It was warm enough to bring out some foraging honey bees and afew wasps Wednesday before the mercury plunged from a high of 55 atnoon to its usual December norm in the low 30s, as predicted fortoday.
The bees will return to their combs and the greening dandelionrosettes in your lawn will go dormant again, said Ron Losew,naturalist for the Cook County Forest Preserve District.
"A couple rhododendrons may have been forced (by springlikewarmth), but they're exotics," said Kris Jarantoski, horticulturistand assistant director of the Chicago Botanic Gardens.
"Our native plants know better" than to be fooled by theweather, he said. "Their own internal dormancy protects them" bykeeping them asleep, he said.
If your bulbs started sprouting during the last few days, it wasa "fluke," said Losew, and there is nothing you can do about it.They may not bloom next spring but should recover by the followingyear.
Plants get hardier and hardier as they go into the cool andcold of fall and winter, said Jarantoski.
"If you expose plants to minus 20 in July, they'll die," hesaid. "But when it hits minus 20 in January, they'll be fine."
Both men recommended against throwing mulch on the garden now.It's not cold enough. Wait till the ground is frozen, because youwant to keep the plants cold, not warm.
Mulch prevents thawing on bright sunny days, said Losew.Alternate thawing and freezing heaves the plants out of the ground.If you've already mulched, you've made a nice warm nest for rodentsthat will move in and eat your plants all winter, said Jarantoski.
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