Basketball isn’t the only exciting and unpredictable thing that happens in March. Sometimes the weather can be just as uncertain as your NCAA tourney picks. March is maddness, but we can enjoy it by throwing a basketball watch party during the tournament. We have all the essentials you need to alt least make hosting predictable. Typically, when March arrives in the Carolinas, it means that spring is just around the corner. In the beginning of the month, lenten roses were in full bloom and highlighted the flowerbeds throughout the area. It’s always the first perennial to bloom and a symbol that warmer weather is headed our way.
In the middle of the month, the daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths are another promising sign that winter is drawing to a close. We anxiously await the return of the greenery. While other parts of the country are still dealing with winter weather, the Carolinas are looking good in the garden (and on the court). The leaves on the trees start to emerge and many other plants like forsythia, hostas, irises, azaleas and hydrangeas also begin to percolate. Gardeners in our zone (hardiness growing zone 7) watch the night time weather forecasts closely because temperatures can fluctuate greatly. It is not uncommon to have huge swings where the overnight temperatures fall below twenty five degrees causing heavy damage to most tender plants.
The weather in March is fickle. Our temperatures are about as reliable as our NCAA bracket picks were this year. It’s not unusual to have daytime temps in the high seventies and then a cold snap where the temperature results in a hard freeze . When this happens, we interrupt the basketball watching frenzy, aka March Madness and head outside. We recruit our families to help us cover the tender plants with blankets and sheets to protect them from the frost. So whether you are an avid gardener, Chapel Hill or Duke fan, March in the Carolinas is madness!
