I spent a large part of yesterday in the cold wind bringing plants into the garage, so those are safe.
The birdbaths are frozen, so I guess any green we had outside is gone, except the evergreens, and thank goodness for those, winter can so dreary, thankfully ours here in Texas is rather short.
How is it at your house?
Josephine.
It got to 29° here in the hills for our second freeze, but it seems like it was a very brief one, no ice that I could see by late morning. Still waiting for the one that gets the frostweed.
Everything is dreary - all but my evergreen sumac. Standing tall and stunning in this cold weather. It really shines this time of year.
We had 31 last night...our 2nd freeze this winter....but I had prepared by bringing all tender plants into the green house earlier throughout the week days before....Since I started focusing on growing mostly hardy plants for our zone,....I don't have any where near as many plants to protect as I've had in the past years.....so much easier!!
It got down to 30ºF last night. Our 2nd freeze, too. Most of my potted plants were already in the greenhouse so that part wasn't too bad, but I had to spend yesterday afternoon and evening removing Bermuda grass from between the pavers in the greenhouse so I could turn the propane heater on. Ran out to cover a few frost tender plants. The winter grass in the pastures are keeping things green. The surprising thing is that I have a large vine growing against the house on the north side. It's too large to cover. It came through with just a few scorched leaves. The first two winters after I planted it, it froze down to the ground. Last year, It had a thick coat of ice to protect it.
My greenhouse/shed with a little electric heater seems to have worked for the first freeze of the season. The EE's, bananas, ginger, duranta, fern, turk's cap and lots more finally look like winter. Really odd looking since it is so late and they are still green, just all wilted. Bird feeder was frozen solid this morning.
Temporarily defrosted. Rose buds are all burned. I don't remember the wisteria still having green leaves this late ever before.
LouC
Last night it got down to 38 and tonight it may get to 32. I have everything in the greenhouse except for the brugs in the ground. Some of them are blooming, so I have frostcloth covering them. Plus they are under large oak trees for protection. We hardly ever get a hard freeze here but it does a lot of frost. Citrus trees are full of fruit and we are eating hearty. Just hope they don't freeze until all of them are picked.
Susie2
Oh, I forgot to check the stalks on the Frostweed plants for the ice scupltures! Josephine, does it have to be at freezing for a couple days straight? I haven't gotten to see it since I plant those. With DH off right now, maybe he can keep an eye out for the event and get pictures for me. They were so pretty this year.
Most of my plants really look like winter now. I hadn't cut a lot of things back because they were still looking so good. Hopefully I didn't make a mistake waiting. We did get a rain, but also ran the sprinkler just to make sure they had a lot of moisture before the freeze hit.
Hello Sheila, I don't think it got quite cold enough to make the frostweed explode, maybe the next round of low temperatures will do it, it sure is a neat thing to see.
Here is mine from last year.
Good, we didn't miss it then. Should I cut them back to get the display or will they do it anyway?
Just leave them alone. If it gets as low tonight as one forecast says (24°...although I seriously doubt it will get that low), I'll be checking mine in the morning. Another thing, if you've got a bunch of frostweed (like I do...mostly by the dry creek), it doesn't necessarily all do it together at the same time. I think it depends on the micro-climate at each spot. Sometimes I don't see the ice because I forget to look, but then I'll see the stems later that looks like they just burst. After that the plant is dormant.
We had a light freeze earlier this week but most of my plants held up. Saturday night, however it came a hard freeze and I'm finally gonna get to clean out my beds. Plumbagos, duranta, and brug bit the dust but hopefully I mulched them well enough that they return in spring. This morning, I started up the truck and the thermometer showed 24 degrees! Good news is that my sunstars are still looking good. I was afraid they were too tender. Should I cut the plumbagos and duranta back now or wait til spring? Anyone want me to save some alyssum seed?
Well, it didnt hit too hard around here, but the canna I never got around to cutting back are now nice and black..guess my job (when it warms up a little) is to get them cut down..
We have a patio in back which we cover for winter, so I got all the plants inside this year before it was 35 degrees and 40 mph winds. ( last minute person here...sigh)
Kris
Last night was 26°. These chilly temps are why I put zone 8A even though I'm probably no farther north than the most northern parts of San Antonio to the east, in case anyone has wondered. The higher the altitude, the lower the winter temps, as people in Kerrville could tell you. NOW things are looking more zapped! Not low enough for the Frostweed to ice out, however. I just hope I can keep a few blooms going for the butterflies.
T.J. it is alright to cut your perennials that have gone dormant now, or you can wait a while, it won't hurt either way. I like to cut mine during the winter because it looks neater, but I leave a few inches of stem so I can tell where they are since I mulch with leaves.
Josephine.
OK Thanks, Josephine. I think I'll go ahead and cut them back now.
frostweed, does it matter what kind of leaves you use??? Do you chop them up first??
I always have a lot of leaves from my pecan trees but never enough to mulch like I want to and have been tempted to go leaf hunting to get them before the trash men do.
Kris
You can use any kind of leaves,I use all of mine, my neighbors bring me theirs, and i still go hunting for leaves, we mulch and compost in a big way, so we are always looking for more. Applying leaves is a wonderful way to mulch and improve the soil.
Happy Hunting.
Josephine.
Jo, while we are on the subject, I have mostly red oak. Have read somewhere that oak leaves are hard to compost. Hope that is wrong.
Christi
Hi Christi, oak leaves are tougher than some other leaves, but they will compost, it will take longer, but they will. You can help them break down by chopping them and keeping them moist, also that will keep them from blowing around.
Josephine.
Just mow over them - that is all I did here pile them up and mow over them, the add to the tops of the beds with no mess.
Thanks to both of you. We most certainly mulch them into the yard. I never let the yard crew pick them up. However, last time instead of mowing the back they raked them all onto the lasagna bed that I am working on. Thinking seriously of turning it into a raised bed for veggies. Wishing my life away...wish it was spring.
Me Too Christi, winter is so dreary.
Me three...
Well, we know we all agree on one thing for sure.
Ditto y'all! You couldn't get me to live north where the winters are longer.
My mom was from New York state - way up state... one year we went up for Christmas and never ever again... nice to look at in a photo nothing more.
This is what my brugs looked like early last week before the first one. They definitely don't look like that now.
Anne
From West to East, I have only been as far north as Nevada, Colorado Spgs, Eureka Springs, Memphis, & Knoxville. Yes, I can't stand to be cold!
I do have a cousin in WA state that I promised I would come up soon but want to wait until it is warmer this spring!
WA is just a little ways up there.. burrrr.. anything North of zone 7 is tooo far north, anything south of zone 10 just gets tooo hot...
Everything that needs to be in the green house is in the green house. um I hope.
P.S. oh to live south of zone 10. All the wonderful Cycads and Palms I could grow.
Bear
Good news! Upon further investigation, I found that the plumbagos and duranta still have some nice green leaves down at the bottom. My foxtail fern came through the freeze without a blemish.
