April 3 today and we are having some wet snow showers for about the past 5 hours. This was as expected but it's 36 degrees out so there's no accumulation. More will come in 3 hours' time, but it won't accumulate. We're going through a bit of a cold spell over the past few days and for another 3-4 days to come. April 8th is forecasted to be 70 degrees. It's that wildly volatile Chicago weather that's for sure.

All of the roses are budding out and just rarin' to go - especially Sexy Rexy and Oh My!. Just about every single budeye on every green cane has pushed out some on all the roses. It's quite a sight and I can't recall having seen this in the past. Perhaps it's a testament to our relatively mild winter and good snow cover when it did get quite cold.

Otherwise, I am just waiting for it to warm up so I can get going with 2024!

Quite rainy here yesterday and today – looks like we have a little over an inch thus far. I think it's just about done for the day. Then we get to drop to 27 degrees overnight to ice things up a bit. It's always something it seems.

I just did some spreadsheet jockeying and I'll be up to 226 roses come May - 222 in the ground and 4 in pots. I have 134 distinct varieties and 92 duplicates. Leading the count are 10 Ring of Fire, 5 Screaming Neon, 4 Home Run and 4 Brigadoon. I have 13 Floribunda "triples" where I have planted 3 FL bushes close together to maximize color impact, and 6 HTs where I have 3 plants of each. There are 64 varieties where I have only a single bush.

Forsythia still not fully in bloom, so the wait continues.

It's Friday, March 22 today and as forecasted, I awoke to a full ground-covering of snow. It's 9:45 now and a little more snow will fall until about 11:30 am. Maybe an inch or just over that will be on the ground. Crazy Chicago weather never disappoints!

Update 24 hours later: The sun is out, the temps are about 35, and the snow is melting. Yesterday afternoon I had to run a few errands and noticed something very odd. Only 1/4 to 1/2 mile from our house there was very little snow - just a smattering. When I returned home from a different direction it was even more striking! It seems like my house was the epicenter of the snowfall and just a half-mile away there was no snow. I have, on several occasions, thought that precipitation goes out of its way to avoid my garden and yard. But not this time. It's only 1-2 inches of snow so no big whup but it's just very unusual.

March weather can be fickle, but a pattern seems to be emerging over the past few years. Early in the month it's a fair bit warmer than usual. But then mid-month the switch gets flipped and the latter half of the month is colder than usual. It's happening again right now. Next 5 days will average 5 degrees below average, and the next 15 days are projected to be 2 degrees colder than average. Not too extreme thankfully, but seeing the colder weather again is mentally difficult to take. To add insult to injury, early Friday morning (today is Monday) we're projected to see one inch of snow. Lovely.

Forsythia bushes are almost starting to leaf out. This may set things back a ways.