Waiting to see what winter brings.

PositionLIVING

Byline: Paul Rogers

COLUMN: ROOTS OF WISDOM

Gardeners wish to know where they stand in this winter of weather challenges. One more week of the month of January remains. How are our gardens faring thus far? The landscapes have experienced a record ice storm, bitter cold temperatures, as well as a parade of snowstorms. An assessment of the current state of our vegetation understandably must be mixed. To form valid judgments, we need to review the basics.

Today, the day length is nine hours and 39 minutes. We have gained 35 minutes of daylight. Interestingly enough, the gain in the afternoon is almost five times that of the morning - with the sun rising only six minutes earlier, but setting 29 minutes later. Day length increases by two to three minutes each day. By the end of the month, the day length increase for January will be 50 minutes to provide us with slow but steady progress. Note that the month of February, though a short month, treats us to an increase of day length of an hour and 12 minutes. The pace quickens as March (the lengthening month) adds almost one and one-half hours of daylight to the total.

Temperatures are expected to be above normal for February, and March is forecast to be below normal. However, when you consider that January was expected to be above normal in temperatures and our experience was of below-zero cold, we would be wise to wait to see what happens day to day.

When we examine the weather phenomena experienced thus far, the impact on plants and gardens has been, at best, mixed. Look at the succession of December and January storms that seemed to be determined to follow one another at three-day intervals. From a gardener's point of view, snow is a plus. Snow insulates the ground retarding frost penetration and preserving root functions. In general, the roots of plants are more cold-tender than the aboveground portions of plants. The protection to plant crowns and roots by a...

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