Low here was 22. When my hands started burning as I was wrapping plants last night, I knew it had hit the freezing mark. I spent 2 days moving and covering up stuff. I was sad that I did not have time to dig up and pot the Laura Bush petunia, other petunia, coleus, salvia and other seedlings that had come up on their own. I was so happy that so many had sprouted and had worried we would have a few hard freezes before spring and they would die. I just couldn't cover my whole yard. I guess there just isn't enough time in the day for us gardeners. My dwarf calendula were just starting to bloom heavily and I didn't have any more frost cloth with which to cover them. The nurseries near me had run out of it.
Lots of my plants are in containers because of my huge old dog. I have a greenhouse that was almost full before the hard freeze warning. I squeezed a few more plants in it. I had several five foot tall adjustable shelf racks with no plants on them.plants. I placed as many containers on them as I could and tighhtly wrapped the racks with 10' x 12' sheets of frost cloth secured with clamps and clothespins (which I use to secure the freeze cloth when I place it around my upright plants). To provide a place for some of my hanging baskets, I removed the shelving from 1 shelving unit, turned it on one side so that the other side (which was now the top) could be used to hang hanging baskets. I then wrapped it in frost cloth. They look like huge presents. I hope the plants in these made it through the freeze. I placed large empty containers over many plants and then placed towels, sheets and blankets over the tops of them. This keeps the plants from being weighted down.
I hope everyone did not lose too many plants.
Cold coming?
Oh Hazel, y'all were cold. I knew we were in trouble last night when the sky was clear and the wind stopped, but it only got to 35-36(hard to tell on my hi-lo thermometer). The only things with any damage(so far, haven't inspected the whole yard) are the coleus. Some of them look droopy.
We had a freeze last night and it was hard. I covered what I could and brought in
what I could but there were some that had to fend for themselves. I looked this
morning at 9:00 and there was frost on the plants that I couldn't cover. :( I am
just heart sick right now.
The temperature went down to 24 last night here in Arlington, I brought my little potted cuttings into the garage, and the rest will just have to do, although most of them are still dormant.
Was about 30 here last night. Finally nipped back my hamalias--they look purely pitiful; but they have never gone this far into a winter without being nipped back to the ground. Didn't seem to affect any of the winter sowing I had done and that's about all I had to worry about. Lettuce is fine and calendula is still blooming away so I know the low was only about 30 here.
I just looked at the whole yard, one strip along the fence got colder than the rest of the yard. There are damaged leaves on a dozen brugs and a Goldfinger banana looks pretty bad(leaves are brown). It's odd that one little strip got frost. The hamalia is still okay, it was in a different area.
We got to 20 last night when I checked... the south beds are still looking fine but everything in the other beds looks like mush... two fruit trees we had budding out are brown. Nothing that time will not fix at least given a year!
It was 27.7 here @ 6:46am according to my digital thermometer. I did the sheet and plastic thing as much as I could, but it wasn't enough on some of the more sensitive tropicals I have in pots and have nowhere left to move in... they're pretty much mush as far as leaves go, but I think they'll probably come back out again. A lot of stuff got nipped to some degree, but it was not at all even as far as what got it and what didn't. My Nasturtium seedlings that I covered with glass jars mostly survived, but there are weird deaths of one or two next to (as in less than a foot) a perfectly intact one. Also, I have a huge Aristolochia on some lattice with a hibiscus in front, and while the vine got it pretty bad, the hibiscus limbs at the same level are just fine.
My makeshift greenhouse (the patio covered in plastic) was already full from stuff I moved in Dec, and the front porch was full, and most of the house too. I have several trays of seedlings sitting on the end tables, and the windows are crammed full of smaller pots. Obviously the stuff inside is ok, but a few leaves & limbs near the edges of the porch and patio got it. Some of the plastic covering my passifloras on the north fence came loose overnight, and I'm afraid the parts of them on that side are goners, but the main body of the plants survived, which is all one can hope for I guess:-/
Here's a picture of the weird living hibiscus/dead aristolochia thing. Did anyone else have this happen with plants right next to each other?
It only got to 36 in our backyard and no frost. We will see what tonight brings.
It got to 26 degrees here, better than predicted. htop, where are you that you had colder temps than I did? I'm in the hills north of Medina Lake...usually colder than S.A. I don't have a greenhouse, so brought a few things in and covered as much as I could outside.
Calalily, I was so worried about all of you guys plants in south Texas. I had mentioned to my husband that after the snow damage last year all y'all needed was heavy damage from a hard freeze . I am so happy that it didn't freeze and damage more of your plants. That is weird that one area of your yard had frost damage.
TexasBlueBonnet, at least you know you did what you could. I hope that the plants that were damaged will come back for you. I know how you must feel.
frostweed, I can't believe it was colder here than in Arlington. I haven't forgotten about sending you the Texas madrone fruit.
dmj1218, I am glad that your winter sowing wasn't affected. I had planed on growing lettuce this winter and had forgotten to plant it. It looks so beautiful that I was going to grow it in myornamental plant beds. I had been worried about my 'Laura Bush' petunia seedlings, but they are fine. The calendula look great today. I thought at least the blooms would have been damaged last night, but they weren't.
MitchF, some of my yard looks like mush too. I guess we were all hoping that we would escape a hard freeze this winter. Were your iris plants still blooming and were they damaged? Mine haven't started to bloom yet. Last year I was disappointed when high winds bent the bloom stalks in half right as they were blooming.
Indigoez, I hadn't thought about covering seedlings with glass jars. That is a great idea. I would have thought your hibiscus would have been damaged too (at least the leaves. That is weird. Sounds like your house is your greenhouse now. My dining room is full of plants. Before I bought my greenhouse, plants would be everywhere. My bathtubs were always a great place to put my plants during a freeze because I could water them in there. Having run out of room and not wanting anymore plants in the bathtubs, last night I put plants in smaller containers in several large Igloo icechests. This worked great because I could stack the chests on top of each other and of course the icechests keep the cold out just as well as they keep the cold in.
txflowerlady, here's hoping you don't have a hard freeze tonight.
LindaTX8, I live in northwest San Antonio pretty close to Sea World. I was shocked that it was colder here than in Helotes. I have 2 digital thermometers in 2 different locations and they both read the same temperature (actually it dropped to 22 for a very brief period right before daylight) . It always seems to get colder here than the rest of San Antonio because we are at the edge of the hill country and we are up on a very small hill.
Hazel - The Iris blooms I cut a lot of the ones open.. but I missed one little Easter Iris and it tried to bloom... it was mush... I had a yarrow still blooming like nuts today so everything is not lost.. I started to clean some of the mush away from the steams and there are little leaves under them that still look ok so mulched up and we will see what the reast of this winter brings!
MitchF, I would have thought that the yarrow would have bit the dust. I hope all of the plants reemerge nice and healthy for you.
Me to - I am guessing being right by the pond and at the southern wall might have helped it?
That probably did help lot a lot.
The aristolochia,s leaves are more tender than the hibiscus. They should grow new leaves pretty fast once it warms up.
Hazel, I was just thinking that all we needed was another freeze! Christmas 2004 damaged so much stuff and things are still recovering.
My African tulip tree survived, it wasn't in the frosty area.
We were 36 this morning AGAIN! I hope this mess is over. I had to turn on the heat, it was cold!
Are we done YET with the artic blasts?!?!?!?! I am so afraid
to buy or plant anything for fear of a repeat. Well at least the
next couple of days will keep me busy cleaning up and
deadheading everything.
Freezing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wanna go back to Pennsylvania, where I expect this ickie ickie weather...
Brrrrrrrrrrr
htop--Calendulas and lettuce usually will make it down to 28 (no lower I would think) as long as it does not stay there very long. Most of my winter sowing consists of larkspur, poppies, snaps, and stocks. They love resonably cool weather. I'm actually glad the frost nipped back the hamalea and cuphea....I would have really hated to have to cut it back this spring otherwise.
TexasBlueBonnet, you can expect some more cold I think.
AngelSong, that's the bad thing about these intermittent Texas "cold spells". You hae to cover the plants and protect them otherwise, Then, you have to uncover them and move them back outside. After a few days you have to complete the process all over again.
dmj1218, what kind of lettuce did you plant this year? I thought that the calendula blooms and maybe even some foliage would usually freeeze during a low of 22 one night and a a low of 27 the next night like we had here. I am so happy they didn't.
As my back was killing me, I thought that I'm too old for all of this. But, it's my own fault. I don't really have to cover a lot of the plants that I do. They will die down and come back up in the spring. I just want them to keep looking good all of the time. If I could plant most of the plants in containers in the ground, I wouln't have to worry about them. Plus, I knew that a lot of the plants that I HAVE to protect were not hardy in my zone when I bought them. Just had to have them .... :o)
frostweed, using native plants is surely the way to go ... you don't have to worry about them very much in the summer nor in the winter (unless, of course, one "pushes the zone" or hard freezes and snow arrive in deep south Texas).
It is 33 degrees as I type ... a lot lower than was predicted.
Whew, it was 50 here this morning, so glad it has warmed back up(but I'm still cold, knew better than to wear short sleeves today, lol)
There sometimes can be small blessings amongst tradegy. The freeze that hit most
of us this past weekend turned a lot of are garden plants into mush/blackend dead
leaves including some of mine that I could not cover or move. But this morning
while out insepcting my gardens I noticed how many of the plants/flowers that are
cold hardy and survived, how great they are looking. In fact my Primrose (primula)
is doing wonderful and has new babies coming up. My Bacopa (Giant Snowflake)
is flourishing like I have never seen and all the new growth since the weekend.
I now am looking at the freeze of last weekend in a new perspective and remembering
for every bad there is something good that comes out of it.
When it says last average frreeze date feb 28--folks; that's what it means (Here in Houston anyway).....that may also be the first freeze date also but.....don't plant things you can'rt afford to lose too early.
Htop lettuce and calendulas are pretty "hardy". I grew calendulas from Willhite this year (a TX co.)....and I kinda think that's why they've held up well. Sure are a beautiful orange double frills too.
While I was outside inspecting today (and planting an order from High country gardens; perhaps a mistake with more cold coming, but I couldn't help myself) I found that the buds on all of my roses are dead... not much damage to them other than that, but still the main attraction has been moved farther into the future:-/
One of the weather guys has 30 for San Antonio Sunday morning, but since I'm farther south hopefully it'll miss me, because I'm not gonna cover everything in plastic with the chance of rain lol.
Well, we are expecting an ice storm tonight and tomorrow here in Arlington.
I hate the ice, it is so dangerous.
Hazel, i had already planted the seeds you sent, but they are in little pots, so they will be safe inside, together with all my little potted cuttings.
Josephine.
Hardy plants are starting to jump by leaps and bounds down here with the longer daylengths.....my herbs, stocks, poppies, and snapdragons are really taking off! But they can handle the cold snaps. My daylillies are also bounding in growth....I know its the increase in daylight hrs.