As we are experiencing unusually hot weather for June on the East Coast and in other parts of the country, like Chicago, one wonders what will be the best choice in plants for the garden. Will those plant hardiness zone charts be valid as they presently are or will there be changes to the recommendations about which plants will successfully grow where you live? Are plants starting to bloom earlier? What is happening and what advice should be given?
A research project is looking for citizen scientists who will help scientists answer these questions. This is a project called Project BudBurst where US residents, gardeners and plant lovers around the country can help in the collection of important ecological data based on the timing of leafing, flowering, and fruiting of plants (plant phenophases).
Project BudBurst is open to people of all ages and abilities. This would be a great project to get your kids involved in as well as yourselves. There is no cost to join and all the information you need to participate can be found on Project Bud Burst’s web site that will guide you through the simple steps to participate.
There is also a Project BudBurst team who will try and answer your questions as they come up. You can give as little as an hour of your time or as much time as you have to give to this project. This seems like a great project for everyone’s community and clubs like Brownies, Cub Scouts. Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and 4H, etc. should consider participating. Contact Project BudBurst to see how you can help.
If you do not live in the US, I wonder if you could contact Project BudBurst to see if you could start similar research in your country.
TheGardenLady readers would be interested in learning about any interesting observations you find if you participate.