Ash tree late to leaf?

Minttea

Is anyone else's ash trees very late to leaf this year? Mine has only just come out in flowers and is still looking very bare!

Posy

Yes, very late.

pansyface

Yes, but they always are. 
Same as walnut.
Same as mulberry.
Lazy beggars.😉

Dovefromabove

Same here ... not even flowering yet ... buds not swelling either ... 

Minttea

I'm glad it's not just mine! It's much later than last year - I have photographic evidence...cold spring perhaps.

Dovefromabove

I’m thinking last year’s drought and the continuing dry soil conditions may have something to do with it.  Ash trees have shallow root systems and prefer moist sites ... 

Minttea

Ahh that would make sense.

raisingirl

Yes - very late here too.

wild edges

Oak before ash we'll just get a splash. Ash before oak we're in for a soak.

Old country boys would tell you this means we're in for a dry summer again.

Dovefromabove

The oak tree up the rise from here has been in full leaf for over a week now ... not a sign of spring on this ash ... no flowers and the black buds are still small and hard ... and the twigs sound very dry and rattly when the woodpigeons are canoodling in the branches.

I know that ash branches are brittle (fraxinus has the same etymological root as fragile) but this is unusual for this tree ... it’s dropped a far greater number of large twigs/small branches than usual over the winter.

The underlying chalk of this area is very close to the surface in this garden as the hillside has been terraced, and what soil there is is very gritty and free-draining ... I’m a tad concerned 😟 

raisingirl

Except that climate change means the Old Country Boys are often wrong, these days. Those little sayings rely on the averages being maintained - they regularly haven't been in the last ten years. Just on this one issue, the oaks have been out before the ash every year for the last 4 here, only one of the summers that followed was notably dry.