I just stepped out my front door to get the mail and smelled the familiar fragrance of holly in bloom. Sure enough, one variety has bloomed and the honey bees are working it. This is nuts!
These hard freezes have significantly damaged buds and blooms from the holly type bushes. I'm trying to look at the potential "bright side"--if the buds from the tulip poplars have not been damaged too badly, the holly bloom will be out of the way at tulip poplar bloom time. These usually happen about the same time in my neighborhood and the bees prefer the holly. Maybe this year, if tulip poplar is the main thing going when it blooms, I'll get the darker, richer flavored honey this year.
Holly in Bloom_IMG_0961.jpg (57.29 KiB) Viewed 2596 times
This holly at the front of my house is in bloom. The southern exposure and nearness to red brick must be giving it enough extra warmth to start early. All of the other hollys of all varieties in the front yard are still in the bud stage. Maybe we will get lucky with the low temperature tonight and not get serious damage to these buds and blooms.