As the 2024 growing year progressed, Greg Coppa noted that many plants in his southern New England garden bloomed a few weeks early, from late winter’s snowdrops
to late spring’s lilacs and beyond.
FROM THE MOMENT I returned home a bit earlier than usual from Florida in early March of 2024, I knew southern New England had escaped a seriously cold winter. My joyful snowdrops (Galanthus) were well developed and would be in decline several weeks earlier than usual. Buds on a few types of maple (Acer) and on lilac bushes (Syringa) were noticeably swollen and beginning to photosynthesize.
According to a Boston-area meteorologist, there’d been a low temp of 14 degrees (F) on January 20, after which the temperature rebounded to the low 50s in a few days. February saw no subfreezing days at all, and the Blue Hill Observatory, located just outside the city,