What Can I Say About April?

Weeping crabapple trees

Things started to bloom at Bean Hill mid-April, which brightened an otherwise gloomy month. There was only one day that we enjoyed sun and blue skies; 21 days were cloudy or mostly cloudy. The remaining days depended on your personal outlook. If the month's weather depressed you, you thought of the remaining 8 days as mostly cloudy; if you were being hopeful, you called them partly sunny. I'm sorry to admit that both Ann and I were in depressed group. It was, with the exception of the beautiful flowering trees, the daffodils and their cousins, narcissus and jonquil, tulips, and spring beauties, a pretty grim weather month.                                                                               


                                                 

Spring has sprung

Trout-lily

Although we were only slightly above normal rainfall-wise (.3"), it seemed as if it rained all the time. This is probably because we are now 6" above normal for this time of year, meaning that since sometime last year (which was one of the wettest on record), the ground has never dried out; mud is a constant presence. The mud is so thick on the trails through the Jersey Woods that we gave up trying to walk them, even in wellies. Consequently, we didn't get to enjoy the trout-lily and Solomon's slipper and yellow pansies that decorate the woods this month.  I don't know when we'll ever get the 120 bags of mulch down.

Crabapple blossoms

Day and night average temperatures were both slightly more than 2 degrees above the historic averages. I was surprised to go over the stats and find that 11 days were 7-20 degrees above normal, because it seemed as if we were always cold. Dampness will do that.

To add to the month's over-all depressing weather, most of the two dozen-plus mason bees we nursed through the winter (in a box in the refrigerator!) did not survive. Neither did the bees we ordered, except for a small
number. Unlike previous years, at this point, no mason bees have nested in their bee "hotel". An unexpected freeze and heavy rains over a couple of days probably contributed to the loss of bee life. April 29 was the last day for mason bees to ship, so we ordered another 4 dozen bees. They should arrive tomorrow. Wish them luck and decent weather!

Btw, you're enjoying photos taken in previous years. The blossoms were just as lovely, but the weather wasn't conducive to picture-taking. It wasn't conducive to much beyond binging on Acorn TV. For those of you who like British television, it's worth the modest subscription, and relieves depression caused by bad    weather.