April Showers- Few and Far Between

Because Spring came so early this year, we are seeing many of the May flowers in bloom-- but without benefit of many April Showers. The Rainfall Scorecard for Atlanta posted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office is an interesting comparison (at least interesting to horticultural geeks like the Crabapple LandscapExperts team). It compares the monthly rainfall for the past years (since 1996).  In this case, for the months December 2010 to mid-April 2011 we had a rainfall of  25.04 inches V.S. this year's December 2011 to mid-April 2012 with a rainfall total of only 12.51 inches, shows that we are lagging behind at only 51% of last year's winter rains. 


The rains that arrived last night and today will help to moisten parched soils around Atlanta.

Implications 

What does this mean for the landscapes that Crabapple maintains for our property managers and HOA reps? 

• First, less moisture means reduced incidence of fungus problems on dogwoods and lawns; a good thing. 
• But second, Atlanta's trees and shrubs may be suffering. Trees drink deeply and depend on replenished moisture levels through the winter to survive our typically dry summers. Plus, our trees won't show the ill effects of drought until it is too late to do anything about it. The saying is "trees take seven years to die". But we won't let it come to that! 

Your LandscapExperts will help you evaluate the stress on your shade trees and may recommend irrigation for impossible-to-replace mature trees during times of prolonged drought. Solutions such as trickle irrigation or once-a-week deep watering may be indicated. Call your LandscapExperts Rep at 770-740-9737 to discuss your landscape needs. 

photo credits: thanks to Seasons Magic and Holly Sasnet