Compare Five Winters in Chicago
March 8, 2014
It has been a long winter with snow again this morning. I wondered how this winter compared to March of the past five winters so I went back in my archives to see what happened. To see the complete posts you can look back in the archives.
2010
In 2010 we decided to dig up the sod by the patio and threw the sod both in the compost pile and in the easement. We eventually also added the crabapple tree to this bed. Since then we have expanded this bed to the right to double it and provide privacy for the patio. There was no snow on the ground at this time. Though I think a little bit dusted the garden later in the month. We were probably working in the garden a little too soon, but I must have had an itch to get going.
During that same week I received all but one of these plants for my pre-planned drought garden in the mail in the middle of March! I potted them up and brought them in and out of the house for a while and then planted them in April, I think. The lavender and sea holly didn’t survive in my garden, maybe due to the humidity here.
2011
On March 13, 2011 the crocuses were poking up through the ajuga.
2012
On March 13, 2012 my mini daffodils were blooming, so that was an early spring.
Crocuses were coming to the end of their bloom time.
2013
On March 9, 2013 it looks like a robin is working on crabapples that had fallen into the snow….
But by March 17, 2013 the crocuses had started to bloom in sunny spots.
2014
This year has the most snow on the ground of the five years. There is ice under the snow so it is thawing very slowly, though warmer weather is expected this week.
I went looking to see if I could see if there were any bulbs poking up, and sure enough these crocuses were popping out of the snow on March 8th, so they should be blooming before too long!
Conclusion? Even though we are behind when compared with the last years we are not that far behind. As the snow starts to melt everything is ready, set to grow.
Pardon My Garden 
Not sure where you live but, you gave me a whole lot of encouragement that Spring is on it’s way! Nice post! I live in SE Pennsylvania, by the way 🙂
Your spring should be on the way. Here is Chicago we have to hang on a little more, but looking forward to warmer weather next week.
Same here. It’s suppose to be pretty mild.
I wish we had crocuses in New England! I checked today (after a rare mild weekend with temps above freezing). Not yet, but soon I hope.
Though my picture makes the crocuses look big they are really very tiny and I had to really get close to the ground to see them. I think they are snow crocuses, meaning the earliest crocuses, and I have a few of those.
If I look at your pictures really fast I can pretend spring flowers are here and snow is not. Just have to ignore everything with a 2014 next to it!
It is four days after I posted this and we had 6 inches of snow this morning, making it the third snowiest winter on record in Chicago. I had to go out and knock all the wet, heavy snow off my shrubs, which were bent over and buried under it.