Welcome to May in December

Are the rest of you enjoying these 70 degree (nearly 80 by mid-week) temps? I think some of my plants outside are confused. Back to reality in a week though I'm sure.

It's always hard to think of Christmas when one of these warm spells hits late each year. This is the third year in a row too I think.

its wonderful.... i aked up half of our pinestraw to put down in the beds... i got 5 piles....and pulled up the sweet taters cuz they werent soo beautiful anymore. i also planted my musella lasiocarpa and canna musafolia.... all in basketball shorts a tee shirt and no shoes!

Is canna musafolia the Banana Canna? I have been looking to get one of those.

yeah. i could give yuo one next fall whenever i go to the fair.... it needs to grow more....

Thanks, I'd love to add one to the collection.

I just saw my Bird of Paradise bloomed in the garage today!! That's my first bird bloom ever. Guess the warmer weather was a good incentive to bloom. And it did so fast... that thing must have been spring loaded in that flower head.

put up a pic... i love bop's

I think I just realized this is probably only the first part of the bloom. I've seen these for years but never really looked at them this much... it seems the two orange parts of the bloom will comes out in waves, with the blue portion shortly after (hope those are the right colors, I'm color blind). It looks beautiful though. I've had this plant for several years and this is exciting. I hope to have my grandmother come take a look too. She's been growing one for 40 years, with NO blooms. She turns 83 this Thursday. This will be a nice birthday surprise for her when they come over. Especially if it opens up more.

I know I have at least one more bud (prob 1-2 weeks away from blooming). A a third just started coming out.

How long do the blooms last usually?

Keonikale: Cool! Mine is still growing, but no sign of buds. I'll just enjoy yours vicariously! LOL!

And I am definitely enjoying the weather! Opened up the garage today and let the warm in. :)

Deb

sigh.. that is beautiful... that such an exquisite part of God's creation... i'm pretty sure they last about a week or two... we'll see!

This time of year usually has a very cold week or two. I have seen down in the Bluffton area years without a frost though. This might be one. It kind of freaked me out when I first moved here to see flowers still in bloom in Dec. and Jan.

where'd you move from

NY

oh... well i guess that really would be a purty big difference

Last place I lived up there was Buffalo. I saw a little bit of snow.

A little? LOL, riiight. I have a friend who I think was just north of you in Mexico, NY. He showed us pictures once of a "light" snow. I think his house was nearly covered.

Yep... we close school and government offices when we get a half inch here.

sigh... good times in Lexington... i miss that place...i remember we got 6 inches one tim, and it was a disaster with traffic, but we got out of school for about a week if i recall correctly.... that whole week we stored snowballs in the freezer, made snowmen and forts with snowball fights... that was one of my only snow encounters, except for a few about every other year... bt i'd take tropical plants over snow any day.... i'm not one for cold weather. in the mid 60's and i'm in a jacket with pants

Half inch? In Buffalo they don't blink at 4 inches. When I moved there my first wierd thing I saw was 6-8ft flags being put on the fire hydrants. What are those for? You'll find out. I know now. LOL. I hate alternate side of the street parking BTW. There is a reason they do that all winter too. I liked Buffalo it's a pretty laid back middle class city. There's about million people in Buffalo and just around it and it really doesn't feel like any other big city I've spent time in.

LOL, I've seen those same poles out west and up north in Alaska. They confused us for a long while too... then it dawned on us. I think the main reason folks freak out is because it's so rare... most folks here have never driven in it. And since we get ice more often than not... that's always an issue. No one has a car prepared for those conditions. But it's still a bit much if you ask me... you'd think it'd snowed 10 feet.

diehrd, I'm with you on the cold weather. I used to like it when I was a bit younger, but now I'm getting to the point I really like the warm weather all the time. In fact, I could live in a place like Hawaii or Florida where it was spring all year round. Some folks might miss the seasons, but not me. I'd love it.

I can't stand the cold! I so hate winter-not just the cold but that there is hardly any green anywhere as well. When I moved here from Hawaii-that was one of the biggest/hardest changes...where was the green??? Keonikale-there actually are two seasons in Hawaii-summer and winter. There is a distinct drop in temps in the winter, and I would wear pants and sweatshirts then at night. I remember thinking that Hawaii wasn't warm enough for me and I wanted to move closer to the equator (Hi is about 2000 miles away from the equator)! Of course, right now, Hawaii seems really warm at night...I guess its all relative.


Out of curiosity-I was looking at the hardiness zones for the east coast and I noticed that SC is only zone 8a/8b-I couldn't see any zone 9 color in there at all, and yet I see zone 9a under peoples names-whats with that??

The newest American Horticultural Society zone map has the coastal area as 9 but the strip of color is so narrow you can not really see it easily. I think I read where the USDA is also coming out with a new map with newer/higher zones for SC.
Some of us live on or near the sea islands where it is always much warmer which I think is because we are surrounded by the warm salt marsh.

ok, thanks Ardesia. I saw that map, and it changed me from 7b to 8a, but I am scared to say 8a for me because I don't want to jinx it...lol As soon as I put it as my zone, then we will get a killer cold winter!! Although it hasn't stopped me from planting like I am in a 8b/9a with some plants...zone denial is a necessity!! Its how I live dangerously these days!

Morning all. Glad I came across this post. There's hope for me not to give up on growing BOP here!
Congratulations Keonikale. Don't you just love the juxtaposition of colors on your bloom? The intense orange against bluish beak! I've always say that they resemble a Toucan's beak. BTW, BOP blooms last for weeks.
You are right, the weather not only confuse the garden, but humans too!
We'll be going to church in summer clothes!

heavenscape, i don't think keonikale can see the colors on the BOP. and what does juxtaposition mean? all the windows here are open in our house, and i'm going to put off exams and an essay and geometry hw. simply because it is so nice and i want/have to get things done in the yard. (its not like i wouldn't put them off anyway.... now i just have an excuse to do it)

ok.... well its official. i have spring fever. just working outside with no shoes and it actually feeling hot when you stand in the sun too long along with the smell of teaolive and some other fragrant plant that i can smell from another yard somewhere, just gave me this excited feeling that everything was nice and growing (some at any rate are). but i know that with one weeks time we'll be back to the cold dreary weather.... :'-( so sad.... sniffle sniffle

tiger, true about the seasons in HI... though most folks would hardly notice the temperature difference I'm sure. Definitely not the extremes of the mainland. I could definitely get used to only 10 degrees change year round (at sea level). It does of course get chilly higher up and mauka - I never thought I'd have to hear long pants there except at the summits. I think my interest in plants and ecology in general spawned from my frequent visits there, as did the small photography and media company my wife and I started a few years ago. http://www.HawaiianStyle.org - would love to hear your thoughts sometime.

diehrd is right about the colors. I can actually see the color, just can't distinguish if it's blue or purple, red or green (in certain shades), orange or yellow, etc. I don't fully understand what causes it, but I'm guessing it's the brains interpretation of the wave lengths of color. It's still beautiful though.

And yes it is waaarm today. It must be nearly 80 outside... opened all the windows. Back to reality Saturday at 56 for a high. Argh.

brrrr oh well. these things wouldn't be so great if they happened all the time....although that would be nice. i'll take what i can get

Wasn't it three years ago we had like 75 degree temps on Christmas day?

I kinda hate these swings of weather, bc it messes with your immune system. I always notice A LOT of people get sick right after one of these warm spells.

i never have noticed that. i don't really remember 75* but i do remember warm weather around christmas.... as well as cold

Keonikale-is that your website? that you and your wife put together, and wrote everything in there? I haven't gone thru it all yet, but it looks nice. I have never seen any advice before about using the word mauka etc, or that you are "on" Maui instead of "in" Maui in a travel brochure. I guess though that that refers to individual islands, because I would say that I lived in Hawaii (the state) and lived on Maui. But you are right-you do say that you are "on" Maui . Who told you that story about how the mongoose came to be on the islands? I think its not right. I think the correct story is that in Jamaica, they had a problem with rats, so they brought in snakes to kill the rats (which they did), but then the snakes became a problem, so they brought in the mongoose to kill the snakes (which they did). In Hawaii, they had the problem with the rats, saw what Jamaica did, but didn't want to deal with the snakes-so they skipped them and brought in the mongoose. Unfortunately-mongoose and rats are active at opposite times of the day, so they never ran into each other! It was the snake that tied it all together. Pretty stupid huh? That was done a long time ago. The mongoose don't hunt the rats. The story also goes that there was a bunch of cages of mongoose on the docks in Honolulu waiting for a ship to Kauai, and some sailor didn't want them on that island (they are a pest-they steal eggs and other food etc) and kicked the cages off the dock and into the water and drowned them and so there are no mongoose on Kauai. I don't know if that last part is true-I was there for a week once, camping in Koke'e State Park down in the canyon-I don't remember seeing any there, but maybe they didn't want to do that hike down into the canyon...lol its very steep-but very islolated and beautiful down there.

How many times have you been to Hawaii? Whats your favorite island and places? Its a butt fatigue trip flying out there from the east coast, isn't it? lol Esp before they had direct flights to Maui/Big Island from the west coast.

Hey, yeah we put together the whole thing. We're still combining several sites into this new one. It's been several years of work, and a lot left to do still. We tend to use mauka and makai since it's what we've always been told when given directions.

I think I've heard several variations of the mongoose story, as you noted. On Kaua'i you hear about the drowned mongoose after it bit the guy, but I've heard other variations too. I've never seen them on Kaua'i though. I notice them all over Maui and the Big Island. I'll be back on Kaua'i in April, especially in Koke'e since we're doing some new hikes along Na Pali, and I'll keep an eye out for them. This site seems to have a good description of their history and the problems they cause with the birds:
http://www.perlgurl.org/archives/2006/05/the_mongoose_a_maui_menace_1.html

The "on" versus "in" was told to me by a Maui resident who seemed to be growing irritated that people kept saying there were looking for something to do "in" Maui. They said unless you were in a lava tube, you were ON Maui, LOL.

I get to the islands at least once a year and sometimes twice if we're lucky. Before I met my wife I had planned to move to the Big Island and live near Hilo (I love Hilo). It is a looong flight and the travel costs are hard to keep up, but it's my passion so I don't mind the flights that much. We've been lucky to catch direct flights from either Atlanta or Charlotte to the islands though (just one layover in SLC or Phoenix usually). My favorite island overall is the Big Island, just because of the diversity. But my heart belong to the Garden Isle - you can probably guess why. In April we'll be on both for a little over a week. Our Big Island guide should be out in the summer of 2008. We just wrapped up the 4th edition of our Hana Highway book. My wife loves Maui the most. We've tried very hard to introduce a new eco/culture-friendly series into the market, mainly to counteracts the other guides that don't. But that's another discussion :)

This message was edited Dec 9, 2007 4:27 PM

I always wondered why no one has a mongoose around here. Lots of snakes and I've thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to let once loose in my backyard. I guess it's a bad idea.

They'd probably at least have natural predators around here. Bobcats, Coyotes, Fox, and such. HI's good proof that when you introduce non-native species though, you can get into trouble. Just ask Puna residents about the Coqui.

I haven't checked the latest, but the forecast as of early today was for a high of 81 tomorrow??

Diehrd: I, too was outside most of the day doing chores like raking and trimming and weeding and mulching...in shorts and a tee. Love it. I enjoy a slight change of seasons, but oh how I hate the short days and the cold - when it arrives.

Deb

To Diehard's query on my use of the word "juxtaposition". I was referring to the two totally opposing colors of the BOP, and yet creating such beauty.
----> off to my corner!

oh yeh i like things like that too! i can't get enough of this weather. winter, when it is not in december or new years is so gloomy. i already can not wait until the end of February!

look out... even down here it is gonna be in the upper 50's on sunday! that prolly means freezes for most of us. were usually about 5* warmer than Columbia, so going by that, keonokale will be in the low 50's to high 40's then..... brrrrrrrrr

Yeah looks like a near freeze Sunday. I took everything out today for a warm shower with the hose (and to get rid of spider mites) in the sun today, but put it all back inside. Didn't want to worry about it mid-week. Looks like it'll be a great week though temp wise. Just wish we could get some more rain. The outside shrubs and such could use it.

I love the lovely weather, having the opportunity to take nice long walks, finally able to work out in the back yard and not sweat my brain doing my new flower beds made with my compost, etc. The long awaited pleasant weather has come at the right time for me. Yea!!
Meanwhile, Ohio has freezing rain, snow & sleet which I don't miss!! (gouge, gouge)

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is Cara in the winter of 2005 standing on top of the snowball she made in Dayton, Ohio.

that looks so fun... from the size of the snowball, that is more snow than i have ever seen at once

Yep, I was going to say that the snow in that one snowball is more than we've had in the low country in 10 years! Brrrr!