Phenology... what's in bloom.

Last year I learned a lot about phenology from the Ohio Master Gardeners. Updates on bloom time were kept by a dedicated group of gardeners. This would then give us cues on what else in happening or about to happen in our garden. Here is the definition of phenology.

phe·nol·o·gy

Pronunciation: \fi-ˈnä-lə-jē\

Function: noun

Etymology: phenomena + -logy

Date: circa 1884
1 : a branch of science dealing with the relations between climate and periodic biological phenomena (as bird migration or plant flowering)
2 : periodic biological phenomena that are correlated with climatic conditions

So it's all the "common sense" things our grandparents knew. They were a little more aware of how nature worked and would use signals from the garden to tell them when/what to plant and what pests would be appearing too. Here's a link to a great article, from Horticulture magazine on the subject. Here are a few out of their list...

• When daffodils begin to bloom, sow peas.
• When oak leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear, sow corn.
• When maple leaves reach full size, sow morning glories.
• When apple trees shed their petals, sow corn.
• When dogwood reaches peak bloom, plant tomatoes and early corn.
• When crocus bloom, prune roses.

Love that this common knowledge has actually become a field of research. By the way have you pruned your roses?