Ottawa Horticultural Society

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A Year of Challenges for Gardeners and Festival Organizers: 2002

2002 was a year that tested the mettle of festival organisers and gardeners alike. As we settled into what would normally be winter, December 2001 ended with a temperature six degrees above normal. This was just the beginning of a winter that would be the warmest since Environment Canada began keeping records in 1938. Winterlude was in danger of being renamed Waterlude because the canal refused to freeze. It wasnt because the temperatures were abnormally warm - most days were seasonal - it was just that those really cold days of winter didnt come. By the end of January, Ottawa should have had twenty days of minus 20 temperatures, but we experienced only one day of minus 18. Just in the nick of time, temperatures dropped for a couple of days, the canal froze and organisers were able to salvage the festival.

In mid-April temperatures soared. Records were set on April 16 (29oC), April 17 (30oC), and April 18 (27oC). Plants and trees were leaping into action and the tulips were bursting into bloom - well ahead of the Tulip Festival. Mother Nature sprang into action once more. Ottawa got buried under a major snowstorm at the end of April - accompanied by thunderstorms for good measure. The tulips were buried and their blooming slowed so most could make a guest appearance at the Festival.

The normal gardening season got off to a shaky start. The May long-weekend, long known as the traditional planting weekend was cold and wet. Temperatures managed to climb to a feeble 11 degrees for the holiday Monday. Newly planted seedlings had to weather overnight lows perilously close to freezing by the 25th. Then came the rains. A major downpour of more than 57 mm. of rain on June 28 broke the record set in 1943. The deluge also helped to make June the wettest on record. With 225 mm. of precipitation for the month, we received almost as much rainfall as we normally expect cumulatively for June, July and August (257 mm). Little did we know what was in store.

July was ushered in with sweltering heat. Canada Day was a hot and hazy 33 degrees with humidex factors reaching the mid-forties. The first four days continued to surpass the plus 30 mark. It was hard to imagine that a soggy June, could be followed by the driest July and August since record keeping began. Our parched gardens received only 47.8 mm of rain in July and a mere 11.8 mm. in August. The previous driest July/ August was in 1944 with 63.2 mm. of rainfall, compared to only 59.6 mm. in 2002. Surprisingly, the summer goes down in history as having experienced about 11 percent more than normal precipitation.

This was the perfect summer for weekend parties and gardening. Between June 1 and August 31, only four weekend days and holiday Mondays had any rain. If it is true that God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done, 2002 was the year of messy houses.

Remember those 30 plus days? Ottawa normally has only 12 days with temperatures greater than 30 degrees. This year the summer gave us 20 of those days and 11 of them were over 32 degrees. By the time September arrived, we werent done with the heat yet. September 8, 9 and 10 set new records with temperatures surpassing the 32 degree mark. The month continued to be warm and sunny well into the fall.

The end of the gardening season came on October 8 with a killing frost in outlying regions (read - my garden). The drizzly weather and cool temperatures continued throughout the month leaving many gardeners waiting for warmer days to finish gathering up their leaves and cleaning their gardens. Those days never came. Many of us will be facing those chores in the spring and evaluating the results of no-till gardening experiments - accidental or otherwise. Snow began to fall by mid-November but with moderate to warm temperatures, green grass was still showing when Christmas arrived, except for downtown gardens - a very localized storm that followed the river gave some neighbourhoods a white Christmas!

Predictions are for above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation for the start of 2003 as we pour over seed catalogues planning our gardens for next year.

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