Spring buds eager to sprout, but first, more snow

Encouraged by recent warm weather, flower bulbs spring to life at the Shelter Gardens, perhaps indicating winter’s end is near.   ¦  CATALIN ABAGIU

With the weekend spate of shirt-sleeves weather, some shoots began to pop out of the ground. At Shelter Gardens on Monday, there they were — shafts of green amid the bare and brown, an annual promise of spring for which, this year, Columbia residents seem more than ready.

The wait continues. The National Weather Service is forecasting an 80 percent chance of snow for the city Tuesday with a high of 32 degrees. But gardeners enjoying their bit of green probably shouldn’t worry that this return to wintry weather will harm their bulbs.

Carl Burkett, senior landscape technician at Shelter Gardens, 1817 W. Broadway, said freezes, not snow, are a threat. Burkett keeps careful eye on the bountiful roses at the public gardens, and last year many of them had to be replaced because they had budded before a late-season freeze hit.

“It can be a problem if it’s a real bad freeze like last year,” Burkett said. “Snow isn’t a problem because it provides insulation.”

Joy Long, grounds superintendent at the gardens, said she is looking forward to a change in seasons.

“I wish spring was here,” Long said. “Once the warm weather hits, we’re going to be busy.”