We’ve had a wonderful winter this year, temperature-wise, which is bad when one is trying to time azalea blooming:
Thanks to this mild winter, spring is inching ever closer. Too close for Bart Brechter, garden curator at Bayou Bend.
Hundreds of azaleas thrive throughout the wooded 14-acre estate, a perennial stop on the River Oaks Garden Club’s annual azalea trail. This year’s event is March 10-12, but some of the plants are already beginning to show color — so Brechter has been looking for ways to delay blooms.
His solution? Eight thousand pounds of ice.
Tuesday, crews spread 40-pound bags of ice cubes around 600-700 azaleas. An insulating layer of mulch was then applied on the ice to help keep temperatures down.
Cool! =)
(P.S. Some of us would LOVE to see a Kathy Huber gardening blog on Chron.com.)
