Phenology! Phenology! Read All About It!

by Stacey Haag

You may not be familiar with the term, but I bet you're familiar with its application. Phenology is the study of how seasonal changes impact the life cycles of plants and animals in the natural world. It also studies how these changes are affected by climate and habitat.

What gardener isn't familiar with The Old Farmer's Almanac? It's hard to check out at a garden center or hardware store without seeing it adorning the counter. Phenology has been part of The Old Farmer’s Almanac culture for centuries -- 233 years, to be exact, making it the oldest continuously published periodical in North America!

One of the most famous phenologists was Aldo Leopold, an American writer, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist. In the early 1900s, he studied phenology through spending weekends at “The Shack” with his family along the Wisconsin River. His 1949 A Sand County Almanac is considered a landmark in the American conservation movement and remains one of the most popular and influential books on environmentalism.

"There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot."

- Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Every January, my daughter and I begin a new phenology book that we read aloud weekly, concluding in December. These books are grounding, a way for us to begin our weeks, marking the natural changes we observe outside our window, instilling an appreciation for things that are easy to take for granted when we busy ourselves with the demands of the modern world.

In addition to A Sand County Almanac, we have enjoyed My Year by renowned children's author Roald Dahl, a nature study that he wrote from his countryside home during the final year of his life. It describes the various flora and fauna seen around his property, interspersed with tales from his youth. Since his home was in Buckinghamshire, England, we were unfamiliar with many of the species that he described, which we actually enjoyed. I was frequently googling images and descriptions of the various flowers, bushes, and birds.

"I rather like the month of March. I know it can be bitter cold, but your heart is lifted by the signs of approaching spring all around you."

- Roald Dahl, My Year

Last year, we enjoyed reading Edwin Way Teale's A Walk Through the Year. Teale was from my home state of Illinois and published this book in the year I was born, which made the read extra special. Teale's ability to combine the artistic, philosophical, and scientific in his writing earned him the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

“In nature, everything flows. All is change. In truth, we never cross the same river twice. But the printed page does not change. It is the river we can cross again.”

- Edwin Way Teale, A Walk through the Year

This year, we're working our way through Margaret Renkl's The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year. Each thoughtful essay is accompanied by beautiful artwork, illustrated by her brother, Billy. Renkl lives and writes in her Belle Meade home, so her essays feel familiar and easily relatable to local readers.

“Pull up a weed from the wet soil of the drenched garden and smell the rich life the earthworm has left behind. Just a whiff of it will flood you with a feeling of well-being. The microbes in freshly turned soil stimulate serotonin production, working on the human brain the same way antidepressants do.”

- Margaret Renkl, The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

As gardeners, many of us keep written records of our gardening trials and tribulations. If you're anything like me, I rarely refer back to my records, usually because I have to hunt for what I'm looking for as the chronological nature of recording, while it makes sense at the time, later leads to numerous attempts at trying to estimate when a particular event or planting happened in the past. Perhaps, in the future, inspired by these naturalists and authors, I will attempt to remake my record keeping in a more eloquent way, focusing more on a qualitative and narrative approach, thereby creating my own phenological record.

Check out these additional phenology resources...

• Read "Gardening Guided by Phenology" by Dr. Holly Walker, Plant Health Specialist & Alexander Dencker, Horticulturist from Smithsonian Gardens.

• Predict the "Status of Spring" with the USA National Phenology Network.

Flowers

by Michelle Hollingsworth

I have always loved flowers. When I planted any type of landscaping around the homes I lived in, my one consistent plant that I wanted was rose bushes.

In more recent years, I added the little gem magnolias, gardenia bushes, and, in my garden, marigolds and zinnias.

The flowers remind me of the fleeting beauty we get to witness during the changing seasons in Tennessee. They also remind me of how short life can be.

I had two amazing grandmothers in my life. One of my grandmothers’ favorite roses were tea roses. I love the way roses smell, but I also enjoy their beauty. The thorns on roses remind me that all beauty can also coincide with pain. It hurts when loved ones leave this world because we miss them and the beauty they brought into our lives.

Neither of my grandmothers’ beauty was in physical appearance. It was in their love for others. Both grew up as children during the Great Depression and could recite the current price of ground beef per pound all the years I knew them. One of my grandmothers even kept toilet paper rolls stacked along her home hallways, because she lived through the shortage of that commodity. She didn’t take anything for granted, except her health. She lost her husband to a massive heart attack that he suffered while driving. After that, her health gradually deteriorated. She has been gone for over 27 years now. Yet, the beauty of her life is still reflected in my tea rose bushes.

My other grandmother has only been gone for 10 years, and her name was Violet. She was named after a purple flower, so I also plant purple rhododendron bushes where I live. Their purple blooms come early spring and instantly cheer me up. Both of my grandmothers had gardens in their backyard. And I, like many I know, took that for granted. What I wouldn’t give to know their garden secrets, tips, and tricks today. But, that season of my life has now passed. Passing seasons can be sad, but lessons are learned with each one, if we pay attention.

When the winter season comes, and roses and other flower blooms are gone, I turn to art that I can do inside to cheer me up. I paint mostly nature and, in particular, I realized that I have an assortment of flower art pieces hanging in my home for me to see all year long.

Spring is slowly starting back up in Tennessee and so will all the flower blooms. I look forward to seeing the impression my grandmothers had on my life when they all bloom again. My granddaughter’s name is Lily, and I look forward to planting lilies this year.

My faith is a big part of my life. I know pruning flowers and rotating our gardens is also mentioned in scripture. I lean on these bible verses when I am planting and growing my flowers.

“So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” Corinthians 3:7

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever." Isaiah 40:8

 "Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” Luke 12:27

Bring some tools and help ready the Highland Rim Demonstration Garden for the season during our workday on Saturday, March 29 from 8 AM until noon.

It's almost tour time in Tennessee! Dates for the 2025 UT Extension Master Gardener regional tours have been announced and are fast approaching. Keep an eye out for registration to open soon. New "Office Hours" Zoom talks have been scheduled and new horticulture extension publications have been released. Find all of this and more... here!

The 2025 Tennessee Home Fruit and Vegetable Garden calendar has been released! Click here to download the digital edition.