Spring 2012 Central Wisconsin Plant Flowering Dates

Spring 2012 Central Wisconsin Plant Flowering Dates (through April 30th): Averaged 14 Days Ahead of Pre-2010 Records

Emmet Judziewicz

Associate Professor of Biology

and

Robert Freckmann

Emeritus Professor of Biology

Through April 30th, Central Wisconsin (Marathon, Portage, and Woods Counties) native, weedy, and cultivated plant species have broken their record early flowering dates (most set in 2010) by an average of 8 days. In turn, 2010 records beat all 1973-2009 records 8 days. 2012 records have beaten all records previous to 2010 by an average of 14.2 days.

Over the 37 year period from 1973-2009, a total of 15 species had flowering records before April 1st in the Stevens Point area, and 86 species before May 1st.

In 2010 alone, 24 species flowered before April 1st, and 121 species before May 1st.

And in 2012, 84 species flowered before April 1st, and 252 species before May 1st.

A total of 263 species are on this list; 112 are native to Central Wisconsin, while 151 are weedy or cultivated.

An important caveat: We admit to a data collection bias this year – we really searched for early-flowering garden records all over town, much more so than in earlier years.

1973-2009 observations were made by Bob Freckmann. 2010 and 2012 observations were made by Judziewicz (about 60%), Freckmann (ca. 20%), with the rest kindly contributed by these colleagues and students: Seth Barthen, Mary Bartkowiak, Alvin Bogdansky, Tracy Feldman, Diane Lueck, Carol Kropidlowski, Angie and Rich Hauer, Rhiannon Kohlmoss, Steve Krause, Noel Martell-Segura, Jeff Morin, and Ron Tschida.

We'd welcome any of your observations for additional early flowering species we have missed (flowering cut-off date: April 30th).