off with the bee cozy & spring markers 2012

Bee foraging on redbud tree

Bee foraging on burford holly bush


We returned from a two week UK trip to discover all of my spring markers present (today is day 71 of this year).   Our winter was exceptionally warm and compared to the past three years, the spring markers have come early. 

                              2009               2010                 2011

                         Day of Year        Day of Year          Day of Year

Bradford Pear               65                 79                   60

Carpenter Bees              68                 87                   72

Acer palmatum leaf out      73                 92                   77

Flowering Dogwood           80                 93                   80

Asian Wisteria              83                 96                   81

Carolina Cherry Laurel      73                 97                   83

I removed the bee cozys and during the inspection discover tons of bees and brood in all of the boxes.  I can't say enough good things about the bee cozy--at $15, the reusable bee cozy is a no-brainer.  Despite redbud tree and burford holly bush forage, the bees are more defensive than I expected, perhaps this is consistent with the absence of  a major nectar flow.  Did I nearly miss all of the Atlanta spring?--all except the tulip poplar flow.

bloom calendar / spring markers

                                    2009               2010              2011
                              Day of Year    Day of Year    Day of Year
Bradford Pear                 65                 79                   60
Carpenter Bees              68                 87                   72
Acer palmatum leaf out  73                 92                   77
Flowering Dogwood       80                 93                   80
Asian Wisteria                83                 96                   81
Carolina Cherry Laurel   73                 97                   83

In Atlanta, the arrival of the 2011 spring markers are remarkably similar to 2009.   So, as not to color my 2011 observations, I have intentionally not reviewed my old journal notes......too much.  Picking "the date" for these spring markers requires more patience and discipline than I am always prepared to apply.  Naturally, I want to escape winter and embrace spring.....ticking-off the entire spring marker list during one warm day.   My journal contains spring marker dates which sometimes appear in different months.  So, the dates are converted to day-of-year to make the comparison between years easier.

I speculate that this year, enthusiastic yard clean-up has made it less obvious to spot the arrival of the invasive Asian Wisteria bloom near "my local" coffee shop. My wood deck is a dependable habitat for those territorial wood nibblers (a.k.a. carpenter bees) who emerge/return to same piece of lumber each year.  For example, the carpenter bee arrival are observations only recorded in my backyard....another self imposed rule to my scheme.

cold duration

I tapped into the climate records from the University of Georgia cold duration calculator.  So, it's not just my imagination, but this past winter has been a particularly prolonged cold winter.  This winter our purple heart plant died, but this plant survived the past 5 winters outdoors.

Has prolonged cold temperatures altered when trees bloom or the arrival of other spring markers? My backyard record keeping could be better, but it looks like a ~19 day delay of spring markers when comparing 2010 with 2009.

Bradford Pear              20-MAR-2010    15-FEB-2009    33 day delay 

Carpenter Bees             28-MAR-2010    09-MAR-2009    19 day delay

Acer palmatum leaf out     02-APR-2010    14-MAR-2009    19 day delay

Flowering Dogwood          03-APR-2010    21-MAR-2009    13 day delay

Asian Wisteria             06-APR-2010    24-MAR-2009    13 day delay

Carolina Cherry Laurel     07-APR-2010    14-MAR-2009    24 day delay