Global you-know-what

When I first moved to NYC in 1971 I was given an earful on just how cold it used to get back in the “old” days meaning, like, in the 1940’s and 50’s and even, I’m told, in the 60’s. These stories were told to me by first-hand witnesses who actually saw the East River so thickly frozen over you could drive your truck on it. And then, in my time, I personally saw huge icebergs clogging the Hudson River and even experienced a few chest-deep snowstorms that literally buried cars for weeks at a time, with a huge city brought to silence by yet another “storm of the century.”

Now I am the one waxing nostalgic about those bad old days of the 70’s and 80’s when I couldn’t get to work for a couple of days because of excessive bad weather. I actually experienced temperatures in the low single digits and had my eyebrows crackle with ice after a simple walk to the corner to buy eggs and milk.

And now, for the first time in years, I’ve dug out some ear muffs as we are having a string of days clocking temperatures below freezing. It is a matter of record that 2012 was the warmest winter in recorded history here and there were only two days of temperatures below 32. As of today we have already exceeded that in 2013 but it’s only supposed to last a few more days. Our excessive bad weather seems now to be mostly tropical and, unfortunately, of the hurricane ilk. High winds and lots of rain is the order of the day and silent we are not.

Readers of this blog (at least I think I have readers) know I tend a small urban garden here in Brooklyn and I take pride in keeping it nice. I have learned what works and what does not in this particular weather zone (6) and plant accordingly. I pay attention to labels and instructions and sometimes it pays off handsomely and sometimes, I have to admit, beautifully (the iris kills). Over the last few years I’ve noticed certain plants are resurfacing unbidden. They are not seasonally dying as they are supposed to and I’ve learned to only prune them to the ground in the fall, rather than yanking them up by the roots and giving them the heave ho. The line between “annuals” and “perennials” is becoming blurred and I’ve read that this is true of all of the designated zones and that Zone 5 is creeping closer to us every year.

Last October I bought about 70 bulbs of various kinds (mainly tulips) and the instructions are the same as in previous years, which is that they need to be gotten into the ground “before the first frost.” So guess what? Yeah, I planted them a couple of weekends ago because it was predicted that our temperatures would be sliding down into the 20’s and maybe below that and, therefore, we should have our first frost. Sure enough it has gotten cold and the water in the birdbath is solid ice but I haven’t seen any frost on the ground. Does just being cold count as a “first frost?” I guess it does but I hope those little bulb-brains don’t get the wrong idea next week when we are due to warm up again and start shooting up through the un-permafrost. Wait, wait, my beauties…the warming is only global, not local!