Yes it's winter even in California!

Today was the first snow day here in Somerset, CA., in the Sierra foothills at 3500' elevation. It snows here every year, but it was late this year, as we usually have some by November.

Who else has snow? Did you say it snowed in Julian? I was there about 30 years ago or so. What a lovely little town it was, and hopefully still is.

What a beautiful little girl, SW!

Crazy weather - my Lady Banks rose is trying to bloom!

I'm back in Modesto and I can tell you that it's colder up here and especially when the furnace in my dad's house has been off. Iceberg...funky old floor furnace that I didn't want to deal with for fear of blowing up the place. I've already jammed the old skeleton key in the rickety old lock once and screwed up his strange remote system for the TV so I've been getting one TV channel, the one book I brought is not interesting and it's cold..whine...
Transferring my Dad into hospice care tomorrow...bigger whine....

Here's one more fun thing to do during a California winter.
I went to the parade in Fallbrook, as I said before. I took my two granddaughters and two of their cousins to it. (they all call me grampa Randy) Here's a few pictures

Big Christmas tree!

This message was edited Dec 6, 2009 10:39 PM

No parade is complete without a band and this one had several. Here's the Marine Corp band.

HEY BARNEY!! (is that barney fife?)

There were cool old cars.....

...and children dancing...

...big fire trucks....

...and small ones too...

...horse drawn wagons...

...and the Grinch on ice!!!

Frosty but happy granddaughters...

..the BIG sisters....

and the little sisters...

and at least one tired, but very happy grandpa..

Whoo Hoo!
I felt like I was there except for the frosty part! I loved the photos of the kids dancing, the little fire truck, even the Grinch, but the best was the smiles on your gd's faces. Yours was pretty neat to see too!
Well done Randy!
Merry Ho Ho Ho!
WIB!
SW

Great photos, DP! Thanks for posting them.

That is a wonderful way to celebrate. How very colorful everything is! Thanks for posting.

Here's a ginko tree and a red maple behind it. Most of the leaves have fallen off in the rain now. Here's hoping for more rain!

Serious frost here this morning---it'll be time to dig & share cannas before too much longer.

My cannas look just liek from the freeze last week. Love the picture of the ginko and maple. Randy your grandchildren are adorable and they look like they had such a great time!!
We had lots of rain yesterday ( Ok a lot for the desert) and 60-75 mile an hour winds. I am wonderig what my yard looks like and if we lost any trees. Too dark when I left this morning to see anything.

Yes that is frosty pigeon. Will you lose many plants to the freeze? I will probably lose my statice but hopefully not much more.

Beautiful photo of your frosty yard, imapigeon.
Too chicken to go outside. The temp is only 44, and while the rain has stopped for now, I am so cold, and know better than to go out even with the 20 lb. wool coat.
They say it will get up into the 50's but it's still in the 40's. I can't move well when it gets this cold. Going to have bundle up and do it anyway. Critters need food, probably lost a few plants to the cold. STAR! My bad, should have had the kids move them for me, but it was so busy Sunday at the Tree farm and so wet yesterday.
marie, with the exception of the one crazy canna in the gh, mine probably look like yours too. The ones I had last year got pretty cold, but they came back. If we'd had more rain they'd have been happier.
Oh well, I'll let ya know when I get done with my survey. Will take photos of the wet dogs and all.
I hope you don't loose your statice, Doss.
WIB,
SW

doss, I think most of the stuff in this photo will make it; I worry most about my beloved succulents. Since I've been entering everything into DG and keeping track of where I put it (what a fantastic tool!!) at least I should know what I've lost so I don't try it again. We have had temps as low as 18 a couple of times in the past 22 years, so I try to choose plants with that in mind. I do have a wee greenhouse, but I just don't have the room or the energy to schlepp stuff in and out of it. It was designed for seedlings, not mature plants. I am going to try covering my potted brugs with glass cloches to see if I can get them to recover faster in the spring. They've survived the past several winters, but it takes them so long to recover that they don't begin to bloom till around the end of August---if at all. If the cloches don't do it, I may have to move them...again....or give them to my friend who lives in San Jose, where it doesn't get as cold.

All of my cannas have always come back just fine after dying down to the corms, SW, so yours should be OK too.

I have to give FrillyLily the credit for this one. She posted it over on the Jokes and Humor forum. So for those who don't get there, please enjoy this as I did. It's a couple of pages and so much worth the 4 or 5 minutes it takes to read it.

http://www.homestead.org/NeilShelton/Compost/TheTurkeyManure...

So far the statice looks good. I've had to replace it three times over about the last 10 years though so I sort of look at them as annuals. It's in the upper 50s right now but the day is so gray it looks even colder.

DP,The link didn't work, sigh! I'll try going to the forum.
I've been running around covering up some of my succulents that I want to palm off, Oops, gift to DP for his new Succulent garden, at school. I made myself go outside and cover up my fountain, full of succulents, moved the lighter ones into the gh, and now I'm going to force myself out there and cover my Brug. Poor baby only just bloomed for the first time this year! AHHH!
Too big and doesn't like being in the gh. So am not moving it again. I've been trying the Journal, but find I do best when I can draw them out on graph paper. The photos help a lot too.
This is the confused poinsettia that is outside the gh.

This one lives in the gh, and hasn't turned red, does seem to have a bug problem though. Still battling aphids and sadly I found another mealie bug today. : - (
Persistent bugs!

I couldn't make the link I posted work either but this one (that looks exactly the same) does work. So go here to get to the link.http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1061478/

I found all kinds of interesting things today.
Before I get distracted and forget, thanks for making me laugh so hard it hurts, DP! Especially, since I just collected a truck full of nice horse manure a few weeks back. Hilarious!
Had an especially sweet start to the day. I saw three hummers frolicking in the second tier of the fountain at 6:30 am.
Later on my quest to get some plain old storage boxes and some perlite, I went to Lowe's. I was so amazed to see a sweet little lady hummer at the garden dept. At first she was perched on top of a Christmas tree, but then she flew off. I saw these cool Red Autumn Sage(Salvia de Otono Rojo), I had to get one. The poinsettia's were pretty picked over. I was walking down the aisle and the lady hummer came up to my cart and started eating from the plant I just put on it. I was enchanted and stopped and thanked her for her visit. skwinter, I believe you now. This sweetie, was mere inches from my face, and you could see a line of pollen caked on her beak. She was so precious. I think she visited every flower on the plant. She flew away, and I said to myself if this strange hummer likes this plant this much, I'm getting another one. So two followed me home.
wc, when you get home let me know, I'm really enchanted with this plant, and want to pick your brains about hummer attractors.
I also saw some interesting things like totally organic manure made of a mixture of bat guano, worm castings, and I forgot all the other exotic types of manure. Then there was the Preen Potting Soil which also fertilizes while it works as a pre-emergent. Amazing. For to tickle your funny bone read the link DP posted.
Meanwhile, I couldn't find a hook which I really need to go over the pipe in the gh frame to hang a plant from. The nice manager came over and showed me where they were hidden. He also announced that the poinsettia's were going on sell for $5/bowl, and $2/pot. So I went through and found three that were in pretty good shape, and they followed me home too.
So this is a photo of the hummer attractor. I kind of like it better than the poinsettia's.
Also you plant the whole pot, which I like because it gives them a chance to get well rooted before the gophers have a go at them. I think it's made of bamboo that biodegrades over time.
I did finally find the perlite. DH probably won't let me go shopping alone again, any time soon. But it was worth it!
Enjoy, the hummers and I will!
WIB,
SW

Now that sounds like a really good day, Jules!

DP, while your link may look the same, it's not complete, most likely just shortened to fit within the post but you have to copy the URL from the actual site, not from the thread where it was originally posted.
Your last link didn't work either because you have the period at the end of the word 'link' connected to the hyperlink, you need to edit & just add a space to it and it will work.

Winter is sure here! I was in downtown Livermore today and they had a pile of snow still left behind!

OOPS! LOL. Here it is.

Freaky cold!

I love that photo, Kell----having grown up in Colorado, it cracks me up that they have snow cordoned off......

I only brought 2 of my newest succulents inside, the rest are scattered around in pots and in beds, they all did fine. They are pretty tough. A few of the aeoneums have a little leaf damage but not bad.

Alright, for those who couldn't get to the link, maybe this will work.. Really funny.

http://www.homestead.org/NeilShelton/Compost/TheTurkeyManureManifesto.htm

LOL Janet. I thought that was so funny too! I grew up in NJ. We had loads of snow when I was a kid. Not so much any more I guess. My fondest snow memory was when I ran off the school bus to get to the bathroom in time and slipped on the ice and went. So mortified, I ran home with frozen undies. LOL

Sorry to see your frosted yard, Janet. Mine got fried esp the second night. I know all my brugs are goners that were left out. I covered most of my succulents. My favorite vines are goners as well. I still see purple out my window but I bet my prized tibouchinas are fried too. Sadly, all last night when I should I have been sleeping I thought of plants I forgot tucked here and there that I am sure are goners. One I have babied for 3 years and not yet a bloom. I bring it in every winter but have failed to pot it up so it stagnates. Though this last summer it grew a lot so I had hope. I can't think of the name, not a snail vine but a......
Anyway, Joyce sent it to me as a little thing and I so wanted to smell it. Shame on me for forgetting it.

The worst part of a bad frost is having to see the damage till spring. Hurts my spirits.

So Sue, what are your 2 newest succulents? Will I be so jealous?

This message was edited Dec 10, 2009 10:28 AM

And DP, it was a very funny article! Liked the comments about the Hostess Twinkies.

This message was edited Dec 11, 2009 12:08 AM