05/15/2025
Spring can be an unpredictable time of year, with warm, summer-like conditions one day and snow the next. It’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security that the weather will remain hospitable when—WHAM!—a freak cold snap hits and reminds you that winter only ended a few weeks ago. Here’s everything you need to know about the “dogwood winter” phenomenon … But why is it called Dogwood Winter, or any of those other names, for that matter? Today, we keep track of the passing of the year with a calendar. If you want to know when the last frost of the year is likely to be, you can simply look up the date in your Farmers’ Almanac (or see the average frost dates online). Our ancestors, though, didn’t have calendars to consult. Instead, they relied on the signs of nature around them. A Dogwood Winter usually falls during late April or early May, right around the time the dogwood trees start blooming in many regions. Farmers knew it wasn’t safe to plant their crops until after the dogwoods bloomed. Likewise, it takes a few days of cold weather to stimulate blackberry canes to start growing, which is why Blackberry Winter is another popular term for this weather phenomenon. Locust trees and redbud trees are also seen as harbingers of a spring cold spell. Which name you choose depends on which kind of tree is most abundant in your neck of the woods.One largely forgotten term for a patch of cold during the springtime is Linsey-Woolsey Britches Winter. “Linsey-Woolsey britches” is an old nickname for long johns, usually spun from a combination of linen and wool. This end-of-spring cold snap marked the day when the Linsey-Woolsey britches could be packed away for the season.No matter what you call it if you have a garden—or even if you just plan on packing away those winter sweaters—you’ll do well to remember that Dogwood Winter could still be waiting to catch optimistic sun lovers unprepared!