Forsythia Blooms 4/13/2015

IMG_9877Forsythia bush is back from the dead.  It did not bloom last year due to dust from road construction that seemed to have killed this 30+ year old bush.  It spent all of last summer regrowing branches and all those newly regrown branches have bloomed and it looks like this bush may be back from the dead.    Forsythias are the first bush to bloom around here in zone 5 Chicago.

IMG_9818Here’s another shot and past articles from 2011, 2012, and 2013.  No pic was taken in 2014 because it didn’t bloom.  In 2012 it bloomed on March 22 and in 2013 it didn’t bloom until April 28.  Forsythia blooms are the official kick off for spring gardening projects.  So here we go…

Note: The banner header of this Forsythia with Magnolias in the background was taken in 2012 when we had a very early Spring.  The Magnolia isn’t blooming now and doesn’t always sync up with the Forsythias.

Forsythia

Chicago is experiencing a very strange weather pattern.  The Forsythia bush bloomed around 3/16.  Last year it didn’t bloom until around 4/28.  Management for the Bucktown Garden (i.e. me) has been unprepared for this development.  The last bunch of years the weather has been so bad that fixing garden stuff like replacing rotted planters couldn’t even begin until May.

The flowers are more plentiful this year than compared to last year.