Coaxed by way-too-warm weather (we've been running 10 to 20 degrees above normal), buds are breaking and tulips are popping out of the ground.
Now cold and snow are in the forecast. What can we do to beside hope for the best?
A big, fat nothing.
It's spring, it's Minnesota and most of the early bloomers growing in our backyards can take a cold snap. Just like us.
If the cold is severe, you might lose the flowers on this year's crocuses and snowdrops, but the bulbs will live to bloom again next year. If it's really severe (like below zero), you might lose some buds, which could translate into the loss of some of this year's lilac, forsythia or azalea flowers. But, again, the cold won't kill the shrubs or trees.
But if it's just kinda cold (as predicted), your trees and flowers should be just fine.
Wrapping plants in blankets will only do one thing: make your yard — and by extension, you — the laughing stock of the neighborhood.
And if it snows, well, that's a bit more of a worry. Spring snows can be wet and heavy, flattening spring-blooming beauties, even damaging shrubs and bending or breaking tree limbs.
