March 4, 2023

Hey everybody! It’s March!

Although it seems like Christmas was just a month ago, it’s March already, and that means that we can feel that spring is here, although it starts on March 20, but, hey, Daylight saving time is only a week ahead. The days are getting longer, and we also expect more warm temperatures upon us. However, March is known as March Madness, thanks to the unpredictable weather it brings. Days can be from the upper 40s up to the lower 70s. We also experience our first snowstorm for Winter 2023, which brought a bit of a white blanket to the city but disappeared in just a few hours. Remember that in April 2018 New York City saw 5.5 inches of snow, which was the heaviest April snowfall since 1982 when the city was dumped with 9.6 inches. So anything can happen.

March 4, 2023 – Hybrid Witch Hazels are deciduous shrubs or small trees, and they are early birds. With yellow spiked flowers, they are the first to bloom in the city. You can find them in many Gardens and parks around all the different boroughs.
While Daffodils and Tulips are still making their progress, Crocus and Snowdrops are the first flowers to appear and create beautiful spots in white, yellow, and purple.

Here are some pictures I took this week from Central Park after the snowstorm. You can see the Crocuses covering the ground, Cornelliancherry Dogwood blooming in yellow, as well as red maples with their spiky red flowers.

What about the Okame Cherries?

After I spotted an early pre-bloom two weeks ago, I returned to see if there’s any development. And there was. Before the snowstorm and the strong wind of this morning, the trees seemed to have more opened flowers. Even if the wind blew the flowers down, there are still enough buds to bring more magnificent pink bloom in the next couple of weeks.

The below pictures are from Williamsburg, Brooklyn: