2010. The year of extremes. We started out with one of the wettest springs I can remember. This accelerated growth in plant material, which takes energy. Then July hit, and somebody ‘turned off the water’. Most of you already know, but if you don’t, Indiana experienced the longest overall dry/heat combination that the Hoosier state has seen since they began recording weather here in the late 1800’s.

Now we have a recipe for disaster, lots of plant material that has expended energy flushing out lots of new growth, and guess what? Yup, you guessed it. In August and September, we missed some critical/crucial rains. We began seeing dead lawns, trees, and shrubs (not dormant, dead) in Carmel, Greenwood, Downtown, Avon, everywhere…

And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I predict a lot more mortality to show itself in spring, especially in older plant material that barely made it through the fall and went into the winter stressed and weak, in particular in evergreens. There are dead Arborvitae, Yews, Hemlocks, and Spruce all over the place.

Then December hit… can you say SNOW? The 3rd snowiest December for Indiana in over 100 years! Yes, we were busy doing snow removal, right into and through Christmas. Global warming? I’m not sure. Climate change? Maybe. What will 2011 bring? Well, I predict… oh, wait… there’s some more snow coming, gotta go!