European Gardening: Winterwatch?, 1 by wallaby1

wallaby1 wrote:
Hi alrac, I have fuchsias that never stopped or really only started late in the greenhouse, one called President George Bartlett was slow to grow from a plug last spring, it had 2 flowers recently and has more buds and all the leaves. The fuchsias next to my south wall are in active growth, with new tip growth and buds making, 2 of Madame Cornelissen full size buds blew off in the wind. They usually die back and most of the stems need to be removed, if they get through winter I will have very tall plants. My Salvia Black and Blue is sprouting too on last year's stems, it's supposed to be tender but I think the hot summer ripened the wood well.

Last night it was -3C in the greenhoue, and only 2C at midday today with sun, the water on the bath tub is frozen fairly deep, not a thin layer which can be tapped and broken. The next few days are going to be much the same, on a good note I have seed which needed germinating in water at 5C so they are going in the garage now.

When the Eucalyptus tree was sawn the top of the smaller trunk fell on part of my Leptospermum, which was at least 8 feet tall and full of flower last year. It was well split on a fork so I thought I would put insulation tape around it and hope, some plants mend that way. I had to manouver a branch of the Acacia while the large trunk was sawn, and yes it fell on the same spot and broke the other stem which hadn't broken on that side, so all I could do was cut the whole lot off. I now have one tall stem going towards the Acacia, a real shame as it's lost most of the growth.

This is the Leptospermum in flower, the part that is now gone.