Winter Was Kind…

WInter was kind to the pansies I planted late last summer!

Wait, check that!

The pansies persevered through the punches of winter, and came back to bloom in the spring.

Or maybe I’m just an exceptional gardener who knew exactly what to do to nurture these pansies through the winter so when spring arrived, they’d perk up and bloom again.

However it happened, some of the pansies I planted late last summer survived the winter and are once again blooming. A nice, unexpected treat because most of the time, pansies do not survive the winters here in my garden.

But every once in a while, we have a mild winter which allows the pansies to overwinter and return in the spring.

I’ve seen some chatter here and there online about 2023-2024 being “the winter that wasn’t” because we didn’t get that much snow and cold, though we did get some snow and cold. That’s good for the pansies and it’s also good for…

The bugs!

I think. I haven’t really done any research but I kind of think if the pansies made it through the winter, so did a lot more insects. I saw bees on the crocuses in February (I usually do) and the other day, I saw a butterfly on some flowers in front, which is as early as I’ve seen a butterfly around here. (Though, honestly, I don’t keep track of “first butterfly” as an event so don’t take my butterfly sighting as some kind of sign.)

Fortunately, “the winter that wasn’t” probably also means that more birds survived, and birds eat insects so I’m expecting everything to balance out nicely.

Time will tell!