Re: [gardeners] Lethbridge and alliums
Brenda Pink (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Fri, 01 May 1998 22:05:21 -0600
Thanks everybody for the quick replies. It has indeed been a warmer than
usual spring Kay. In fact, I came home from work today and the poor
little flower buds (alliums) were drooping very badly. Guess they're not
used to it being this warm when they're in bloom!
Penny, yes, we are roughly 200 km south and slightly east of Calgary.
But alas, I don't recall Genie. I think I remember you from GARDENS Of
course, with this being an El Nino year, the winter was milder than
usual, but the grass still does fine. And we get chinooks here, which is
what is the hardest on plants. Chinooks are thaw cycles when warm winds
blow out of the Rockies. Our temps can fluctuate as much as 30 degrees
in an hour (both up and down!). So the winds are dessicating and really
rough on perennials. I don't know my grass variety, but I'm convinced
it's the wrong one for here - it doesn't handle drought well. Right now,
it's growing like crazy, but likely in another month or so, it'll brown
up and start getting crispy. Our winters are normally fairly snowless,
but we can get some whopper snows. The winter before last, we had snow
in November that didn't disappear until spring thaw. This past winter,
we had maybe two large snows at most. I think I wore my winter coat
twice, and never did pull out the boots.
Thanks again everyone.
Brenda
Lethbridge