and I will rally. My only concern now is more outages.
Leslie - and what is normal? Was there ever a
normal?
Frances - I guess we should embrace the weird. (Isn't that Austin's motto?)
Layanee - that's one thing I love about gardening, it's never the same from year to year.
Shyrlene - thanks!
Carol - too right.
Lisa - at least it will be interesting.
Yes what a very weird year. We had planned on putting in a big long perennial bed but the rains blocked us out. I've never seen anything like it. It was hard watching all those destroy the soil structure of their soil for years to come. And they will probably declare declare they have a black thumb. Maybe next year for our garden?
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