Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Resources
  • Organizations & Blogs
  • Archives
  • Contact

Climate Change causes Cherry Trees to Bloom Early

April 5, 2019

The Japanese Yoshino cultivar is the most common in DC and can be found encircling the Tidal Basin which is part of the West Potomac Park. Photo courtesy of Uberlemur at the English Wikipedia

You’ve probably read the peak bloom time for the cherry trees* in Washington DC is now approximately five days earlier than their first recorded date in 1921. This seems to be a trend everywhere in the USA and is likely the result of climate change.

Plants, trees and shrubs are blooming earlier because of milder winters and earlier spring thaws. These changes in climate, in conjunction with the longer falls, have increased the growing season in the 48 contiguous states by almost two weeks.

*The trees were given to the city of Washington DC as a gift of friendship from Japan in 1912.

Increases in frost-free season length correspond to similar increases in growing season length. This graph illustrates how the frost-free season length has increased in each US region from 1991-2012 relative to 1901-1960. A frost-free season length is defined as the period between the last occurrence of 32°F in the spring and the first occurrence of 32°F in the fall. Graph courtesy of EPA.

Affect of Changes in Growing Season

  • These changes affect entire ecosystems.
  • They disrupt plant-pollinator relationships.
  • They increase pest outbreaks.
  • They worsen allergies.
  • They alter water flows.
  • They produce earlier and longer fire seasons.
  • They affect the local economy.
  • They also can disrupt tourism like they’re seeing in Washington DC right now.

 

   Send article as PDF   

Comments

  1. Lucy Valitchka says

    April 5, 2019 at 9:24 pm

    Valuable information, Donna. Unfortunately it seems more negative events will happen to our environment with more frost free dates.

    Reply
    • Donna VanBuecken says

      April 6, 2019 at 9:12 am

      That’s exactly what I was thinking.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Signup button.

Recent Posts

  • OVER-THE-COUNTER NATIVE PLANT SALE MAY 21
  • WOFVA’s NATIVE PLANT SALE MAY 21
  • Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA)
  • Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame 2022 Inductees
  • Native Landscaping Design

Category Archives

  • Biodiversity
    • Monarchs
    • Pollinators
  • Birds
  • Climate Change
  • Events
  • Fire
  • Funding
  • Garden and Landscape Design
  • Heroes
  • Homestead
    • Recipe
  • Invasive Plants
  • Native plant garden design
  • Native Plants
  • Natural Landscaping
  • Prairie
  • Public Comment Opportunity
  • Railroad
  • The Sky
  • Wellbeing
  • Wetlands
  • Wildflowers
    • Trees & Shrubs
  • Wildlife
    • Wolves
  • Wisconsin
  • Women
  • Woodlands

Copyright 2005-2018
Donna VanBuecken