The Big Freeze

32 degrees here today! I brought in some potted Howeas, some Nasturtiums I had started but not planted out, and a couple of other things. Looks like the Banana might be toast, the Strelizia nicholii has one leaf that looks damaged, but the Brug seems to be okay (slightly 'shaded' by a dormant plum tree).

Anyone else lose anything?

Our temps weren't that bad last night, just got down to 29 compared to several nights we've had that were lower than that, and most of my really tender things live in the greenhouse. But from our previous 24 and 26 degree nights my Vitex 'Fascination' and Ruttya fruticosa are looking badly frostbit, and my coleus are history (they are really only annuals here though, so no surprises there!). My Tecoma garrocha is also damaged quite a bit which surprised me since it survived our 18 degree temps two winters ago when it was newly planted, so I can't figure out why it's having trouble now. I think the Tecoma will come back, the Vitex and Ruttya it'll depend on how much more cold temperatures we get. I'm a bit worried though, last year we didn't have any temps like this until into January so it worries me that we started having this kind of temperatures in mid-December.

It's definitely colder sooner at my house than most years----however we have had snow a couple of times for the New Year, so it's not unheard of.

It was 30 here last night - I think our thermometer is in a cold spot. However, we were on our way home from visiting friends in the evening and the car thermometer was dropping into the low 40s at about 6pm, so I know it was cold!

I have damage to my canna's, agapanthus, and some to my Tecoma stans (honeybird bush), which were left uncovered. I covered most everything I could. Those will come back, and after I trim off the dead branches, foilage they will be fine. I did away with the boxes and recycled some above ground pool supports, covered with plastic to make little tents for my most frost sensitive plants in the B.fly/H.bird garden. See photo. Everything else came through ok. Even my Giant Bird of Paradise, which did freeze hard last year.
Jman, I have Banana shoots I need to remove from an area where they aren't supposed to grow. Would you like one, if I can separate it?
Is is just me? My poplar trees and the locust trees are only now beginning to loose their leaves. They usually are bare in mid November. Not this year though.
Haven't been inside the green house today to check the temps. Everything in there seemed happy yesterday. The outside temps were in the upper twenties last night.
WIB,
SW

Thanks SingingWolf, but I think the stalk is fine - just blackened the beautiful fall leaves :(! The one I have is an "Ice Cream" Banana - aka Musa acuminata "Blue Java". I guess it is supposed to be pretty hardy, though it will die back with a frost. The funny thing is, it was originally way too dry and hot for it there and got a serious case of sunburn this summer, now it is too unprotected from frost. I followed the advice of many different sources to place it in full sun - and I am wondering if I should relocated it to a more sheltered location. It was loving the rain, but it is in one of the few unsheltered areas of my garden. Everything else has a citrus tree or at least some bare plum, apricot, or apple tree canopy over it. Pretty much the whole garden will be more protected by next fall.

It is not just you, BTW, as my apple tree STILL has many green leaves on it, and my plum still has a few leaves hanging on. The apricot tree only lost its leaves at the beginning of December. We had so much heat so late, I guess that we had a late autumn.

I also lost a few Canna leaves, and a few of the Brugmansia leaves (north side of bush). I planted a very small Dypsis lutescens under a tall tangerine tree. It made was completely unscathed.

Edit - added info about Dypsis.

This message was edited Dec 27, 2008 7:53 PM

I totally missed that it was going to be so cold last night so nothing was covered. We were out to dinner and it did feel cold coming home. I will have to look tomorrow to see if everything came thru. I checked and the low was 33. Looks like it will be in the 40s this coming week at night.

Was hovering around 30 degrees here, last night. BRRRR! I hope that your plants are ok.
WIB
SW

Good news! Our local weather nut says that the rest of January will be nice and warm (down here anyway, I'll hope for the best for you guys up North). In the past I would not have wanted to hear this, but am now seeing things in a different light...lol...I used to enjoy winter, but now it just means 'damage control'. We're in the process of adding on another covered section for rain, frost protection and I'm super glad to hear that we've apparently got several worry-free weeks ahead.

I'm glad too, because I'm freezing! Well, my feet are, and that affects the rest of me. During the day, though, if I can get out in the sun I can warm up. Soon as I get the house put back together, I'll be outside!

So funny talking about these little dips into the freeze zone - my folks up in NW Washington State are still dealing with snow and ice from their huge blizzard they had a couple of weeks ago! Of course my mom's garden is full of perennials that tend to come back stronger when they have adequate winter chill. Her apple trees go gangbusters in the autumn, too, when there has been a truly cold winter season.

We are truly blessed with a great growing climate here in Califor-nye-ay!

I talked to my mom in Eugene, OR on Sunday. She said it was all white outside - not snow, just frost. They are lucky that Eugene is in an area that seldom sees snow on the ground for more than a day, if that.

We have a few CA natives that seem to like a cold winter - redbud, for one. That's about the only good thing I can say about the cold!

Well, I am not a native Californian, but I sure do love living here. I'm very grateful that it doesn't get as cold here as it does in other places and am looking forward to longer days, warmer temps, and more rain. I love this time of year (even if I have to wear several layers of clothes and a head scarf!), because my world turns green again. My eyes miss it when everything goes brown and crunchy.
DH got me a reason to go for walks, am sending picture of my new buddy (he has litter mates who need homes). He is an Australian Shepherd, about 7 weeks old. I've named him Spirit. He sure has a lot of it too!
Puts a smile on my face! : )
Walk In Beauty!
SW

Ooooh, now you will walk WITH beauty! Spirit is lovely. My brother has had Australian shepherds for years. His latest is called Katey. They are great dogs and I wish we could bring one home, but DH wants a lab when he retires, which won't be for a few years.

Brown and crunchy - what a good way to describe it! I too like the green this time of year.

ADORABLE! Spirit is lucky to have found you!

He is a sweetie. When DH took me out to see them, Spirit came to me not just once but twice when I called his name. Comes all the time when I say his name now. Here's another photo of his litter mates. Labs are nice too, but I still think that Australian Shepards are smarter. I have a half lab/dalmation mix, and a mutt too. My girls (canine) will help me train Spirit to do his job. Protect and herd! : )
He doesn't need any lessons on being a good companion. He really does make me laugh too. How is your new pup Jungleman?
Sad that I lost another tropical, and my Philodendrons got hit by frost last night. They will recover. I will replace the one tropical. I wish I could remember what it was called. I think, a caladium? Really pretty foilage, and I'll have to start over with that one. Rats! : (
I hope the weatherman is right and we do get some slightly warmer temps.
WIB,
SW

Puppy's fine - little Rosie had her first playdate today with a friend's little brown Chihuahua and her Cairn Terrier - it was a love fest and they all played together really well.

I'm looking forward to our lovely mid 70 degree weather, too! I am a transplant as some of you know, and I have fully acclimated to the California climate!

Got all the weed cloth down this week, now just need to finish it off with a few more bags of mulch. The back yard will be basically complete as far as larger installations go - now the fun of planting with less weeding! I'll tell you, I'm getting the bark delivered when I tackle the front yard! All those darned bags of mulch were expensive, but I reduced the lawn by about half, and now have a nice, brick edged, lawn in the midst of what will be a (fingers crossed) densely planted oasis!

I'll post pics once I get all the bark in!

Your new puppy is adorable! If I had a bigger yard and didn't work all day I'd take one of the littermates, but Aussies are a bit high energy for my yard & lifestyle. (Plus I'm not sure my 14 yr old Sheltie would really want a puppy friend, I think that would be a bit much for him too)

Good to know about Rosie's new chums!
We have such problems with the Australian Poplars sending up shoots in the lawn, that is why I tore out my half the lawn. That and my DH is a weed whacking fool and kept killing my flowers. Ok, the new leach line played a part too. My family thought I was nuts for saving newspaper, cardboard, and in a few places some old carpet to put down in those trouble spots where the new leach line brought the poplar roots close to the surface or where they'd been a problem before. I developed a system. Wet the paper. Lay in down, then put in the landscapers cloth, and use the staples to hold it down or the wind will mess up your work before you get the mulch over it. I'm building raised bed planters in that portion of the yard where I want flowers. I've had a few incursions of the Poplar shoots, but now I just pull them up, cover as above and deepen the mulch. It's much better now, and less work for both me and DH. I'm turning my yard into a Butterfly/Hummingbird garden with a lot of places to sit and watch the flowers grow, the butterflys and hummers. Still a work in progress, and I might loose more plants with the cold. I hope not, but we will see what survives.
Can't wait to see how yours turns out. So you decided to go for bark mulch. Very pricey indeed. Hope it's not too big of an area, but it will be worth it. Please do send pictures when you get that mulch in.
I wish I'd taken step by step pictures of my project. Took a long time to cover that area, but I'm really glad I did. It would have been nice to have before and after pics. Next time!
WIB!
SW

It's not too late for progress pictures if it's not done! It'll start you in the habit.....

Been clicking away since last year when bananas began to develop. Can't find the photos. DS is going to help me. I know they are in here some place.
WIB,
SW

Whah, taken yesterday! My poor banana.

Oh, no! Is it just leaf damage or is it mushy? I had a potted one that was damaged really bad and I revived it with H202 and cutting it back. I was amazed.

All my bananas and brugs come back so I just will leave them a while and cut it back when all danger of frost is over.

SW Spirit is adorable and I think you should start a thread just with pictures of him!! I am so glad I do not live there or one of his brothers/sisters would need to be mine.

Good! Mine was the first banana I tried to grow and I was so sorry to lose it. It recovered after the freeze, but was just never happy again. :-(

IT will come back, just wait until all danger of frost is over before trimming. Will get my brother to write down his recipe for fertilizer that helps the bananas, and share with you all. Try KC's H202 treatment too.
I think Dad's Pride of Barbados took a bad hit. Don't know if it will come back. Have seed from his plant so I can start all over again.
My giant Bird of Paradise isn't happy and looks something like your banana. My regular Bird of Paradise is okay except for where the hail stones shredded the leaves last spring. No frost damage, and it is in a more exposed location too. Go figure?!
Marie, AZ isn't that far away, Heh heh, one of Spirits/ sibs could be yours. One of the puppies got a new home yesterday so there are only four that need homes, now. Their owner is working on it. (One of DH's employees.)
I'm sure you'll be seeing more of Spirit as time goes on. He is a precious little fellow.
WIB,
SW

I am just far enough away.... The Pride of Barbados should be fine. Mine freezes back every year and comes back bigger and better as soon as it heats up.

I was just teasing about the pups! : )
I am glad to know that my POB can come back from a freeze. : )
WIB,
SW

Well I was not kidding. If I lived close enough one of those would be living with us :o)

If you really want one, go check out the animal shelter closest to you. Aus. Sheps. make great companions. Smart and loving. I'm pretty sure these guys will get homes pretty fast. I have a couple of people helping out. I was told that DH's Employee had only brought them here because a local pet store wanted them. When they found out that he hadn't docked their tails (what a cruel and barbaric thing to do!), they refused to take the pups. I understand that at the dog shows this breed has to have it's full tail to be shown, so I am not getting the tail docking thing. Dogs use their tails to express emotions, and to balance.
Hoping for warmer temps here!
WIB!
SW

Never did like that tail docking thing, though I imagine w/o it, no Great Dane would ever get inside a house!
My mom and dad had a dog that was 1/2 AusShep and 1/2 Dingo. He used to herd me out of the kitchen by nipping at my heels. Mom didn't believe me until she saw him at it one day. She gave him heck and he stopped...sort of.

I hate tail docking!!! I just do not understand it. Luckily I do not live near the animl shelter or my home might become one. :o)

My neighbor just bought a horse on the internet! It's from a rescue org. She made the mistake of looking at the photos of the ones on their way to the slaughterhouse. Saw the face of this little filly and just couldn't stop herself. :-)

Not going there!! I already have 2 rescue horse!! One is a minature. Not enough room for more. ( I did not even know you could do buy a horse through a rescue organization on the internet)

I was surprised too. It's horrifying the number they have in that slaughterhouse category - and that's just one site.
Some of them are just breeding "mistakes" apparently. :-(

I hate to even think of slaughter houses for anything bigger than dogs or cats. Going to the animal shelter MANY times as a kid was enough for me. We always got our pets from the animal shelter...I think my folks picked up a few of my siblings along the way ! LOL

Him that very well might be where some of mine came from too Mike.

Maybe we're related ! hee hee

Lol could be.....