Maybe no big deal but I'm pretty happy to see Black Magic making its return appearance. This was it's first in-ground winter and I was so afraid it wouldn't be back. But here it is - bout 6" or so. Now I just have to keep the ducks from eating it! (And this weird predicted weekend freeze from burning it.)
Deb
PS/Anyone else in a similar zone got "sprouts" (or better)? I also have noticed my C. Illustris and A. Cuculata putting out growth, but not as nice as Bl.Mag.
My yellow spash is up with small leaves and sprouts everywhere. No signs of Black Magis, Nancy's Revenge or Illustris yet, but I had placed a heavy layer of mulched leaves on them. So, I am hopeful that they will return again.
My Alocasia Portora looks bad, with the top of the main tuber looking soft. I am hoping that it will sprout new babies from the base.
Nathalyn:
My Alocasia Cuculata was pretty mushy when I removed the mulch and I was worried it had rotted, but about a week later, it sprouted new growth. Bet your Port. will too. :)
Deb
Good to see some 'Natural' EE's coming up...
Here's a picture from Tuesday.
Colocasia esculenta that has wintered over.....
It's 26 degrees here now and it's buried under 2' of leaves...
We'll see how it does...
Ric
Ric: We're also getting the chill.
Upper 30s for us tonight, 20s tomorrow night, so all my emergent little EEs are now safely (I hope) tucked into their mulch layers. And the cannas, and the gingers, musas, and so on, and so on. Fingers crossed 'til Sunday. :)
Deb
I piled up mulched leaves over my colocasias and gingers to protect them from the last 4 nights of temps in the 20's. So far, everything looks fine that was mulched. The cannas were bit back, but they will resprout.
Deb, I have my fingers crossed for my Portora.
Nathalyn: Is that it for the really cold temps for you or are you expecting more?
Looks like all of mine survived our freeze. Coldest it got was 26F on Sat. night. Miraculously, I see no damage. Supposedly no freeze tonight (high 30s.)
Let's hope that's IT! And we'll see lots of little leaves sprouting in the next couple of weeks. :)
Deb
I haven't been out to inspect. We had 25-30 the last 2 nights. I think we're past that now. My C esculenda had started up, Black Magic was putting up as was Illustrus. My A Mac portodora was in the gh all winter doing fine. I brought it out 3 weeks ago when we were having really warm weather and I failed to take it back in. Hope it's not a goner. I've been busy inside today cleaning and putting away from a house full of family yesterday. I'm headed outside shortly to survey.
Linda: My fingers are crossed. Let us know how they did.
Deb
Deb, this should be the last of the cold weather for us. We did have record breaking low temps on several nights this past week, but our average last frost date is April 9. What is REALLY the most unusual thing is the warmest March on record. We had 2 weeks of temps in the 80's which was enough to cause my gingers and colocasias to sprout. Normally, they wouldn't have any visible growth this early and last week's low temps wouldn't have hurt anything.
Linda, I'll cross my fingers also!
Hi Nat, yes this has been some crazy weather. Yesterday afternoon's inspection went pretty well. Things that were on the ground all seemed to be ok, I guess from what warmth the ground had held. Things 2-3 ft off the ground, like fatsia and my large A mac that escaped from the gh had leaf damage, but the plant survived and will put out again. Now they're saying another cold front is coming next week end (the one coming up). Not as cold, but in the low 30 nevertheless. I guess when this is all done, it will turn immediately blazing hot.
Linda,
Normally, I would start planting the brugs and other tropicals about now. But the forecast for the next week is too iffy for me. I'll be SOOOO glad when I can get everything back in the ground.
