According to tonight's weather forecast, it's going to be colder tonight. Lower than 17ºF? It's hard to believe anything is blooming. We had our first frost in late October. While it didn't kill plants, it did wipe out all the flowering tips. I'm glad you got to enjoy blooms a bit longer.
Getting ready for winter: what do I do?
I think those blooms were a little freakish. Those plants just didn't know when to turn in for the winter, lol!
Oh yeah, now I remember that you can always tell when it's time to cut the plants back, because that frost turns 'em really ugly, lol!
I cut back most of my salvias and all my pentas today.
I cut back all my pentas, lantana, mexican sage (salvia), and blue plumbego and covered them with mulch. What kind of salvias did you cut back Maggie? I have those little red flame ones but I thought they were annuals so I assumed they were dead from the freeze and put them in the mulch pile.
I also took down all the fencing surrounding my tomato plants as well as the plants. Good grief..some of them had major root systems. The tomatoes that were on the vines were all squishing and gross. Into the mulch pile...so sad!
It was a beautiful day to do all the winter prep tho. Those poor pentas...they looked so sad!
I have always composted my tomato plants and tomatos too if the bugs got them first, but a nursery owner here locally told me that you shouldn't compost tomato or the plants because of some blight or something like that. Has anybody heard of anythiing like that?
Mary Lee, I've heard that as long as the plant was not diseased (fungal or the like) it's fine to add them to your compost pile.
Michelle, I cut back just the salvias that were burned from the freeze(s), or looked really bad: Coral Nymph, Leucantha (Mexican Bush Sage), Henry Deuhlberg, and Mealy Cup (Farinacea). Some are still doing fine, but were in different areas of the garden, so maybe they were more protected or something.
My elephant ears froze back to the ground. Should I dig them up and store them or just cover them with mulch?
Mulch them and they should be fine.
My elephant ears are on the north side of the house and I have never dug them up. There are always alot of pecan leaves on them though. They are pretty good mulch.
Well ladies, I've got everything covered up with mulch. After it rains tonight, will I need to put a fresh layer of mulch on before it "supposedly" freezes this weekend? Do I cover with the mulch where it completely covers the stems or just the base of the plant so the roots stay protected? ie. my pentas I cut back to 8". The mulch does not cover to the top of the 8" currently, but DH says it needs to be. Advice?
Thanks, Michelle
Michelle, my experience is that you don't have to cover the stems, just the base, to about 3" or 4" if you can. The plant will grow back from the roots at the base, not further up on the stems. You leave part of the stems like that though, because those will freeze, and the freeze won't continue down to the base (and the roots.) It's easier to protect the base/roots from freezing when you have that "buffer" zone above, the stems.
Thanks Maggie, that is what I suspected so thanks for backing me up!
Ladies, I received some great news today. We got an email from our adoption agency that our Dossier (all our paperwork) was officially logged in to the CCAA on 11/21. This means that it is being translated now and will soon be in the review room. If y'all want to get these updates, I have a thread in the Parking Lot forum: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/554489/
Blessings, Michelle
That's good news, Michelle. Does this mean you will be changing diapers soon?
Hey betty, oh no...we have a LONG wait still. It was just good to have concrete evidence that the CCAA does actually have our Dossier and are actually doing something with it. But it will still be about a year before we go to China to get her. They still have 3 levels of the translation room, 3 levels of review room and 3 levels of matching room to go thru before they send us pictures and info on our baby. They WERE on a 7 month time line for all that, but are behind and are now on a 12 month or more time line which is a total bummer. But I know the time will go by very very quickly. Especially with all the prep we need to do to the house. We have a small 3 bedroom house and so making the guest/catch-all room into a baby's room will take a lot of effort!
Hey ladies,
so my Ixora does NOT look good. It is in a HUGE clay pot and I didn't want to drag it inside when it froze and DH thought it would be fine too. But alas, when we had that freeze, it looks really bad. I thought evergreens didn't freeze? I know, I'm a dumb bunny. What should I do with it now? Cut it back? leave it alone? Somehow get it moved into the sunroom? Do y'all think it will survive? Boohiss...I should have put a sheet over it!!
Michelle
Ixora do not like to get that cold and in a pot .. .. .. trim back, cover, and wait for spring before you cross it off.
Michelle,
I don't even know what Ixoras are, but a quick look in the PlantFiles suggests they are only hardy to zone 9, meaning they need some protection from temps below 20. I'm with Mitch, cover it well with mulch, and maybe wrap some bubble wrap around the pot to insulate it a little. You may be surprised, it may come back for you!
mine do not survive extreme heat or extreme cold. I have a Maui Red planted inground, full sun that presently looks pitiful. This is my 3rd attempt. I will cover w/ mulch but if it doesn't recover, I wont buy any more.
I fell in love with this plant when I noticed it at an auto repair shop in my same town, about 10 mi. from my house. Planted in a built in brick planter, outside the front entrance, mostly sun. They have a row of them, MAGNIFICENT, and do nothing to them but water when they remember. They are evergreen in the wintertime. Of course, I went in to ask what it was and the counter fella was annoyed I was asking about the plants and not about an alternator, brake job, or some other "manly" topic. Anyway, I got it identified in the ID Forum, and bought it. I think they do great in Hawaii,but my experience has been less than perfect. I breathe a sigh of envy every time I drive by Dave's Auto Shop, lol
Covering it at this stage may or may not help, but don't trim. It's amazing how much protection those branches provide for the underlying ones.
The only place I have seen these really do good is in frost free areas. . . when we were in Mexico they lived through one freak storm but they looked really bad for almost a year afterwords. I have been told that pots keep plants roots colder then in the ground too - if the plant makes it plant in the ground for less damage in years to come. (all of this IMHO!)
Well phooey, i will be so sad to lose the Ixora. It gave me so much pleasure!! Doggone..I wish I'd put it inside. Dh is going to kill me b/c he really liked it too. It was a Maui flame as well. It put out blooms all spring and summer. I thought since the nurseries sell them down here that it meant that they do well here in our winters. duh...guess that is why I'm newatplants, hu?
Do not trust any place that sells plants - that is the first thing I learned here... they want to sell plants. I have sooo many things I have bought and placed only to find here on Daves they dont live this far North. and low and behold I have lost them every winter. So now I try to look every plant up before bring it home, just take a note book with you and write anything down you might like to come back for. Sure every so often they dont have the plant when I come back but it is worth the effort ( and a good check and balance system for me buying plants after I have had time to see if I have a place for them!)
That is a very good idea to look the plants up on DG before heading out to the nursery. DH and I ran across the Ixora at Lowes and thought it was gorgeous, so we did no research and purchased it. It got really big and was loving the spot we had it. It was mostly sun but did get late afternoon shade which was good during the hot months. Well drat! I bet I've killed it. Uggh.
Mitch has a very good idea. My problem is I have the room. After a through search, I need to decide if I have the room in my greenhouse and am I willing to give it the extra care it needs. So many of my favorite plants are tropical or semi-tropical. I've lived in Zone 9b (San Jose, CA) most of my life.) and giving up so many plants is difficult.
Don't give up on the Ixora yet. Continue to cover it during hard freezes. If it survives, root semi-ripe cuttings during the summer. These smaller plants will be easier to overwinter indoors.
Hey bettydee, I'm from San Jose too. I lived there from 1983-1992. I did not garden back then, but sure would have loved it in that zone. I went to SJSU and worked in hi-tech advertising. There are tons of ex-Bay area folks that live in Austin. Some of the crotchity old time Austinites hate anyone from CA. Oh well, guess they need to get over it. I lived in Houston before moving to SJ, so I have the right to come back to TX!! I've always been a TX girl at heart anyway. :)
I won't give up on the Ixora....hopefully it will come back. I'm going to cover it up next time. I'm so aggrivated at myself for not covering it before.
Ladies, what happend to winter? It is quite gorgeous outside but gosh...where is the rain? We are in very bad drought here. As is most of Texas from what I read in the paper. DFW is in "exceptionally" bad drought. We never water in the winter, but I think we are going to have to!
Btw, I noticed that Dave has changed his local from San Antonio to Bryan. When did he move to Bryan?! Sorry, I'm so out of the loop with all the adoption stuff I'm constantly doing. Lots of Yahoo groups and activities.
Hope that y'all had wonderful Christmases!!
Michelle
Michelle,
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, too! We did. One of two our sons is spending Christmas with us.
What a small world!!! I lived in San Jose from 1982 to 2001. We've been very lucky in that we haven't run into any anti-California feelings around here, but then maybe it's a little different in the country. It could be that there aren't any bad feelings about job competition, escalating housing prices and increased congestion due to an influx of out-of-staters.
I saw that the photo contest notices came out of Bryan, but, with other things on my mind, didn't give it a second thought.
Happy New Year!
Veronica
Happy New Year Veronica! I loved San Jose...so much to do in CA. But you just can't beat the friendliness of the folks in TX. But yep, some of the old timers in Austin are very resentful of the peeps from CA moving in here and raising rent/housing prices and taking a lot of the hi-tech jobs.
Hmmm. yeah, I wonder why Dave moved to Bryan?
I sure hope our state gets some of that rain that CA and OR is getting.
Michelle
newatplants I'm with you! What winter. The days are too short to grow Tomatoes but warm enough too......
no kiddin' dmj. it is so nice out that DH and I washed and waxed our vehicles. I'm hoping that since we did that...that it means we will get some much needed rain. Every time I wash my car it rains within 2 days. Those folks in CA really need to send their rain our way.
from what I've seen on CNN they probably would like to send that rain our way. Such weather extremes this year!
Happy New Year, peeps!
Dave announced his move Dec 9th: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/561535/
Before I left for New Mexico Dec 23rd, I made sure the garden was prepared in case of cold weather while I was gone. But my last glimpse of the garden was of many caterpillars on my passionvine, the passionvine continuing to grow, and a Gulf Fritillary butterfly "frittering" around. When we got home yesterday, I checked on the garden and found in bloom: some poppies (not due for a few more months yet), roses, cape honeysuckle, lavender, trailing lantana, abutilon, and bulbine! Only the roses were in bloom when I left. There were yellow butterflies all over the place!
Go figure. Another TX winter.
:-)
Hi Maggie, did you enjoy your trip to NM? How is your FIL?
Thanks for the link about Dave moving. wow.
Gotta go..DH is buggin' me for the 'puter.
Happy New Year,
Michelle
yes, how is you FIL? I love those yellow butterflies. they are my fave
Hi guys,
Thanks for asking about Albert (my FIL). He does better, then not so good, back and forth. We go through thinking that he's going to beat this, then that we have to accept that he won't, then back again. I suppose that's the nature of cancer, everything feels so uncertain. He's had a very good week this week, but had chemo again Thursday, so we'll see. It's the chemo that knocks him off his feet so bad. He's not used to feeling weak, and it discourages him some. At least he seems to be a little stronger than the last time each time he goes into chemo, and the hope is that with time he will be able to tolerate the chemo better and better.
More poppies are blooming, and I see buds on the delphiniums. I came across something the other day (can't find it now) from last year. My notes said I had poppies & delphiniums blooming on Jan 1st! Okay, so this isn't so wierd, for TX. The average last frost date in Montgomery County is Feb 5th, less than a month away! We always wait 10 days or so later to be careful, but now I know why I'm so impatient. Spring is just around the corner, but there's always that fear of a late, dreadful, freeze...
I saw a whole bed of Poppies at the Northpark mall Sunday ... and I didnt think they grew here. Lawd knows I tried for years. Maggie my prayers go out to your FIL. My brother has not started tx's yet. Sometimes I wonder if its worth it. I saw my father go thru those tx's and soon as he started feeling better it was time to start them all over again. My Daddy never got sick until they started those tX's. I dont want to go thru that, its just too devistating. My brother and I discussed that if it came to it what did we want to do. I told him I rather opt out. I dont know what he decided to do yet.
Anyway HAPPY NEW YEARS everyone. I havent been around lately, but I missed everyone. Sure looking foreward to the RU in April. :)
Sylvia
Sylvia, I'm so glad to hear from you again!! Hope you had a great holiday season, and I'm looking forward to a "family reunion" at the RU!
Maggie
Thanks Maggie I did stay busy....I was so busy I thought I was off the day after New Years. Actually I thought we were closed until they called me to see where I was. lol
Gee I got so much to look foreward to. I am going to Italy in March and the RU in April. This old gal is on a roll. lol
Cant wait to see you guys again. I hope I have time to propagate some stuff for the RU. lol
Sylvia
Wow! Italy!!?? That's fantastic! And you didn't know you weren't off on 1/2? What a riot! Our offices were open, too, and we thought noone else was. I ended up sick anyway, didn't go back until Thursday. (The doctor's offices here were all closed 1/2, I had to wait until the next day to get in.)