Shrinking violets

This week: In the Pacific…; Shrinking violets;

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we have had another wet week. The cool, grey, wet and miserable days are getting very wearing!

This week we have had seven wet days, with 21.1mm of rain and 118mm since the 1st February.

Watching bands of rain sweeping across the Adriatic Sea from Italy on the radar does little to improve one’s mood…

With the average temperature hovering around 10°C, weeds are growing but also moss and lichen. This perpetual dampness is making stones and paths slippery.

So I am being careful when I do venture into the gardens and orchards, especially when I am carrying anything.

Writing this on Saturday afternoon – I have needed lights on inside for most of Saturday – I have lost my chair because of the rain outside.

Argent (Simon’s Cat) and Tigger have decided that it is just too wet to venture out, so have taken possession of the most comfortable seat in the house. I received threats when I tried to repossess my seat. Fortunately I have another I can use…

Next week there are signs that by the middle of the week, there may be some sunshine, however it will be short lived as more rain arrives towards next weekend.

Sadly my Crocus have never opened and now the flower buds are dying back.

With no sunshine and almost constant rain, what I was hoping for as a display of vibrant spring colour outside the kitchen window, has only been a sea of green leaves. Perhaps next year.

In one short lived spell of sunshine, I managed to photograph the Daffodils I grow in a bowl on the patio. They brighten even the dullest day.

My Almond tree is in full blossom at the moment too.

All the while, Hyacinth are in flower in the East orchard, but the rain seems to have reduced their scent. You have to be really close to smell them this year.

Yoda also found a spot in the sunshine too.

In the Pacific…

Most people have heard of the El Niño ocean warming event in the Pacific Ocean. It affects weather worldwide, but especially in the iIndo-Pacific region. However El Niño also affects European weather.

For the past twelve months, the opposite of an El Niño, called the La Niña or the “Girl Child” has been ruling our weather. A La Niña event is the cooling of the Pacific temperatures.

The Pacific alternates between warm and cool phases, often with an intermediate period between the two.

What is happening at the moment is the rapid collapse of the La Niña and this will lead to a complete reset of global oceanic temperatures. It is the ocean temperatures which drive our weather, because some 70%, more than two thirds of the surface of the earth is covered by ocean.

Satellite measuring shows that the eastern Pacific is also starting to rapidly warm and the cooling areas are rapidly diminishing. Such a rapid change is unusual, although because of the climate breakdown the world is experiencing, perhaps not surprising.

A rapid change to the El Niño warm phase WILL cause a major shift in weather patterns. The greatest effect will be around the Pacific rim, with changes to the Monsoon seasons in Asia and weather systems like Atmospheric Rivers affecting North America.

However these hemisphere level changes will also reach Europe. There is agreement amongst national forecasters that this El Niño ocean warming event will create areas of high pressure over both south eastern Europe and northern Scandinavia.

For March, April and May, this translates into higher than average temperatures, but with less rainfall. At the same time, the inbetween areas may well be cooler and have more rainfall.

There is what is known as the “Butterfly effect” in chaos theory. “A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle, and subsequently a storm ravages half of Europe.”

Only in this case, it is a butterfly on the Hawaiian Islands that is flapping its wings…

Shrinking violets

During one brief dry spell, I noticed some Violets, Viola tricolor, growing out between some stones.

Violets are a common European wild flower, however when I found a small single plant previously, my attempts at transplanting were not successful. So I was happy to see that these vibrantly coloured examples appeared to be thriving.

I gently eased several of the plantlets out of their crevice and then replanted them in pots and put them into the propagator.

The last time I tried moving Violets, I transplanted them straight into their new home. Whereupon they promptly expired! This time I decided I would try and get them to root in a controlled environment, before transplanting them into a permanent home.

The violet is a short lived perennial, with deeply coloured purple flowers. They don’t grow above 6cm tall but spread readily with prostrate stems.

I have a couple of places where I would like to transplant these plants too, once they have rooted. I did leave some of the originals though, in case I don’t have any success with my potted plants.

The propagator is being kept at 18°C with electric heating, so I’m comfortable that they will grow.

Also inside are some Styrofoam pots where I have planted Broccoli.

What we really need at the moment though is sunshine… NCG