You may have noticed more flowers than usual on the plants in your garden. As with most things in the garden, the reason is the weather.

This past winter was one of the warmest on record. Typically, we see at least one night in the single digits, but this year many neighborhoods only briefly dropped below 20F on the coldest night of the year. Winter 2022-2023 was warmer overall than this past winter, but this winter had fewer temperature swings. Cold snaps after warm weather can damage plants that don’t have the chance to become dormant. Spring was also very mild. There was a lack of extreme heat; and, just like winter, spring was wet.

Perennials sprouted earlier than usual because of the lack of cold, and water loving plants like hydrangeas are bursting with flower buds because of the generous rain. Hydrangeas are also having a great year because the flower buds were not damaged by winter temperature swings.

Roses are in full bloom this month, but when the flowering slows down in July, Planting Fields horticultural director Donna Moramarco recommends “deadheading” to encourage more blooms. This technique involves pruning off spent blooms to keep the plant from spending energy on seed development.