Meteorologist Dave Epstein is our go-to person for pressing weather questions on everything from winter blizzards to summer droughts. He’s also a horticulturist, meaning he’s an expert in anything that grows leaves and flowers. GBH's Morning Edition asked our audience for weather and gardening questions, and Epstein graciously answered them on the air. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
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This has been a weird six weeks. Normally the weather moves from west to east, but this year it is kind of stuck. We have had a lot of showers day after day, most days there is a shower, most days are sometimes nice with sun and some with clouds. I am going to write to my Weather Guru to see what is going on. — Richard in Winchester
Richard is “100% right,” Epstein said. The reason for the weird weather lies in the jet stream, the band of air the typically flows west to east across the northern United States.
“What's happened is that the jet stream got a little bit of a kink in it,” Epstein said.
Picture the jet stream as a garden hose, carrying air from west to east.
“It's up in the northern tier, it's basically west to east. Things sort of move very nicely,” Epstein said. “And then what happened was our little hose here got a kink in it right around the Great Lakes and had a little loop. Picture a U, kind of, from the Ohio Valley over us and we're on the right side of the U.”
Usually, the Jetstream would divert hot, humid air coming in from the South. Not right now, Epstein said.
“The air's coming up from the South constantly, and pulling in the humidity and pulling in the clouds,” he said. “And because the U kind of was basically in place, our weather stayed the same.”
I have butterfly bushes that I trimmed back in late February and they are looking pretty dead at this point, no green growth at all. What did I do wrong?
First, Epstein said, unburden your conscience.
“You didn't do anything wrong,” he said.
The butterfly bush, a perennial shrub also called a buddleia, likely died during the abrupt cold snap in February. It was too cold for too long, and many butterfly bushes didn’t make it.
“My butterfly bush is also down,” Epstein said. “I'm sorry. Get a new one.”
Why is my basil struggling this year? It pots outside, but it's not growing well — yellow, small leaves. But my parsley is fine! What give with the basil? — Jamie Bologna, producer, GBH’s Boston Public Radio
The wet and cool weather may not be agreeing with the basil, Epstein said.
“Basil does not like wet weather. It likes to be on the drier side,” he said. “And we also haven't had a lot of heat.”
Epstein’s advice: Do some strategic trimming. Pinch off the top few leaves and any flowers to try and encourage the plant to grow bushier, not taller. Don’t let the leaves go to waste — use them in the kitchen.
“You want to pinch basil from the top down,” Epstein said. “If you pinch maybe an inch or two or three, you can use those leaves. Don't pinch it from the bottom up. Get it bushy.”
I have a hydrangea plant that is very healthy-looking, and this is its 3rd season in the ground, and still no buds on it. Do I need to fertilize it? — Kathleen
It may need some fertilizer, but it may also need some time, Epstein said.
“It could also be that it's just not hardy enough, and so it's hardy enough that the plant itself is leafing out, but the flower buds on many of these get blasted during the course of the winter,” he said. “Especially in a winter like we just had.”
Hydrangeas this year may be a bit lackluster in general, he said, especially those that pushed out flower buds early and got hit by the cold snap in February.
“Now you'll have to wait,” he said.
