Our cold weather in the 30's/low 40's is really bringing out the wild/vivid colors in the hibiscus blooms right now. Here's Hibiscus "Pay Dirt" blooming this morning with temps around 40. Unfortunately all the hibs will need to be brought inside tonight with scattered frost and a record low of 32/33 degrees.
And here's a more typical bloom on Hibiscus "Pay Dirt" during warm weather on Oct 17, 2009
Jon
Great pics Jon..
I'm still trying to get the colors to come through for me on Pay Dirt but it looks like I might have to wait until spring. Here is a pic from today
Both of them look so gorgeouse, they look so wonderful what ever the color tone is.
My God, seems like every guy whose name is Jon seems to have some of the most gorgeuose hibs around, miet have to change my name to Jon my self to see if I'm able to get these beauties also, LOL!
Wilfred
Thanks Jon & Wilfred. Only difference is our Pay Dirts seems to be the speckles in the coloration.
Hey, Jon, I think I like it better this way. Stunning bloom. What about your plants in the ground? Have a friend in La who has garbage cans, quilts & whatever over his in the ground plants. How long is it supposed to be that cold? We are expecting a big freeze
starting tomorrow night & lasting till Sunday. So far, everything in the GH looks okay but it hasn't been this cold since I've had the GH. Guess we will all find out together. It did get down to 34 in the GH Christmas Eve but I can't tell that it hurt the plants at all. The door was frozen shut or I would have put a second heater in there that night. Looked fine the next afternoon so I think they can sustain more cold....if it doesn't stay around that long...which it will be doing the last half of this week. What we do for the love of our plants! Thanks for sharing your blooms, both Jons. Really going to need some to brighten things up later this week. Hint, hint, Wilfred???
Hugs,
Judy
It stayed a little warmer here last night, than predicted, because it stayed breezy most of the night. Clouds and wind can help prevent all of the daytime heating from escaping into the atmosphere. The low was only 37 last night. It's supposed to be 34 or so tonight, so I'm just going to leave all the plants in the heated garage until tomorrow morning. I needed to clean up the area around the pool anyway, so now is the perfect time to do it since all of the plants have been removed.
You're gonna have to find a way to keep that greenhouse above 32 degrees Judy. Starting tonight, it looks like you've going to stay below freezing non-stop until Sunday. Tropicals can survive hours slightly below freezing, but not days. If the greenhouse can't stay above 32 you may have to pick and choose which plants to bring inside. LOL I have some strange looking plants in the house right now. There's a 6' tall red passion flower vine in bloom next to the TV and "Wolfgang" (LOL....my Pitcher Plant) is hanging from the book shelve.
Here's a picture of "all clear and cold" out back this morning.
Jon
And here's a picture of a section of the garage looking a bit cozy.
Jon
If my camera was working (needs new batteries is all), I would take a picture of my back yard so you could see it. Just depressing. My usual winter preservation chores did not get done and it's every plant for itself as far as the cold. I have a lot of brown going on in the yard. LOL
How nice to view some beautiful green and blooming plants Jon.
Hiya Patty. Great to hear from you. Your perennials will do fine in time and you'll get things back in order when you get some free time. Don't worry about it....it's only winter right now. Knowing you, you'll get things looking the way you want them to again. There's plenty of brown going on here also. Have a totally dead tangelo tree that went down hill and died within the last month. Have no clue as to why it happened.
Put a second heater in the GH today. They are both up front but the temperature sensor is at the rear so it is probably warmer from front to back. This pix is on one side. Got my DGS to take this pix as he is 6'5" & can get the camera high enough to see over the ferns sitting in the center of the floor. This was made 12-31-09 & the big snow was on the 24th.
That was the night the temp got down to 34 & the door was frozen in the track & I couldn't open it to add a 2nd heater.
Hugs,
Judy
This is the opposite side.
Judy
This is the sensor at the back of the GH. I pointed one heater to the right side & one to the left & I think they will take care of heating. Hope I don't have to bring anything into the house as I have company from Tn coming next Weds. Got enough cuttings, rootings & plants I'm keeping inside cause they need more warmth. But if that is what it takes I'll be trudging back & forth lugging plants. Never seen your yard looking so bare. Still pretty but something is missing! Around here it is all brown & ugly. Need to do a lot of work outside but this cold just keeps on keeping on! Such is life. Stay warm & keep your babies warm.
Hugs,
Judy
Hopefully the two heaters will do the trick Judy and keep the temperatures above freezing. I did about 2-3 hours of moving plants on Tuesday and plan on getting them back outside today. It's gonna get close to freezing again on Sat morning, so may be moving them again.
My back yard is generally pretty bare, for the most part. It slopes downward toward the back and gets some standing water when its very rainy in the summer. For that reason I've always left the back much less populated in comparison to the front.
Hey, Jon, two heaters did not do the trick. Tripped the breaker so I was out at 2 am unplugging one, finding the breaker & getting things going again. And, it was very windy, cold & the rain & sleet sounded like hail hitting on the roof of the GH. Just glad I noticed the temp read out & that it was not good. It was 24 this morning at 7 am so that is some
serious cold. My DS came over on his way home from work & brought a different type heater. Have 2 elect. outlets in the back yard so I have them on different breakers now.
The sun came out before noon & it was 60 after that. Its 44 in there right now. Have y'all warmed up any? This "Manitoba Mauler" can go back to Canada for my part. Hope everyone else is staying warm & your beauties survive the "MM."
Patty, good to hear from you. How is school?
Good thing you woke up and noticed one of the heaters had tripped. Was it 24 degrees outside or 24 degrees in the greenhouse? I'm hoping you meant it was 24 degrees outside. I would think having them on different outlets should do the trick. I have one of those inside/outside thermometers so it's easy to see what the actual temperature is outside. The outside part is away from the house so that it gives a true reading in regards to temperature.
Today we're getting a one day break from the cold. It's supposed to be a gorgeous sunny and 74 today. Things will quickly go downhill tonight/tomorrow with temperatures staying and falling through the 40's with showers. Will be flirting with a frost again on Sunday and Monday mornings. I noticed Orlando, FL will have mixed rain and snow tonight and Sat morning.......a rarity for Florida.
Jon
Yesterday it got up to a whole 44 and it was supposed to only get down to 33 last night, instead of around 20, which is what we've had for almost two weeks.....
Going back down today thru at least Wednesday! Bleh.....
The plants in the GH are doing fine and strangely enough, so are some others in the ground. My sagos, one covered with a sheet and one that I sprayed with Freezpruf, are both fine. Cat palms, covered with pinestraw and sheets, also seem to be fine.
A split leaf philodendron and black rubber tree are huddled under a couple of sheets on the southside of my house where there is shade and the neighbors house about 10' from ours. I checked the outer leaves of the phil and don't see any damage. interesting....
Barb
Hi everyone,
We'll trade weather with any of you, yesterday we had a wind chill factor below zero, the temps have been right around single digits here with continuous snow. For New Years we went down to Fort Myers area and we also stopped by and seen Randy and Annelle Cox from Tried and True hibiscus and the weather was nice but when we returned back up here on that following Saturday the temps was 3 degrees.
Patrick and Donna
All these beautiful flowers are making me so jealous.. One of my plants is pretty much dormant and the other one hasn't flowered in almost a month... No to add out side theres almost 6" of snow :( man i wish for summer....
jen
Hey Patrick & Donna, good to hear from you again. How's your back Donna? Hope its better. How are your plants doing? What did you get from Tried & True?
Jen, did you get the pkg I mailed to you? Surely its arrived since its been over a month.
Jon, the temp was 24 outside, not in the GH. Got 2 different heaters now but still have them on 2 outlets. HATE winter. How are your plants doiing? Our Fat Stock Show & Rodeo starts this week & goes for 3 weeks. Going to have Company from Tenn but don't have to go with them. (No flowers there!) Supposed to be much warmer this week & its a good thing...going to have to move things around & water the plants at the back. We usually have "Stock show weather" which is a really cold spell. Hope it just came early this year. Had enough winter to last all year for me. That's just wishful thinking. Stay warm everyone.
Judy
Phew! Had me worried hoping it wasn't 24 in the greenhouse Judy. Sounds like things are going ok? Yesterday (Sat) was miserable here all day. Windy, rainy and temperatures fell thru the 40's all day. It was a very close call with frost last night as it dropped to 33. Tonight's going to be exactly the same with predicted low of 33. I'm a bit more concerned tonight, because the sky has cleared, and the winds have calmed All potted hibs/plants are either in the heated garage again or on the kitchen floor! LOL All the plants outside are unprotected except for some annuals, I grew myself, and some Ranunculus flower bulbs that have foliage already. Really don't want to lose the stuff I've grown because it can't be easily replaced. All the unprotected stuff is well watered from yesterdays rains. That adds a minimal amount of extra protection.
Anyway....here are some hibiscus blooms tonight on the kitchen floor!! LOL This is Hibiscus "Antique Treasure"
Hibiscus "Irish Eyes"
And this monster is Hibiscus "Silver Charm". The bloom has been open for 4 days now.
Jon
Wow, wow & a big WOW for Silver Charm. This odd looking Morning Star has been opened since the 12-31-09. Will try to get a pix tomorrow but I can't believe how long its been opened & looks good. Think the cold temps are not that bad on the Hibs. At least the blooms last forever. One I brought in the house cause it had lots of buds, the flowers only lasted a couple of days & the leaves started yellowing so I took it out to the GH. Heat with gas & I don't think they particularly like that. Got some things I'm rooting but keep them in a room that is cooler with southern sunlight. Hope your plants outside make it.
Know this is a real headache for everyone in Fla. We expect some bad weather but it usually comes & goes. The new heaters DS brought over seems to be working better than what I was using. Keeps telling me I need to scale back but sure is a big help keeping
things going for me. Think he likes them too!!! Stay warm & keep those beauties warm.
Judy
That blooms been open since last year? LOL I never heard of such a thing. I agree, the cool weather is good for the hibiscus as long as its not below 40 very often. Not sure why your hibiscus was yellowing. It should have been fine inside.
Went back outside at 11:30PM and covered some more plants with sheets. Just have a bad feeling/hunch its going be get colder than predicted. Yes, the cold is a real pain here and it gets cold inside the house. The heaters are part of the air conditioning unit so the heat gets blown down from the ceiling ducts. It's not as efficient compared to Northern homes where the heat is closer to floor level.
Good idea to take extra care with the things you're rooting. Those babies need extra protection!!!
Here is a pix of the same bloom, Jon. Sorry it is not a better pix but my DGS made the other one & he is 6' 5" & I'm 5' 2". Did climb a step stool to take a pix from the same angle but it was fuzzy....probably cause I was afraid I was going to bust my buttons if I fell. Any way I think this bloom has about done its thing but that is a very long time for a bloom to last. Got another bud by this one & one at the top. Anxious to see what they do as this plant makes those different blooms & want to get 2 different ones at the same time. This one I chalked up to the difference in weather but the earlier odd ones I think may be a sport. How are your Hibs doing now. They just said y'all should have 80s by the end of the week. We are going to have a heat wave....temps in the 50s!!
Judy
Nice bloom Judy. All the plants/hibiscus that were unprotected seem to be fine. Temperature quickly dropped to 34 last night by 4AM, but then rose a few degrees before dawn. I put all the potted plants back outside. Yes, it's going to be 80 by Saturday. Very strange driving around here today. Some of the trees leaves are turning orange/red/yellow. It's the first time I've ever noticed "fall foliage" in South Florida.
Hi Judy,
Just wanted to let you know that Donna is doing about the same , she can stand for a short period of time but than has to sit, but she said the trip we took to Florida didn't bother her because she was sitting alot of the time. Some of the hibiscus we picked up was Bayou Irene, Make a wish, Tigerama, Cherry cola, Early American and a couple other's for a total of about 12, while we were there Randy showed me his grafting technique so this spring if some of my rootstock are big enough I will try it. I hope you're doing okay in this crazy cold weather, below is a picture of Lexie waiting in line for Santa.
Patrick
Glad to hear from y'all. It is good that Donna can sit. My youngest son had back surgery & he couldn't stand to sit. Depends on where the problem is located I'm sure. Know y'all enjoyed seeing Randy & picking up some new plants. You sure got some pretty ones. I am learning some of them.....gradually. Hope to someday do some grafting but not planning on doing it soon. Lexie looks like a little doll & her outfit is sooooo cute. Bet she had a good Christmas! It is more fun when there are little ones. It has been pretty nice for awhile. Glad as I have company from Tenn for a couple of weeks. They are here for the Stock Show & Rodeo. I cook breakfast & they eat & take off for the SS&R. So glad I don't have to go with them....not my thing as there are no flowers there. Been pretty enough to do some things outside. My big ferns have been outside for a week. My nephew thought they were out there during the bad weather. Do look good & I'm glad to look out & see something pretty. How is y'all's weather? Good to hear from y'all.
Anything blooming at your house? Hint, hint!
Judy
