The Nashville-area hit 80 degree temperatures on Friday, breaking a more than 100-year record, and with all of the warm weather Tennessee has experienced this winter, some flowers have started blooming early.
At Cheekwood Botanical Garden, tulips have already started to bloom, and the flower has been about two weeks ahead of schedule.
“Everything is waking up, which is a little bit too soon, it makes us a little bit nervous," Sarah Lowe, Botanical Garden and Horticulture Manager at Cheekwood, said. “I’ve been here in Nashville for 17 years now, and I’ve never experienced spring like this in the middle of February.”
Due to the warm winter temperatures, the garden staff has to monitor for pests and diseases in the garden while working to ensure the beauty stays through this unusual winter.
“Two years ago it was ice here in Nashville," Lowe explained. "Every year’s different, so we try to plan, but it’s just, you never know what Mother Nature has in store for us.”
Lowe suggested anyone looking to plant their own flowers or their own garden wait until winter has officially ended, and spring has arrived.
“It gets confusing because it’s so warm right now and you feel like you want to go out and start planting things and you’ll start finding things in the big box stores and you’ll want to go start planting your tomatoes because it’s warm, but it’s really too soon to do some of that stuff, so you kind of want to just calm down and just hold back for a little bit.”
