Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: February 2008

February 15th, 2008 by Kathy Purdy · 29 Comments

Image of snowy path with brown weeds poking through the snow on the left

There are snowdrops under this snow

Some of you, I am sure, thought I was being overly pessimistic when I said the snowdrops sprouting in January wouldn’t be blooming in a month. As you can see above, my assessment of how things would go was pretty accurate. As a matter of fact, at this point I am not sure I will ever see them.

Yes, I am suffering from WWNE, a delusional malady to which Northerners are particularly vulnerable. WWNE stands for Winter Will Never End, and it’s also known as cabin fever. Symptoms include shuffling around the house looking glum, and looking out the window and sighing. Wednesday we had snow which turned to freezing rain, and then it got just above freezing, turning everything to slush, which then froze. My driveway was a river of ice yesterday, enough to make even WWNE-resistant people sigh:

A couple of weeks ago, I attempted to self-medicate:

Image of potted primroses, one pale yellow and one purple

Two pots of Primula acaulis purchased from the grocery store

Relief was only temporary. After a while, the primroses lost their power to convince me spring was right around the corner. They seemed to be merely a mirage, a tease.

Yes, the only true cure is time. Once again, this gardener must practice patience, and wait. And hope. And trust that

As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.
Genesis 8:22

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29 responses so far ↓

1 Frances // Feb 15, 2008 at 6:01 am

Those are pretty colored primroses, but your gloom seems well founded. At least today will be a good blog surfing day, with lots of pretty pix from around the world. It is my favorite day to read all the stories from those same people, some will surely have things blooming outside…Austin, what have you got?
Frances at Faire Garden
2 Carol // Feb 15, 2008 at 6:29 am

My little crocus (yes, I’m writing about it AGAIN) is keeping me from having WWNE. But then I don’t have all that snow on the ground!

I laughed at your description of buying the primulas as “self-medicating”.

Carol, May Dreams Gardens
3 thegardeningsupply.com » Late breaking news // Feb 15, 2008 at 7:27 am

[…] <b>Garden</b> Bloggers Bloom Day: February 2008 […]
4 Kathy Purdy // Feb 15, 2008 at 7:27 am

Frances, you are right, it will be a good day to go visiting–and I won’t even have to brave the ice to get to the car!

Carol, you just keep on writing about that crocus, no need to apologize. I had to click on your photo of it to bring up the larger picture, but I did see a second crocus plant behind the first. I wonder if you planted either snowdrops or eranthis there, if you’d have even earlier blooms?
5 Nan Ondra // Feb 15, 2008 at 8:18 am

Yes, that’s hardly what we have in mind when we think of a “white garden,” is it? Never mind. Hopefully you’ll experience the same warm-up that’s predicted for us over the next 10 days. And maybe you’ll have some blooms of your own by next month!
6 Curtis // Feb 15, 2008 at 8:46 am

I dislike the cold, but more I dislike Ice. Yucky weather predicted today and tomorrow.
7 Diana Kirby // Feb 15, 2008 at 10:43 am

I’m sorry you’re buried under snow and ice. The Primulas are lovely, and it’s nice that you can buy a temporary cure. I remember filling my office with potted bulbs (expensive potted bulbs, mind you) when I lived in Minnesota and suffered from WWNE. You just want to smell some grass and hear some birds, don’t you? Soon…soon..
8 Annie in Austin // Feb 15, 2008 at 10:53 am

Primroses were one of my consolations in Illinois, Kathy. I’d buy them at the grocery store in winter, enjoy them on the window sill and then when spring arrived I’d plant them in a little cove I made by cutting out the lower branches from a Japanese yew, hoping the shelter would help them survive.

My primroses were simple single blossoms - you got yourself some fancy flowers there!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose
9 Elizabeth // Feb 15, 2008 at 1:24 pm

Amen to Genesis 8:22, Kathy. Those of us with severe WWNE have to remember that we are God’s cycles are constantly moving. Our gardening time is closer today than it was yesterday!
10 Bonnie // Feb 15, 2008 at 2:40 pm

I recall the WWNE syndrome from living in Chicago. It’s always darkest before the dawn! Do all the self-medicating (the plant variety that is) you need to make it through.
11 Mr. McGregor's Daughter // Feb 15, 2008 at 4:18 pm

Are you sure your Snowdrops aren’t in bloom? Mine are in bloom, or they were, last time I dug in the snow to find them. I can’t even get to them now because the snow is over the tops of my boots. Am I sad? No, I’m in Florida - a surefire cure for WWNE!
12 Robin at Bumblebee // Feb 15, 2008 at 5:18 pm

Oh, Kathy. Time for a vacation to the tropics! Just hop on the private jet and get away for the weekend!

I’ve had my own case of WWNE. But around here we have had just enough of those rare warm days that I could get outside. Now here’s the bad part about that…I was able to see that some beast has eaten quite a lot of my bulbs. Grrrr.

Robin at Bumblebee
13 Pam/Digging // Feb 15, 2008 at 5:19 pm

Living in Austin, I too know about seasonal depression. The sighing, the staring out the window, the feeling that the season will NEVER end all sound intimately familiar to me.

Only for me it happens in the summer.

Take heart, Kathy. Fall returned for me, and spring will return for you.
14 kerri // Feb 15, 2008 at 9:19 pm

Kathy, when I first saw your leader in bloglines I thought you must really have snowdrops and I was dumbfounded! But I see now that your snowdrops look just like mine Oh yes, I too have a severe case of WWNE but sadly, no primroses to console me. I need to make a trip to buy some ’self-medicating color’
Those primroses are just what the Dr. ordered!
Thanks for Genesis 8:22. It’s a perfect reminder that patience will be rewarded.
15 mss @ Zanthan Gardens // Feb 15, 2008 at 10:08 pm

Ugh!
16 Mary Ann Newcomer // Feb 15, 2008 at 10:25 pm

sheeeeeesh. And I have been pouting all week about my pathetic, crushed, bruised, hellebores. At least the snow has disappeared here……

You should know the self medicating works wonders. I found myself on the concrete floor of Home Depot the other day. My friend Jeff and I had to get a shot of green. We were checking out all the sad little succulents that weren’t properly cared for, not getting enough light, hideously and undoubtedly sporadically overwatered, sitting in that water, etc. Looking for something, anything to take home. I paid for - and cheerfully liberated - three paddle plants (kolanchoes with big flat round leaves). I put them in the sun in the kitchen window and they are sooooooo happy. Plant purchases as meds work very well. Keep it up.
17 wiseacre // Feb 16, 2008 at 8:49 am

WWNE
I got a good case of it to. I’ve joined the cats scratching at the door to get out. When my wife opens it we take a step out then run back in.

I keep asking ‘Why Winter Never Ends’
18 jodi // Feb 16, 2008 at 11:17 am

WWNE indeed…although today, I can tolerate it. It’s very cold with a windchill of about minus a zillion, but the sun is out…and out of the wind, I can feel heat from the sun on my face (when I went out briefly to reassure my horse that one day it would be safe to let him out of the barn–too icy right now). SElf medicating is helping me–lots of plants in my office) also reading blogs and books. It WILL eventually pass, Kathy. It does every year. The “hot air” –if you take my meaning–from Ottawa and Washington should start melting things any day now.
19 Mary Schier // Feb 16, 2008 at 1:49 pm

Kathy: As a life-long Minnesotan, WWNE is an old friend to me. Luckily, I’m not too far from the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in St. Paul. I was near it yesterday and stopped in for an hour. Just seeing the azaleas and lilies in bloom reminded me that spring is to come. (I blogged about it with some pretty pictures, if you are interested.)
20 Shady Gardener // Feb 16, 2008 at 6:14 pm

Oh, my. Won’t we be happy when Spring finally arrives?! I’m trying not to Whine about WWNE! And, I guess I’ve been self-medicating too. Bringing a flower home periodically.

Have a good day. We’ll be “walking” through everyone’s gardens before long.
21 sherry // Feb 16, 2008 at 7:27 pm

WWNE…I like that. I am definitely suffering from a BAADDDD case this year. Today the sun was shining, and it just seemed like a big ole tease. Sighh….
22 babs // Feb 16, 2008 at 8:15 pm

The self-medicating photo made me laugh out loud! Color is definately in order this time of year. A trip to the local garden center is in order tomorrow, great idea.
23 Ellis Hollow » February bloom day scans // Feb 17, 2008 at 12:38 pm

[…] bloom day scansPosted February 17, 2008 Like Kathy at CCG, nothing but snow and ice outside. But I scanned a few inside plants (houseplants and an […]
24 eliz // Feb 17, 2008 at 2:12 pm

The snowdrops should not appear for either me or Kathy until March. But, primroses! They are beautiful. I have had no luck with them as houseplants whatsoever. But I also have to say that sitting by the gas fire and enjoying my houseplants and storebought flowers is a pretty good remedy for WWNE.
25 Kathy Purdy // Feb 17, 2008 at 2:27 pm

eliz is right. Not until March. I haven’t tried digging up the snow to peak, but I have other years. At this point, March is not that far away, but those of us in the throes of WWNE can hardly believe it.
26 eliz // Feb 17, 2008 at 5:34 pm

Eliz is wrong. I just found one today. But I am near the lake, Kathy–perhaps a zone or half a zone above you.
27 Corinna // Feb 18, 2008 at 3:59 am

Oh Kathy, how I envy you your snow. We’ve had hardly any this winter, but rain and fog and gales instead. So even if the crocusses and primroses in my garden are already blooming, they look very sorry most of the time.
28 Shady Gardener // Feb 18, 2008 at 2:49 pm

I guess I forgot to mention that my post was “up” on Feb. 15! Have a great day.
29 Plants grow under the snow | Cold Climate Gardening // Feb 20, 2008 at 1:08 am

[…] couple of days ago, Mr. McGregor’s Daughter was speculating that my snowdrops might be blooming under the snow. I was pretty sure they weren’t, but I […]