Summer flowers are blooming again in Kamloops and the Okanagan
If this seems to be an unusually warm winter so far, local green thumbs agree.
Gardeners in Kamloops and across the Okanagan are noticing their flowers are blooming in December, from roses to snapdragons, forsythia, lavender and peonies.
Kelowna resident Aislyn Graves picked a bouquet of snapdragons from her garden this morning, Dec. 27. The longtime gardener works at Bylands Garden Centre and said customers coming in are talking about the rare phenomenon this holiday season.
“I’ve heard garlic is coming up already, a lot of plants are blooming,” she said. “I think some plants like trees and shrubs haven’t really stopped and the perennial flowers and grasses are still alive, it’s a really warm year.”
She said roughly every five years the Okanagan has a warm December, but having flowers blooming around Christmastime “is a first.” In the North Thompson, flowers typically stop blooming at the end of October and go dormant for the winter.
While the bright burst of colour are pretty, Graves is worried the plants are going to bud and grow and then a cold snap will come through and kill them off.
A gardener in Coldstream, Andrea Lindsay, is also concerned. Her snapdragons are in bloom and many of her other plants are still green and growing.
“I’m happy to see stuff growing, I’m always happy to see stuff growing,” she said. “My concern is my pussywillow shrub is budding right now and if we get a cold snap in January it will kill it and come spring it might not bud again, which will affect the bees. I’m also a bit concerned about the lack of snow and what that means for the next fire season and watering next year.”
“It’s definitely not normal for plants to be blooming at the end of December,” Graves said.
It is an unseasonably warm winter so far with average temperatures roughly 6 degrees warmer than the average in Kamloops, according to Environment Canada. Daytime highs through the coming week are forecast to be in the 1 C to 2 C range for the North and Central Okanagan.
Do you have flowers blooming in your garden? Send photos to news@infonews.ca.
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