This is the first year that I have paid attention to the basswood bloom.
I only have a few identified basswoods on my property. Only one of them is larger than my bicep @ the trunk and the largest is ~40 foot high. None of them has buds which would produce flowers in the next week or two.
This year there was a very hard freeze after the apples bloomed that killed all the young fruit (~20f for the 12+ hours). I am wondering if a late freeze like that can keep the basswoods from blooming (kill the young buds) or if I just need to wander onto someone else's property to find older basswoods to gauge when our bloom begins.
-Near Menomonie Wi
The answer would be yes and yes. A hard freeze like that can definitely kill flower buds. Your trees could also be too young. Here in Iowa a couple of years ago we had a late freeze that killed most of the oak flowers (You don't really notice them because they are not showy, but they are there.) just as they were starting to bloom. Rough year on the deer and turkey that year - no acorns.
JC
Same problem on this side of Lake Michigan.
I have a lot of basswoods on my property and up and down the river I live on. The only blossoms I see (which are two weeks early) are branches that are sitting under sugar maple branches. Apparently the already leafed sugar maples protected the basswood buds. I don't see any basswood blossoms, no matter the age or height of the tree, except where protected.
For me it is a big disappointment. Basswood honey is so tasty and usually a major flow for me for 3 weeks in July. Hard to loose that source.
HTH,
Jay