It has been almost a year since I checked in on this thread and it has been a very busy year. I want to begin by showing you some of the beauties here on the farm. Spring can be a wonderful time on a Christmas Farm. We are busy digging stumps from the trees that were cut this past season by our wonderful customers. There are new trees to be planted and cared for that will not be ready for another five years or less compared to their age when we get them. Plus the mowing between the rows in all the fields (my job this year again) , spraying for all sorts of diseases , etc. and watching for problems that may occur in the fields where the trees are maturing.
Let's begin with February of 2017. The weather was very warm here in NJ compared to what it usually is, so that gave everything a jump start on Spring. Some of the trees came alive sooner than others and by March they were pushing some new growth and in April and May they were really pushing new growth.
The rest of the farm was having it's own problems. The daffodil field for example began to come alive in late February instead of a month or so later, and the new growth took a real beating with snow and freezing weather weeks after they came up. The daffodil crop this year was I would say half of what it usually is, and almost all the yellow daffodils did not bloom, they were frozen early since they are the first to come up.
This is February.....
This is April
The Black pussy willows were really confused. This was taken on February 4th.
They came out and froze and by the time they were to bloom, they were almost over and the ones that were still alive were few and far between. The bushes are fine, but the catkins took the hit.
The star magnolia came and went before I could even get out of the house to take a picture. We had a late ice storm that kept me isolated inside due to total ice cover in the barnyard and it was impossible for me at my age to try and get to it.
The pink dogwood was next and this year it did not do well at all. Again much of it froze in bud.
The White dogwood did much better and was very pretty.
That brings us up to date on some of the damage the weather did to us here on the farm this past Winter. I will show you the tree fields and more shrubs and bushes next time I post.
