The last freeze of 2008... we hope

And I'm still getting blooms on the Orange Bird of Paradise. It's been blooming off and on since mid-December.

Keonikale: It looks great! Real nice layout.

Thanks, I just wish I had more yard. I suppose most of us do. I was raised in the country so the whole neighborhood thing is still new to me.

We worked on a second island on the other side of the property today... I was happy bc I got to put a Banana in there as well and I got the Borneo Giant today, which I also put in that bed.

looks great! where'd you get the borneo giant???

Thanks. Got the BG from Natural Selections Exotics (online). I was expecting a bulb, but it was actually a live growing plant about 2.5' tall. Looks great and was even in its pot. I imagine it'll take a year or so to really take off (looks exactly like my other Mac's right now), but I think if I mulch it really well this winter it'll survive in the ground. DW didn't want anything else in a pot we'd have to over-winter... we already have too many potted plants as it is.

oh.... tht will go on my wishlist. never have really ordered from there

They were pretty quick shipping it too. I actually heard about them here, I forget where though. It was hard to find anyone who was shipping the Borneo Giant actually. I think I only found two websites and one of them didn't ship until May for some reason.

In fact I had to convince another EE company last night that they could ship my 11" Odora bulbs this time of year. They weren't going to ship until mid-April. I assured them it's been quite warm outside this week.

well at least that is a good sign of being reputable sources

Good point :)

The reason for not shipping now is, just because your warm enough doesn't mean the truck isn't heading North before it gets to you. I know when I get things shipped UPS they seem to always go through Greensboro NC. They had snow not long ago.

Looking good, keonikale, but your babies may be needing a little blanky the next night or two.

Thanks. Shouldn't be too bad in the 40's. Only when it dips into the 30's do I get worried, at things have to come in at 36-37ish bc of frost. I don't like to risk anything.

Right now it's the darn wind that's the problem. We went to get the bamboo for the new beds today and I could hardly control the things.

Keonikale: I dragged all my tropicals out of the garage and house yesterday (and I have the backache to prove it). Today, over our way, it's damp and in the mid 40s. Hoping for the sun to break through and get us up to at least the mid 50s.

I figure those plants are cursing me right about now. :)

Deb

It's pretty chilly here too; was just out trying to finish up digging that last pond in, but the cold gets to you and the soils heavy from the rain. I'll finish it tomorrow or Tuesday. I pulled the rest of the plants out yesterday too... not sure what's worse today, the cold or the wind. I've had to stand a few plants back up again already.

But at least the Lows remained fairly high considering the High for the day. And it looks to get nice and warm again starting tomorrow. I think the Low tomorrow night is higher than the High today, LOL.

I'll post a shot of the Bamboo we put in yesterday in the bamboo thread.

I was out doing a bit of work earlier and had to give up because my fingers were frozen from sticking them in wet soil!

I'm still going to try to plant the rest of my seeds out today, if the wind dies down a bit.
Deb

The rain missed us completely and my sprinklers have had to be off for weeks due to the remodeling. Things are so dry, I wish I could whine about cold WET soil. LOL

We're getting rain here almost all week - not due for another sunny day until Friday. It's cold & rainy here today. Brrrrrrr...

Rain chances here too most of the week. I'll take it while we can get it.

No kidding!! I love not having to water my plants, plus it'll be great for putting my plants in the ground this week. :)))

I went on a trip to Bull island part of the Cape Romain National Nature Preserve on Friday and it was in the 80's.There were no bugs (amazing) and lots of wind to keep us cool.

Yesterday was cold and rainy,in the high 40's up to 50'.It has been raining on and off since Saturday and it is raining now.No complaints about the rain.

Seedling have been in and out of the greenhouse but WE still have 2 more weeks until last frost date.Who knows with this new weather pattern?

The plant sales have started around here with the big one at Brookgreen next week end.I hope they have good weather for that.

When is the Azalea Festival in Summerville?We went once.Too many people for me.

It starts April 4th ..

http://www.summervilleymca.org/flowertown/

I agree .. too many people and it seems the weather is terrible every year. Either raining or very windy.

X

Downscale, are you trying to say I shouldn't risk putting my plants in the ground yet? :)

I'm waiting until after the 15th of April.

Years ago Clemson did a study where they learned that you can usually safely plant before the last frost date but your plants will not grow as fast as those planted after that date. Something about cold soil stunting the growth if I remember correctly.

Really? Bumper, dudes. :(( I'm so impatient to get mine in the ground. But I'll bow to your collective wisdom and just keep building beds, I guess. lol

Well I couldn't wait any longer. The past week has been devoted to planting and I'm still putting things in the ground (seems like the quantity of things substantially grew over the winter - I can't imagine how, LOL). I feel safe we're beyond the freezes here now. I think this past Sunday was the last of the cold snaps and that wasn't too bad.

The theory of the roots in early makes sense at the start of the growing season, but I would think as soon as the soil warms up they'd take right off again. I know some of my EE in the ground take a while to get going, but I've never noticed the cold stunt them. The canna's are all sure ready to get started - they were coming out in February.

This message was edited Mar 31, 2008 8:36 PM

K; I'm with you. As of today, all of my stuff's outside (she said, tempting fate). :)

Hey, everyone swore last Easter (April 7) was a fluke in the modern climatology records. And now that the forecast can be seen all the way to that date, and it's warming into the 80's by that point... I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Worst case... I guess I'll be doing a lot of work to undo my over eagerness. But if all goes well, everything's on it's way already... let the growing season begin.

John, you might want to stunt the growth of your plants or you will never get them back in the house next winter. LOL

I just need a bigger house, that's all. LOL

keonikale, at the risk of sounding preachy, were you aware that the last frost date for Columbia isn't until April 15? Admittedly, last year was unusual with balmy weather in the 90's followed by the hard freeze that burned a lot of tender growth. Two years ago I lost a beautiful canna I had grown in a pot by letting it stay outdoors too early. Now I realize that plants in pots need to be considered as hardy 2 zones colder.

Probably, though, your tropical beauties are now safe. Besides, you can always cover them if the forecast warns of low temps. Meanwhile, I say bring on the rain (my miserable sandy stuff can't hold water, no matter what I add to it).

I think the April 15th date is from the old USDA zone map though - from 1990. That was updated fairly recently and I believe the dates shifted along with it. I've read numerous websites that label the official end of our frost threat April 1st now. Some sites even said March 15th. I'd be curious to see if the new map did in fact have new "last frost" dates.

Edit: Well this is also older climate data, but I guess it's half and half depending on where you are. LOL
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/climate/freezefrost/Spring28F_hires.jpg

This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 1:42 PM

Not that I'd trust Lowe's forecasting ability, but they are one of the sites that say March 15. Now that is risky IMHO.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=LawnGarden/FrostDates.html

So we have the gamblers & the non-gamblers. lol I'm thinking if you don't have to cover too much, just in case of a freeze, it's worth the gamble.

i heard that charleston's was march 11

I should move to Charleston *grins* You guys are growing stuff down there I'd absolutely LOVE to put in the ground here. White BOPs and the like - oh that'd be nice.

If we do end up having a freeze, I'm in for a lot of work. I think we've put 16 new bananas in the ground so far (most without deep roots). Ever since I saw the pictures of Brian's place up in Kentucky, I'm determined to create the same affect on the edge of the woods in my backyard. So far, it's coming along pretty well. It'll look a lot better once all the cannas and EE's are in - just a lot of bananas right now.

yeah... but the birds only go in real good microclimates.

You know I wonder if you could get away with a Traveler's Palm down there in the zone 9 areas? Maybe in my lifetime Columbia will creep into the Zone 9.

i heard a discussion on it, and from wht i rmember, if you could keep it haging on, it wouldn't look nice enough to be worth to protect

That's true too. No sense growing something you have to baby all the time. I've about come to that point with Chinese Fan palms here in the ground. They look so horrid after the winter, I figure I'll just keep them in their pots. Even the sago's look horrible after this winter's freezes.