Spring Flowers in December?

[Wandering Man]

Last year's attempt to plant wildflowers was unsuccessful because of too much rain.

This year, I planted my wildflower seeds in October, as I was told.  Later I read that some of the flowers will bloom within 6 to 8 weeks of planting.  I thought they required a prolonged cold spell to come up. 

Our temperatures since October have fallen from the 90's to the 80's.  We have had a few days with lows in the 40's and highs in the 60's, but the temps have been rebounding to the 80's. We've also had a few inches of rain.

I was surprised this afternoon when I drove out to the property and found quite a few blooms.







Not thick with flowers, but even this many was unexpected.  I wonder if my bees will be able to find anything to forage off of these?

[Bakersdozen]

Did you see any bees working the blooms?
I think you may have had crazy weather pattern just like we have had in NE Kansas.  We haven't had any moisture in a month and have set heat records. My rhododendrons were blooming two weeks ago.  My sister-in-law kept posting on FB pictures of different iris in bloom in her yard.  My iris weren't blooming, but there is a reason for that I am sure.  I do have a small pocket of New England and Heath Asters still blooming.

With weather like this, I wonder how quickly my bees are going to go through their winter food stores. 

[Wandering Man]

No, I didn't see bees working the blooms, but I didn't walk into the field to look.  I didn't want to squish any plants.

We left plenty of stores in most of our hives, but have two that we've already had to start feeding.  The others should be good for at least a few more weeks.

Interestingly, some of the honey frames look relatively fresh.  Not white, but only a little yellowish.  I think the local plants have been cooperative so far.  I've got robber screens on all of the hives, and hopefully they aren't just stealing from each other.

[Wandering Man]

A close up of some of the flowers.

From the prints in the mud, the deer may be enjoying the flowers too. 

60* and drizzly today, so very few bees are out.  3Reds thought she heard a bee, but we never spotted her.

[Bakersdozen]

Looks like Cosmos and Zinnias blooming.

[Bakersdozen]

One of my rhododendrons had a couple of blooms on it again yesterday.  It had a few blooms a couple of weeks ago.

[The15thMember]

We're seeing similarly confused plants here.  Around Thanksgiving some of the roses at our post office were starting to bloom, as were several maple trees where we walk our dogs, although once we got a solid frost they went back dormant.  Now today there was a little crab apple tree with several blossoms.  We're having a warm snap, so that's probably contributing now, but it wasn't overly warm around Thanksgiving.   

[RAST]

I have a friend with a citrus nursery down south of me that has trees blooming. He posted a picture yesterday.