Freeze warning issued for Bay area. 12/18/2006

I think the biggest problem with citrus is that the fruit turns to mush if it freezes, I don't think it usually kills the tree itself. I guess if it gets cold enough the whole tree could go, but I think if you look at all the citrus farms that are worried about things right now, it's because they're going to lose their fruit that was ready to harvest, I don't think they're worried as much about the trees themselves.

Yeah, I plan on picking as much as I can, juicing it and freezing it. The freeze dries them out.

I've been feeling so bad for you northerners regarding your cold temperatures these past few weeks, but I can now feel your pain. We have had a week of low's in the mid 30's at night and when I got home yesterday, from a 3 day get away, many of my plants are frost bitten also. I am so glad that Lali posted the information above, regarding what to do with them, as I was ready to go out and cut many of them back today....now I will wait until it warms up again.

Two of my Brug trees are completly dried up on their tops, one of my good salvias is all brown (hopefully it will come back), my pentas and a ceylon are not looking good either.

I live 3 miles from the ocean, and I have never had a plant die from the cold. We usually don't get this type of weather along the coast....but look what it did in Malibu yesterday..SNOW. yuk! It is supposed to start warming up alittle each day, so I hope we are past the worst of it.

I was in Las Vegas this week and it was so darned cold there. We walked along the strip and many of the big beautiful fountains were full of ice. There were men in the small fountains breaking the ice up and removing it. What a sight!!

Donna

So sorry to all the folks that lost plants & Yeah! For the ones that made it through with minimal damage.
I hope this is not going to be a yearly thing! With all of this global warming things are changing. I have lived in this county for most of my life & seen a lot of changes in the weather patterns. We used to get big deep snows, cold temps in the lower 30s on a reg basis, plenty of rain in the fall & spring, but there have been very few big snows & the temps seem to be getting colder each year. Very little rain so far & none in sight, just very cold & dry. The last 3 years have not been normal.
I don't know how you guys all have the bravery to go look at your gardens, I'm sticking my head in the sand & not looking until it's 70 out there! LOL! What the freezes haven't killed the deer have eaten. I try not to look out my windows at the lower garden. The pond has a 7" layer of ice on it, I'm sure I have no Koi still alive, tho the gold fish are usually pretty tough. My dog ran out on the pond to get her ball, scared me to death as there was no way I was going in after her, glad the ice held her weight. I took the ball to the other side of the house!
Ca_Sue, I had just gotten a catalog that had the Persian Sheild plant it it. I was so excited to see it. The other one is a Perilla, I think tho the pic in the catalog was a different colored one.
A lot of my pottery chipped, split & fell apart too. I have a few heavy glazed pieces that cracked but held together. I have a mask that felt to shards on the ground. I usually bring in the ones that I know our normal winter's wrath will ruin, but these others have always been ok, till this year, anyway.
I'm all for moving to a warmer climate! Huggs to you all suffering! Bj

yeah, the pots were a big surprise.

Gay Boi ( aka Carmen Miranda's grand son ) is not so gay any more.
Looks like he met a few members from the Far Right Christian Coalition. He's all cracked up.

guess I'll have to design a memorial garden somewhere in the garden gallery.

Hi All,
Well... I thought this cold snap would be over next week, but the long range forcast thru the 29th looks to be in the 20's again. My yards just toast, burnt toast. I've been covering things to no avail. Yikes!! I've never seen it so cold for so long!!
I guess it will be time for new lasagne beds this year.
Dev

At least over here I think it's getting a bit better--the long range forecast is still in the low 30's overnight, but I woke up this morning and for the first time in weeks my birdbath on my back deck wasn't frozen over! Hope it'll warm up for you soon too (and I hope last night wasn't just a one time thing and then back to freezing!)

Here the forecast for the 29th is in the low 40's according to accuweather. I hope that the freezing doesn't show up in your neighborhoods.

It was very cold and windy this morning north of Berkeley. I thought we were in for a cold day, but the wind dissipated and it was quite comfortable out. I was in Castro Valley in the p.m. and it was shirtsleeve weather there. I couldn't believe how warm it was when I got home - heat is off and door is open. Lows are supposed to be in the low 30s here, but I just haven't felt it. Forecast is lows in 30s-40s, highs in the 60s for the next 10 days. HOORAY!!!!

Marilyn

It was nice here today until the wind started blowing in the afternoon--it was strong enough to knock my garbage cans over (when they were half full), and as I was trying to water my garden with the hose I think I got more water on myself and my dog than I got on the plants! But I'll take a bit of wind over ice any day!

Here it was warm too, 60 degrees. The night forecast is a bit better, 34 to 35 all week. Things are so dead here though, hard to think more coldness would hurt much.

I will say all my flax did great, the colors are even more intense and my abutilons are still in flower.

I went out and bought 2 big pots of cyclamen to put by my front door so I would see something pleasant when I go in and out instead of dead gray!

I need color!!

Gorgeous cyclamen, Kell! What a great idea...I need some happy color by my entrance as well! Looks like I'll be shopping this week sometime :)

kim

Very pleasant in LB today as well. I actually wore shorts for the first time in weeks.
Not as cold last night either...(didn't ck. the thermomter) but I know it wasn't in the 30's.

Just think...we're now officially 1/3 finished with "winter" ! LOL
So... how 'bout the snow in Malibu last week !!!!

And....we've had no real rain to speak of, either.

Normally I would enjoy the nice sunny weather, but since I just put in an entire yard full of new landscaping I was really hoping for a bit more rain than we've been having! I've been spending way too much time out there with the hose (although if I got off my butt and finished installing the drip irrigation then I guess I could save myself some time!)

Ouch! New plantings and the hose. Hope that your irrigation system goes in soon! How about soaker hoses in the meantime?

I could do that...but I really think by the time I went out and bought those and set them up so all the plants were getting water, I could have finished the drip system! I really don't mind the hose all that much, it gives me a chance to keep a better eye on how individual plants are doing than I would otherwise, but I know natural rainfall does a better job than hose, drip, or soaker hose ever could!

Hi All
It was 29 here again this morning!! Two weeks of this. i checked the weather for next week and it seems to have moderated a bit.

34 here this morning

Wow, it's cold in Lodi! The trends are warming weather. Let's hope that this winter weather is on it's way out.

Hi All
29 here again this morning

Here in Lodi we always get into the high twenties at night for a couple of weeks. However, this year we dipped into the teens for a couple of nights. BRRRRRRRR!

I am still noticing things turning more brown. A delayed reaction? Very depressing. My husband is all excited though. He is going to rent a big dumpster. I think he thinks it is his chance to get rid of most of the yard. I think it is my chance to buy more.

Has Tom ever met you, Kell? Why would he think that after all these years? We all know you're going to treat this as a golden opportunity.

We're supposed to get at least three more days of 30-31 degree lows starting tomorrow up here. I'm so sick of this. The worst thing today, though, was the wind. It was so cold!

I think it's me... Ever since I came to the US, we had the wettest winter, the wettest, non existing spring, the hottest summer and now the coldest winter. What am I going to do when all the hate mails start coming... "YOU brought your Belgian wether to CA" ...:o(

Kell, I'm seeing the same thing you are with some of my plants--my Jasminum nitidum was looking gorgeous and shiny green until this week, then all of a sudden the top half is brown, and I've seen a couple other plants also looking worse now than they did right after the freezing weather. I don't know if it's a delayed reaction or if it's because it's continued to be chilly and a bit frosty a lot of mornings. Don't let hubby bring in the dumpster yet--some of it might come back!

I'm having the same thing on a few of my plants. I thought that I had lost less than perhaps I will.

But just say no to dumpsters!!! What does he want to replace the yard with???

Cement would be nice, Doss. LOL. He is so sick of "our" hobby!

LOL Zuzu, he is forever hopeful! LOL

Well Christie, we now know who to blame! So you just moved from Belgium? How do you like it here? You sure picked a nice place to live.

Well shoot Liz and Doss. I tell you this has not been a fun experience.

Well, shoot, it sure hasn't! Tell DH that concrete is highly reflective and hard on the eyes. Or maybe it's a good way to get some gorgeous hardscape to put all of your beautiful plants into! Just say no to white cement though! Hang in there.

We had hail two days ago. Feels like the plagues.

Oh man, hail? I just want some simple rain. The dead brown is depressing, mostly cause it means a lot of cleanup and I don't have the time or energy for it now.
Oh I am so looking forward to spring and new life and happier times!

Rain would be really nice. I've had to run my sprinklers and they just don't do the same job rain does. My plants under the eaves are appreciating it though.

Just reviewed some daylily photos and that made me think of better times.

What a HAPPY picture Doss! I love it.

Funny, earlier today I was looking thru last year's photos too. I saw this one and I thought gosh, were things ever so colorful and green? I was having a hard time picturing it. And then I thought next spring and summer I am not going to squander such beauty away and I am really going to look and see it and truly enjoy it at the time.

Oh Doss, that is a beauty! Which one is it?
I am so anxious for color and nursery and garden touring again.

Sue - that one is Magic of Oz. One of my favorites. I ordered a couple more Oz cultivars this year because I enjoyed it so much. It's a dormant so we'll see how it goes. Julie Newmar is another one of my faves.

Kelly - great photo. I have a watercolor of that conservatory on my bedroom wall and it's always so lovely.

I bet your watercolor is so pretty. The Conservatory is great subject.

I may have to go find a Magic of Oz, it is so cheerful. Is it as huge as it looks? I have been doing a dance around daylilies for about 5 years now and never quite take the plunge.

It's not huge but it's stunning. It's so green in the center. It's 7" flower and 35" tall. It's a dormant so don't be surprised. I'd love to see your dance!

My daylilies are starting to send up new shoots----my citrus look awful, but at least we certainly had enough chilling hours for a good crop of cherries and apples and grapes. My almond tree is covered with buds, and the branches I brought inside to force when it was the coldest out are just about to bloom. Can't wait!!!

How wonderful to bring almond branches inside to enjoy at this time of year.

I'm still seeing more and more damage on some plants but didn't lose as much as I thought I was going to. On the other hand I thought that I had lost a lot less and then things continued to curl up and turn brown. The distictis is important to me because it is willing to grow in the shade under my oak tree. It doesn't bloom but it makes the fence green.

I bit the bullet and pruned back one of my big scented geraniums today while I was pruning the apple tree above it. Hopefully we won't get more frost, or it may be a goner. It had some new growth deep under the dead stuff. My aeoniums, which normally don't get bothered by frost, just look awful. But I found a teeny-weeny blue bloom at the tip of a dwarf plumbago branch--there's one confused little plant!