Dan's Papers - May 6, 2008 - Earthly Delights by April Gonzales

April showers have been way over due, so it was good to get a drenching this week. But the East End is behind in the leafing out and flowering, too. Both New York City and Connecticut are ahead of us in their bloom sequence by about two weeks.

On a visit to New York last week, we experienced the usual unusual April day that seemed like summer. Every year this happens, women in summer dresses, guys in shorts and FIT students in flip flops all hit the streets. But the balmy summer like weather is only a tease, it never lasts, particularly out here on the East End.

In Manhattan last week, the earlier arrival of the bleeding hearts and tulips, in full bloom in Madison Square Park, were a delightful surprise. We're still exclaiming over their predecessors in the garden here, the daffodils and Hellebores, the true early bloomers, which were passed in the city.

The difference in spring's arrival is clearly illustrated on the drive from Southampton to New York. All along the corridor of the Long Island Expressway spring unfolds as you travel west. The apples and cherries are in full bloom about mid island and leaves progressively unfurl as you move west.

All the warmth held in Manhattan's concrete is part of the answer since it heats up quicker than soil and retains the heat longer. The reflected light off of the endless glass windows also increases the temperature and speeds spring along. This is why the trees there are in full leaf while ours are just beginning to unfurl.

But the same concrete and glass environment is not so much a part of the Connecticut landscape to the north of us, which was awash with Magnolias two weeks ago. Stunning pink sugar Magnolias were everywhere in full flower. Coming home from visiting my mother I am delighted to be experiencing spring twice, as the magnolias are just about to peak in their bloom here. We had the same pleasure of two springs in April when we traveled down through Pennsylvania and Delaware to visit Winterthur and Longwood gardens. Heading south to find spring before it happens here makes sense, but why was Connecticut warmer? Even Port Jefferson had maples leafing out, but as we drove south and east, spring went into reverse.

Taking a walk across Manhattan and out onto the pier of Hudson River Park can provide in a microcosm the explanation of why this happens to the East End. The wind picks up and the temperature drops as you head out over the water along the length of the longest pier. The landward side of the pier is sheltered by an old warehouse. People lounge on the broad lawn of fake grass like it's a carpet, some in bathing suits. But at the end of the pier, you pass under a grove of locusts whose leaves have barely broken bud - they are out of synch with the rest of New York's soft green foliage. It is the chill of the river wind combined with the longer warming time of the Hudson River itself that has kept the trees dormant longer than the other park and street trees around the city.

The Atlantic plays the same role here on the East End. Far more vast than the Hudson, the ocean regulates our climate. It stays colder longer than the land that's why Sagaponack can be so foggy in early spring. Chilly winds coming out of the east nip at the noses of dog walkers and keep the natural tendencies of spring exuberance in check. Some years it feels like March stretches into May and then suddenly, as the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream move in, summer arrives in a day.

While I was bragging about our resident wild turkey population recently, a listener responded in a somewhat jaded manner, "Oh we have them too. They're the new deer."

Au contraire!!! Deer do not eat ticks!!! And the turkey's scratching around only helps them to find other delicacies like slugs, pill bugs and beetle larvae. My husband is feeding them a steady diet of vegetable scraps and old bread, I must confess, in hopes that they stick around. This means they wander into the new vegetable garden, true, but they will have some stiff competition from the chipmunks if they expect to get any of the strawberries. And watching them fly over the fence and run away into the woods is completely entertaining!

For more than 20 years, April Gonzales has been involved in garden design, installation and maintenance on the East End, as well as specimen plant scouting and site supervision for landscape architects.