First possible frost tonight

Anyone else move stuff in today? We went ahead and moved everything in doors just to be safe - took the whole day. I think tonight will be OK but tomorrow looks to be 35 F or so for us here and I figured better do this on a Sunday than a Monday.

Oh I hate this time of year... here's hoping for a short winter.

I moved everything in on Sunday. Thought I might be jumping the gun, but then I got home this evening and saw the dreaded Frost Advisory. Yech! So depressing.

Here's the garage...so far. Got a couple more things that'll have to go in there. Everything else is in the house. The bathtub's full of orchids. :)
Deb

We had our first frost last night. I'm glad that I don't have really large houseplants/tropicals to move in. It took me at least an hour just to load a couple of coldframes- to capacity of course:)

Well now I'm glad we did the heavy lifting yesterday - it looks like we'll get the first official frost tonight in some spots. I covered up what I haven't dug up yet (banana and a few hibiscus, but I got everything else in tonight we didn't get before - majesty palms, etc). Still a lot of work to do next weekend with the bananas and such. It looks like it's going to bounce right back up into the high 60's or 70's later this week - figures! But the cost of moving in early is worth it if it keeps everything alive and well. The bananas are all I have room for now.

Here's a few photos so far. Left side.

Right side. Bird of Paradise should be blooming in a month or so. 7 blooms at the moment, can't wait.

The Traveler's Palm and the BOP - both will have gotten almost too big for the 11ft ceiling by next winter. No idea what I'll do next year :(

This message was edited Oct 20, 2008 11:49 PM

And the GH's - two portables zipped together.

Last one from up high.

Deb, I wish I had your garage windows - that'd save a TON of $$ on lighting. Your monstera looks nice too.

I always hate the first cool spell we have. It was freezing (to me) in the house this morning but not cold enough to turn the heat on. Temp outdoors was 55; cold enough to need a jacket to walk the dog. Thank goodness it will surely get warm again for a few more weeks. It is too early to start the "I'm ready for spring" chant.

I wanted to strangle the guys at NOAA this morning, it wasn't even that cold - maybe 38F and just heavy dew. They had us under a Frost advisory warning. So false alarm - and a lot of running around for nothing apparently. Now we'll probably have two weeks of warm weather and many of us have already packed up house. Argh

I think this year I'm just gonna leave everything that's in - in, and be glad come the next cold snap it's already done. I moved it all back out last year just to move it back in again. Not this year.

Is it really ever too early to start the spring chant?

Never, ever too early! LOL.
My BOP will also be too tall for the garage next year, but i'll worry about that then.
The windows do help, but they face east. I'd really like to replace our garage doors, which face east, with some that have windows.

Keonikale: I didn't think it was possible, but I think you actually have MORE plants in your garage than last year. :)

And we had no frost either, last night. Only got down to 40 again. I'm just going to leave the garage doors open during the day while it's still warm. No way will I move anything back out. Except maybe an orchid that's blooming.

If you replace your garage door with one for windows, I'm curious what the cost involved is. I think it'd be an excellent idea, but I still wonder if the windows would be high enough to let enough light reach into the far corners of the garage.

My wife keeps suggesting that we list some of the larger BOP's or Travelers Palms in the market bulletin, maybe someone with more space and good light would enjoy them as they grow. I dunno, I have a hard time parting with something I've taken care of for so long, but given the alternative of leaving it out... I dunno - will have to think about that next year I guess. Maybe I grow learn to grow them in a partial horizontal state, LOL.

I'm still debating whether or not to dig up my largest basjoo's, chop their leaves off and store them fully in-tact - OR - just leave them in the ground and try and protect the entire p-stem of each. I get the feeling they might just be happier in the ground all winter, well protected. I may dig one or two up, but leave the others in the ground.

Good grief, I wouldn't waste valuable real estate in the garage for basjoos. Do you have a crawl space under your home? I have heard of folks just digging them up and putting them in the crawl space for the winter.

Basjoo doesn't over winter especially well (dormant in basements), nor does Ice Cream so I didn't want to try it. I may try it on my Sabas and Orinocos next year though.

I keep forgetting I also have to dig up the DC's and the Veluntina (I know it'd be fine, but I don't have a pup yet and it just flowered). The DC's I wish would bloom already and fruit - I've had them in the ground two years now. Maybe next year.

This message was edited Oct 21, 2008 6:45 PM

I thought basjoo was the one that overwintered in the ground as far north as VA? Doesn't someone here from NC keep one in the ground?

Oh they will definitely survive in the ground - I'm leaving close to 20 in the ground this year. But my largest two I had hoped to save since I want to see it flower; thus I need to preserve the full p-stem. Plus one is in a front bed and needs to be moved; I figured might as well save it as-is.

I think they'll survive in the ground as far north as Zone 5 or so.

Alice I'll admit I'm impatient on a lot of these too. I want a flower as soon as next year if possible. I know eventually they'll all get big enough to bloom, but I'm hoping I can sneak one out early. The Basjoo I did leave in the ground last year about doubled in size this year (though strangely some of my first year basjoo this year outgrew it significantly; I guess it was the soil).

My flowers were definitely not worth the wait. The color was more of a non color; blah beige would be a good description. If you didn't know to look for it you would never know it was there.

Yeah I imagine a fruit producing banana will be more of a thrill when it happens - IF I can get the fruit before the first frost. Maybe within a few years I'll be able to say that. Right now I'll take what I can get - the Veluntina is nice, but it's not exactly a Wow moment IMHO. It sounds like the Basjoo will be equally (un)impressive.

They are niot even in the same catagory. The veluntina has color (and it should have lots of color) my basjoo was pure beige.

I think the veluntina flowers show up best when they are planted in groups. When yours have pupped enough you should have a good show.