We in East Tennessee have had an unusually warm spring, but, I held out taking the Hoyas outside for the season until the last couple weeks.
I have moved out most of my collection. (They so love the summer outdoors). The lows for the next 2 nights are forecast to be in the low 30's. I have been in denial for days and said I would just leave the plants under the gazebo. (De Nile is not just a river in Egypt you know).
I have just come in for a rest from madly moving all but the carnosas and publicalyx back inside.
Sometimes you just can't win for loosing!
Mel
feel my pain!!
Mel,
I feel your pain. I have packed out all my tropicals, cacti, and succulents. They are not coming back in. Survival of the fittest - either they will or won't make it. It sounds cruel, but I am tired of toting them in and out. I only have two hoyas outside, H. carnosa & H. pubicalyx. I will pack them inside. (Guess I have a little heart after all).
Cicada,i'm with you. I have alredy moved stuff back into the gh once. It is now moved back out and will stay out no matter what!!
We're expecting a cold front. Low of 49 tomorrow night. The hoya have been outside for a month already. I'm in denial too. I sure dont want to drag them back inside the greenhouse.
If I do have to drag some in it will be by selection of temperature tolerance.
We could sure use the expected rain though.
If it is not one thing, it's another. Between the wind, hail, and frost warning, it is enough to rob a plant lover of a nights sleep when our treasures are exposed to the elements. In spring 03, I moved all my tropicals outside and within a couple weeks we had pounding rain and gold ball size hail, which left my entire collection and garden looking as if it had been attacked by monster snails. If that were not enough, a neighbors willow tree fell on my property and destroyed a lilac tree and an entire flower bed.
Yeah nature has a tendency to show you once in a while who's in control.
Well said and true on many, many levels!!!
Mel, I can remember sitting at the table on the patio admiring the bloom on something (?) I was excited about. As I was sitting there a limb fell out of the pecan tree and karate chopped the bloom. It was so unreal I started laughing.
Too funny! What on earth would we do without a sense of humor? I would have done the same thing...after cursing the pecan tree of course!!
Oh yes, I did curse a little before I started laughing!
I feel your pain too, Mel. I moved all but my eriostemmas outside last Monday. 79 or close everyday. Humidity rising a tad bit. Beautiful weather! Well they all came back in yesterday. My kitchen is a JUNGLE!!!! Good thing though, I woke up to 35 degrees this morning. Maybe this is our 'Black Berry Winter'.
It is 36 here. The locals are calling this Dogwood Winter, which means Blackberry Winter will follow. I feel your pain too, Chainsaw! I had my sunroom cleared out and actually had a room! It quickly became a jungle again. I had moved all my Eriostemmas out and most were in bloom. I tried to make myself risk it and leave them out, but, in the end could not bear the pressure.
Mel
Hope it warms up for you guys...moving big/small pots around is not my fave...
Carol
Our low tonight is to be around 39/40. I sure hope the plants can handle it,if not they'll all be dead ducks in the morning should it get any colder because i'm not moving them again until November.
Mel,
sorry to hear about all the extra work you had to do. Those 80 degree days sure got us thinking it was summer already. This weekend was very COLD, windy & we even had a couple inches of snow which melted by Sunday afternoon. All the trees around here are blooming & leafing out. Tulips, daffodils, hyacynths are almost past their peeks. I've got three hybrid Clematis vines that are getting ready to bloom. The TB irises are twice as big than they should be this time of year. Boy! even my comet goldfish were spawning last week & I got so motivated cleaning the pond that I went out & bought 5 butterfly koi. The kids finally have their wooden swingset but just as we finished it, the cold weather returned so they haven't been able to go out & enjoy it. Sure wish we were closer, I would've volunteered to go help you.
Gemila
I feel the cold here.... on my way to work this morning we had a haile storm.... but my Hoyas are in side nice and warm..... :))