This past winter saw two major snowstorms in the Philadelphia area. And now that the frozen mass has melted, the region is taking its time to warm up following the Spring Equinox. That bodes well for the local spring plant life, experts say.

“It should be a good year for gardening,” said Toni Ann Flanigan, president of the garden design and installation business, Philadelphia Gardens.

The city experienced its largest snowfall in 10 years in January, and weeks of ice cover followed. Philadelphia was blanketed in at least one inch of snow for nearly a month. Another storm brought nine inches of snow in February.

Snow cover serves as an insulating blanket, shielding plant roots from extreme cold. As it melts, it brings nitrogen and moisture to the soil. This assists the growth of early spring bulbs, most of which emerge in March.

“The soil is really moist right now, so the trees have been watered well. So are the shrubs and perennials,” Flanigan said.

At Morris Arboretum & Gardens, visitors can see dozens of blooming yellow daffodils at the Ha-Ha Wall, as well as clusters of violets, snowdrops and glory-of-the-snow throughout the grounds. Other species like the cherry blossom trees and hyacinth flowers are not far behind, rose expert Eloise Gayer said.

But it’s still too early for many spring plants. The Rose Garden is expected to mature in early June. The arboretum installs thousands of tulips every year, some of which will bloom as early as mid-April.

This transition into spring has been marked by fluctuating temperatures, with days ranging from highs of 40 to 75 degrees. There was a brief warm spurt in the second week of March, when temperatures surpassed 80 degrees. Severe thunderstorms and high winds later put the region under tornado watch.

Warmer than average conditions can cause spring plants to break dormancy early, and if cold snaps follow, that can kill the blooms. But Gayer said that warm week didn’t significantly affect the plants, except for a few roses that are leafing out early.

This fickle spring weather is normal for plants, she said. Increasing daylight also tell plants when to emerge, not just warming temperatures.

“This is pretty much standard timing, I would say, for the leaf out,” Gayer said.

The average spring leaf out date, when trees and plants first show their leaves, in Northwest Philadelphia is March 21, according to the USA National Phenology Network.

But plants are starting to leaf out earlier as winters become warmer due to climate change. Three out of the past five winters were among the warmest in Philadelphia’s recorded history. That can throw off the timing of some plants, leading to early blooms and then frost damage when cold conditions occur.

“Historically, most of the plants at Awbury are plants that are well adapted” to cold winters, said Jenna Bachman, the garden and grounds manager at Awbury Arboretum. “So, we are seeing later spring bloom times compared to the last five to 10 years. We’re having a lot of bulbs blooming now and then some other ephemerals just starting.”

Visitors can see early spring bulbs at the arboretum in Germantown such as winter aconite, crocus, snowdrops, daffodils and witch hazels. The cherry blossoms and magnolias are expected to bloom in the next few weeks, she said.

The storms seemed to be more damaging than the temperature, especially for trees, said Carter Johnson, senior naturalist at Briar Bush Nature Center in Abington.

“This past winter, lots of trees were coming down. The snow was really heavy, and the winds were pretty nasty,” he said. “Briar Bush is right on top of the hill, and there’s not a lot of other tree cover to buffer against those high winds that we get.”

But overall, trees and other early spring bulbs are holding strong.

“A lot of the flowers that are blooming in terms of trees right now are actually tiny, little flowers on our maple trees. Red maples specifically are pretty easily visible,” Johnson said.

Another drawback of snow is that it provides a haven for critters including voles, which are rodents that eat plant roots underground. Gayer said voles have feasted on some roses at Morris. They like a wide range of plants, especially ones with juicy, fibrous roots.

Philadelphians may also witness a phenomenon called frost heaving, where constant freezing and thawing causes the soil to expand and contract, pushing perennials out of the ground.

“If they see in their garden — not just the basal leaves of the perennials, but that the plant itself is a little bit higher than you normally would think it would be, it’s time to kind of push them back down, and you can just stand on them and do that,” Flanigan said.

Philadelphia gardeners are typically advised to start planting annual flowers on April 15 and save cold-sensitive plants like tomatoes and peppers for after Mother’s Day, when the region is free of frost.

Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.