So sad here in Illinois. We were hit with a major ice storm - downed tress and power lines everywhere. Whole towns without power. We, personally, have not had power since 8 on Thursday night. With temps overnight in the single digits, I'm quite sure all is lost in the greenhouse. This includes some hoyas, lots and lots of epis, plummies, brugs and cactus. I've not been able to check, but I'm quite sure they're all gone. And, I'm afraid I'm going to lose all my hoyas in the house. That hurts the most. We stayed at home the first two nights, moved the hoyas to the family room, and kept a fire going. But, we just couldn't take it anymore, and were lucky enough to get a room at the Holiday Inn! (That's why I'm able to be on line.) I've left the hoyas in the warmest part of the house, (whatever that means!!) on shelves with blankets over them. But we've been told we may not get power back until Tuesday. I DO have to be thankful that all my kids and families are fine, so that's what's most important to me!! And, Betsy and I did purchase insurance, since we sold some things out of our greenhouse last spring, so we'll see how that goes.....just trying to be optimistic here!! Thanks for listening! Karen
So sad
((((Oh Karen))))
I am so sorry to here about this. I really feel bad for you and your family. Remember they are just plants and can be replaced, what is most important is you and all your family are warm and safe. Optimistic is the way to stay, and I am sure there will be lots of us that can help you replace your plants, well hoya's anyway. My heart goes out to you, and I know this is a very stressing time, but remember not to worry about things that are out of our control. Prayers going up for you, Betsy and your Families.
Karen, I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope at least some of the plants in your house pull through. Let me know when everything is normalized and I'll be glad to send you some plants/cuttings to get you back on track. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to help.
I used to live in Illinois as a child, which is probably why I live in CA now! I remember those snow banks on the side of the road piled 8 feet high or more. I hope the weather breaks for you soon.
Mark
Karen
I'm so sorry to hear how bad yall are having it right now. I can take 100 degrees with little effort but when it gets cold, I can't stand it. In the spring I would be glad to send you cuttings to start you back up and I know everyone else will too. I know this is little consulation for your beautiful plants but the main thing is you and your family are safe and that can't be replaced.
I am sorry to hear about this too. I grew up in Ohio on a dairy farm, and I remember many a storm. I also would be happy to help you replace your hoyas. Thank goodness everyone is safe, that is the most important part. Keep warm and I hope you can return home soon!
:) Kim
Karen - and Betsy who, I am sure is in the same boat - I am so sad for you! The fun part for us will be helping you put your wonderful collection back on its' feet!!! While we can warm your tootsies or your hands or your plants....we can be here with our warm thoughts. The weather is certainly giving us challenges, isn't it????
Carol with Aloha
Hang in there Karen (and Betsy too). Thank God it is only plants in danger and all is OK with the family. Just remember...we are all here for you when you are ready.
I came from a farm in Indiana and lived through 26 of those winters. Our power went out for a week one winter when the kids were just babies, and I had to drive 15 miles in a snowstorm to get to my in laws and warmth. So I know your troubles, and share your pain. You gals are in my prayers tonight.
((((HUGS)))))
Marcy
Oh Karen I am so sorry to hear about your plants, but am happy to know you and the family are safe. I'm on board with helping you and Sistah B get your hoya collection back on track.
Blessings & prayers,
Awanda
You all are so wonderful!! Thank you so much for your support!!! Betsy lives in a different town than I do, (and her husband works for the power company...hmmm...LOL) so she only lost power for about 6 hours. All her hoyas are in her home, so they are safe and sound, as well as, thankfully, and more importantly, all her family! She and I had our epis and things, out at the greenhouse. I had a few dozen cuttings of hoya that I was rooting out there also, which I'm sure are gone. DH and I are heading out to our farm this morning and I will venture out to the greenhouse to check things out. Not looking forward to that.....I sooooo appreciate all your offers of help replacing the hoyas. I will see if I can turn this into the insurance company - like I said, Bets and I had purchased business insurance because we were selling a few things out of our greenhouse last summer (mostly perennials). WE consider all these plants as "inventory" and so we HOPE we will be reimbursed for them. We'll see.....in the meantime, again, you guys are awesome, don't know where else I would get this kind of support - THANKS!!!!! Karen
Here's some pictures from the greenhouse - the smell of rotting/freezing plants is unpleasant. Here's my hoya cuttings - or were!
And more epies and things....
Etc....
More...
So sad. Oh well, they are just plants. The really sad part is that I think I may really lose my indoor hoyas. I've kinda been in denial about that....trying to say it out loud, but not really wanting to believe it!! It was 38 under their blanket when I checked on them this morning. But, on a more hopeful note, we MAY have power by this evening. Again, thanks for all your kind words, and for listening! Karen
Karen...all is not lost until it is lost, right?...until you unpot and see what is going on. With luck you may find some you can salvage...cut back to live roots. Your carnosas and pubicalyxes may pull out of it...as well as some of the other cold tolerant ones. With any luck the potting mix wasn't wet on some and it didn't freeze, badly.
I have to say I don't envy you going thru the hopeful ones to find life!!!!
I do have some epis too, not a lot, and most of them haven't names....but I would be glad to share what I have!!!!!
Carol....
Karen so sad.....but am so thankful all your family is fine !!! I always worry about the older people at times like this !!! We will all help as much as we can...Sandyc
Karen
Those pictures are just heart breaking. All the hard work. I'm with Carol maybe all is not lost. I'll keep my fingers crossed and pray that all is not loss.
Karen:
Will be keeping y'all in thought & prayer .... and everyone else who is having to experience such a brutal winter. I've been seeing the photo's on tv and in the newspaper and it's so early in the season yet .... sure hope it isn't like that the entire winter season. Even though I've never lived through winter's like you are experiencing, having lived in the South my entire life, you sure have my sympathy. The important thing is that everyone is safe and sound.
The heat in the summer gets to me down here and when we lose power during hurricanes, no air conditioning and temps in 90's with high humidity, it's miserable ... but I just cannot imagine having to endure being in cold weather and not having heat! After the past few years with Hurricanes down here in the South, a lot of folks have invested in Generators, but with the cost of gasoline, it's very expensive to run them. My husband bought one after the storms we went through in 2004 and has been disappointed because he hasn't had a chance to use them yet.
We haven't lost power since the Cane's of 2004.
I lost plants many years ago here in Florida when we had an unexpected hard freeze and we were out of town, so I know how hard it is to see all your hard work gone. And, from looking at your photo's .... you really do have a LOT invested in plants! You will have to keep us all posted on what you are able to salvage if anything and some of us, I'm pretty sure, will be able to help you re-stock in the Spring. There are so many caring, thoughtful plant people here in Dave's Garden.
Hang in There! And, just know that lots of folks out here are thinking about you.
Lin
I'm sorry too!!!
Ann
I freak out at one day being cold!!! Geez..You guys are in my thoughts and prayers....I'm in too nothing like sending out cuttings!!! Stay warm!!
Karen, Very sorry to hear about your situation there. I had a similar experience a little over a year ago with my C&S collection. Nothing makes a grown man feel like crying more than walking into a gh full of frozen plants!!
I'm glad to hear that you and the family are safe and warm. We are to expect snow flurries here on wednesday and if power is lost,i'll be sleeping in the gh with my hoyas. I heat the gh's with propane and have said every year that if we have a bad winter and power goes out i'll camp out in the gh!
When things get settled down and you've had time to survey the damgae to your collection and determine what was lost,just remember that you've got friends here that are more than willing to help rebuild it.
dmichael
Some of the epis look like they may have made it through. Try cutting some things back like Carol said, and maybe they will surprise you. Can't hurt anything to try.
Marcy
You all are so wonderful and thoughtful....I can't tell you how much it's appreciated. DH looked over my shoulder and read some of your posts - he was amazed that "strangers" are so caring and supportive. I told him that, first of all, you all are not strangers to me, and second of all, that's why I'm on here "all the time!!" I am definitely going to try to cut things back and hope that I can salvage some things - thanks Carol for suggesting that. Maybe some things will make it. dmichael - this grown woman did cry!!
Karen
I rememer the day that I went in anf found all of my stuff frozen. I had no idea that it had even happened. I knew that it had been very cold for a few nights in a row and it never crossed my mind that any of that stuff would have frozen inside the gh.
When I opened the dorr that afternoon the first thing I saw was my jade tree. A single trunk specimen that looked like a miniature oak tree. It wa a little over 2ft tall and almosts as round . The trunk was at least 4" round. It looked like someone threw a pot of boiling water over it,that hurt me more that anything else thta was lost that day because that was a plant that I had babied for a long time to get it to look the way it did.
I did cut it back really hard to try and salvage the trunk and some short branches but in the end it just didnt make it.
Tell your husband that we are all extended family that just havent met yet!! I've got 4 DG friends that i've kept in very close phone contact with for almost 5 years now I guess. We've never met in person but if any of the 5 of us met tomorrow i'd almost feel like i've known them all along.
My one friend told another DG'er that she and I have been everywhere together,lowes,walmart,you name and she's been there with me even though we've never met face to face!
dmichael
dmichael - you're right - we do go everywhere with each other - that is too funny!!! And thanks for sharing your experience with me - its comforting to know that some other people have had losses, and that it didn't sour them towards plants and greenhouses. Believe it or not, that was very encouraging to me!! Karen
Karen,
I can empathize with you. A few years ago Kentucky was hit hard with an ice storm. We were without electricity for over a week because of our location (way out in the boonies). I was not a member of DG at that time. It would have been so comforting to have had other plant folks to help me through a rough time. Hopefully, you will be able to salvage some of your plants from the roots. Some of them are tougher than we think.
Karen,
I don't have a lot of hoyas, but you are welcome to any cuttings I have. I also have a couple of Epiphyllums I can take cuttings from too.
Sending a prayer your way.
Patti
AH Karen, Bless your heart! I have lost full greenhouses 2 times from freezing. To this day, I can remeber the empty feeling when opening the greenhouse door and seeing all the droopy plants. Please add me to the list of folks who WILL help you rebuild your collection.
I hope you will get some replacement money and let us cover the plants for you. Then, you can spend those funds on a propane heater and a few back up tanks. I do not have many epi's, but I got you covered on Hoyas, Plumies and Brugs.
I am so sorry, girl!
Mel
Well, back on line for the first time since leaving the Holiday Inn on Monday. Our power FINALLY came on Monday, one of our daughters got power finally last night, and many, many people are STILL without power even now. What a storm! On a very happy note, I THINK I've only lost about 10-12 of my indoor hoyas - something I can live with since I have about 100 hoyas. They absolutely amazed me, since the house temp. was just above freezing - barely. To only lose about 10% - well, they're resilient little buggers, aren't they!! The greenhouse is probably a total loss, but the insurance company did take the claim, so we'll see how that goes. Thanks so much to all of you who kept my spirits up with your thoughts, prayers,words of encouragement and offers of help replacing my collection - you'll never know how much all of that was/is appreciated!! Thank you! Karen
Yes, and then there was light, um heat.. Great news that you collection is not lost. Wow that must have been some storm for people to still be out of electricity.
SOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo glad ALL is not lost...really a pity about the Greenhouse!!! Know that we are all standing by to help you build it back up!! Carol
I'm glad too that all is not lost. I had gas heat put in for that very reason. During the hurricane we lost ele. for 12 hrs and cable for about a week and I thought I was gonna die. That was before DG. Now it would be worst!!!
Jeri
Hey Sistah K when you're ready I'll send the curly epi back to you. I already had a full pot of it, so we'll just pretend like I was epi-sitting for you. Since my hoyas grow pretty much year round, I'll have your care package ready to send as soon as you say the word!!
Blessings to you & Sistah B,
Awanda
OOOOOOh, the curly epi!!! Don't you just LOVE it...I adore mine, one of my faves! I hope you can get yours back, Karen!!
Carol
You all are so totally awesome! Thanks again for your words of encouragement - I just love all ya'll on this forum! Betsy and I plan on going out sometime over this weekend to begin inventory-ing the loss. Thus far, the insurance people haven't been out to survey the damage - but, trust me, there's LOTS more severe damage in Decatur (closest town) than our little greenhouse. People with trees fallen through their roof, onto their cars, people STILL without power,etc. So, we can't really start cleaning it up until the insurance people see it. We had it heated with a propane-fueled furnace, and, since I've only lost power once or twice in the three years I've lived out here, and only for 4-6 hours at the most, we (naively) thought we'd be ok. Trust me, there's a generator in my future....!! Thanks again - this forum was - no, IS, a wonderful place of comfort!! Karen