First Frost

We had our first frost this morning. I haven't been at all sure what to expect of the winters here. It was a very pretty hoar frost, but I forgot to take any photos :(
The leaves are just beginning to turn colour and fall. There are certainly some very beautiful autumn coours here with Liquidamber and some of the Acers and American Oaks being outstanding.

Have you all had frost yet? ......and how's your leaf colour this year?

Over here we have lost the frosts ,but I have seen hoar frosts, and they are beautiful, it is like everything has turned to lace.
would you like some NZ seeds for your new home and garden ,only if you want them
regards Boots

We had our first frost this morning too! Just an air frost but I'm glad I bought the Ficus and Umbrella tree in yesterday evening!

The forest is in it's autumnal splendour, I have a photo or two about I'll see if I can find them, the silver birch i sa beautiful golden colour.

Boots I'm hoping the hoar frosts wait a little while yet, need to get the greenhouses cleared first eeek!

We had a frost here too and coming out of work on saturday night I had to scrape the ice off my windscreen :(

Cold here too.

Oh Boots, yes I'd love some NZ seeds, thanks so much for the offer.
I've got a few things to exchange (in my trade list) but nothing very much I'm afraid.
Please let me know if anything appeals or if I can recompense in any way :)
Summer is on the way for you then....

That was good timing with the Ficus and Umbrella then Baa. Would love to see your photos when you have time and aren't clearing the greenhouse *g*

We haven't had any in the evening yet psilo, but very chilly mornings
Brrrrrr Diane ;)

I’ve left my central heating o overnight a few times recently. I’m a restless sleeper. Found myself surfacing at 3 in the morning to a freezing cold bedroom. Brrrr!!! Oddly enough I didn’t think it was as cold last night. However, I see the forecast is for cold later this week, maybe snow in some areas. Double brrrr!!!!!

IMMISSINGMYJAUNTSIMMISSINGMYJAUNTSIMMISSINGMYJAUNTS...

HI, I will send the seeds as a shifting country present. this spring has been extra wet, and if it is not wet, i't blowing. hope you have settled winter months.
I had better get out there and pot up some more seedling, before work comes round again .
I will look for your address through Dave's.

Thanks again Boots :)
Yes, my addy is in the exchange.
I really appreciate the moving country present, that's very kind of you :oD

still waiting here for frosts, (hoping they won't show! )...still have to move any vunerable plants inside..I never seem to get around to it though.
I am determined to though this year ,as they keep banging on about it being a hard year.
I've planted out bananas, brugmansias etc this summer too ,into the soil, and I'm afraid they'll have to stay put, put coats on them if necessary.
Maybe I could dress them up as snowmen, ready for the xmas display!!...:-)

will send seed in the morning, hope the frosts keep away from you.althought the seeds I am sending don't mind being in the fridge awhile be for sowing,
Changing the subject,sueone I am getting interested in trying brugs, I don't know anyone here the does. People have grown Datura , but others pinch the leaves and make a tea of the leaves, and end up in hospital, are they the same thing or not, Can't grow some poppy out front for the same reasons.
regards Boots

Hi !
We didn't have any frost yet, but we have a very bad weather, rather cold, 5 to 10 degrees C and it's raining all day long. The sky is grey with many clouds and sometimes is fog in the morning and in the evening.
Our leaves are almost all on the ground now, but they were beautiful, just a week ago, coloured in red, yellow, brown and green. I took a few pictures, but I'll send it later.
Adina

Hope you still manage a few jaunts, even with winter time arriving Diane

Love the idea of your snowmen sue ;oD
I think your climate is milder in winter than here, by the look of it. Though I understand we do get very mild spells too. It's just that we get sharper frosts - much like in Kent, but possibly even more so...

Thanks Boots :)
That tea making sounds a bit risky!!
Ah - just clicked - when you say others pinch the leaves you mean take rather than as in gardening term 'pinching the shoots'. So glad they end up with tummy ache lol. That's awful that you can't grow things because of other people's problems :(

I'm really looking forward to seeing your photos Adina
The colours here are getting very good - I must take some as well.
Here are some people enjoying the snow in the Pyrenees - we were there on Sunday

aahhhh its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas..but not here, very warm and sunny and DRY those Santa ana conditions again which makes the sinus squeak !! we will not get an overnight frost until possibly Feb..
That is a terrific pic..we can go up into the mountains here but everyone including their grannies ends up there and go pretty crazy, so not a good place to visit anymore..[just watch it on our tvs instead..when the first snow falls]..Lovely to visit the little towns in the mounains tho, and Christmas shop [ and have some mulled cider and apple pie] ...yummy !!
Can you see the snow capped mountains from where you live Philomel ? and how far do you need to drive to visit the Pyrenees ? certainly looks lovely !!

Yes, we can se the mountains from here Maria. Our house is on a ridge facing them just along (about 500m) from a medieval castle that was built as a lookout against invasions from the Moors. It takes just over an hour to be amongst the mountains.
Here's a view from the top of that tower, but looking away from the Pyrenees towards the village church. Some autumn colour there :)

........and here's some more snow

I can just feel that snow under my boots..crunch! crunch!
and that cold frosty air, hard to breath after you take a brisk walk!! [ memories] and a view to die for..
nothing more wonderful than to see the sun shining on snow in the mountains and second best is looking at a picture of it....sigh!!

Oh!!!! What gorgeous photos!!!! Mmmmmm!!!!

Feel very fed u p with the weather and mssing my jaunts. Weather is cold and damp and grey. Going over to Thornaby for lunch though. Not exactly a beauty spot - far from it! - but at least it’s a break.

Those pictures are great ! We also have snow on the mountains and frost , but here, in Bucharest, it's still autumn. They say tomorrow will be a very cold day and by Saturday it's expected snow. I'll keep you posted.

Hello adinamiti!!! Are you a newcomer to this forum!!!! Welcome!!!! I'm sat in Thornaby's public library - it's absolutely bucketing down outside. Horrible weather moan moan moan. Do you have a digicam? Will we see photos please?

Hello northener ! Yes, I am a newcomer. Thank you for the welcome !
I don't have a digicam, but I have some pictures, not so recent, yet.
Here I am on my balcony.

I hope you don't mind if I peek in on your 'weather' thread. World wide the weather has always fascinated me. Over the last few years I've been hooked into our weather channel on tv and now so many sites on the Internet. It's interesting to see that your weather service doesn't predict with accuracy either.

We had a coupla unexpected snowstorms on our nearby mountains in Oct and here's a pic of how the birds felt about that. This was higher on the mtn than I live, at my pal's place which sits a coupla thousand feet higher than my valley.
Hi, from the other side of the Pond. ~Blooms

Hello Adina, lovely to meet you. It's lovely to put a face to the name ;)
I look forward to hearing about your weather in Romania.
I visited a few years ago for a holiday and loved the mountains - but it was summer.
We visited Buchurest too and the sea coast. It was a wildlife holiday and we saw lots of fascinating things, including a close encounter with bears :)
The photo on my member page was taken in Romania

Lovely to see you over here Blooms. What a poignant photo. How high is it where you live?
We live down low, but within an hour and a half of 2000+metres :)

Hope you've managed to get out and about a bit Northerner. It's cabin fever season ;)
I'm surprised Thornaby isn't a beauty spot - it sounds as if it should be lovely, if a bit prickly lol

Lovely photos, thank you both!!!

No Philomel, Thornaby is a bit of a dump. It is in urgent need of regeneration money. It's cheap for me to get to though, if I need a change and don't want to spend much.

Today I went over to Stokesley! Stokesley's pretty!!!! I pottered round the market, then went for lunch at the Spread Eagle. It is an old, traditional, beamed pub, with a roaring fire!! I had rabbit pie (it's home-made) with new potatoes and fresh veggies. Yum yum!!!! It was a lovely sunny day. After lunch I walked along the riverside and fed the ducks. It was bitterly cold - it's freezing here now, more like winter than autumn. I'm going to have to look out my boots now, or my tootsies will feel too cold. The ducks were ever so hungry, poor things, they ate a whole bag of food.

When I'm feeling down in the dumps a day out in the country can often help.

Thats a lovely picture of you Adina, and welcome to you, its so nice to put a face with a post, looks like you have some real pretty potted plants too, how many do you grow ? very healthy looking too..you do have the touch [ green fingers]..you will have to give us some tips on how you grow them, good to have you here....

What is it you are growing there, Adina?

It looks like your flat is up a number of stories. I am amazed at the (container) gardens some city dwellers have -- it's more than a green thumb! It must be a passion!

In my limited experience, it seems that Eastern European-to-northern-Asia city inhabitants are especially good at growing things in their windows and on porches and balconies... is it that you have long and/or cold winters? Or just love having living things near to you?

~'spin!~

Hello ! yesterday we had the first frost in Bucharest.
Dear philomel, you should see our mountains now, it snowed a lot (30 cm) and it's just beautiful !
Dear peterson89 and crystalspin, happy to meet you and thank you for your nice words. Those are kalanchoe red, pink and yellow. The picture was taken this year, in March.
I love very much flowers and take care of them as well as I can. I'll send you some more picture.
adina

they are certainly beautiful flowers and we can see how much you love them Adil, we will look forward to more pictures of them, regards, marion

Thanks, Marion, here are some more, my favourites, the poinsettias. I water them everytime the ground is dry on the top and fertilize every 2 weeks in the summer, until they bloom. I keep the poinsettias in a sunny window .

You are certainly doing a lot better than most of us with Poinsettias Adina, we normally throw ours out after the holidays [ Christmas] when the last bloom has expired...they talk about putting them in complete darkness for months prior to the next holidays, but I have never had the will power to do this [ a lot of extra things they suggest to do]...if yours are doing that well, please share what you do, I love my plants and garden but if I have to fuss a lot, it has to be with something real special for me to give that extra time...On one of the postings was explaining because of our heat having to let the clematis go now, I do love them but they are miserable here..

We had our first frost last night, certainly cold enough for it, a strong storm moved in Saturday night, thunder and lightening, heavy rains[was not forcast so a complete surprise] we never get weather like this, so early...Our kids called us from the high desert where they live ..very early AM ..were thrilled out of their minds, everyone was outside..it had SNOWED!! never had that happen before, 4 lovely inches of it..could not believe the din on the phone could hear children shouting, car horns honking, adults yelling and dogs barking...can you imagine !!!! everyone was outside on the streets [ going crazy].....
we are back to our lovely sunshine but cold...brhhhhh!!!
[ waiting for our warm weather to come back again]

Yes, dear peterson89, I begin covering them with black plastic bags on the last week of September and do it until the mid of December. Last December I didn't know very well how to take care of the Poinsettia because it was the first Christmas for them. I've had the plant since December 2002 . I wanted so much this plant and couldn't afford buying one from the flowershop. A friend of mine had an old plant with long stems , a few leaves and even white flees. She didn't know how to take care of it and offered me a stem. I cut it in 3 , washed the leaves with plain water and planted them in a pot. I didn't know much about this plant either, but I've followed the advices given in one of our magazines, "Practic". Two of the stems grew up and so I had 2 plants. In May 2003 I trimed back the plants and planted these stems too. I've obtained 6 plants and while I was looking for advices for taking care of them I've found the DG.

What a wonderful story Adina! I'm so pleased you saved the Poinsettias and through that found DG
The plants look so healthy, you obviously care for them well.

We went to the Atlantic coast the other day. It was beautifully sunny and - because we had been to see overwintering Cranes at another place and stopped for a walk etc - we arrived just in time for the sunset.
It was just breathtaking. Down at the water's edge there was a little group of waders - Dunlin I think.

Philomel, that's a beautiful picture of a wonderful sunset. You should post it on Photos so all get to see it.
I look in here now and then, love the stories you all tell and your photos too. ~Bloom

What a lovely story Adina, I second what Philomel said, and thanks for sharing about how you grow the Poinsetias, I will have to try..maybe keep our Christmas ones this time [wish I could send some to you]..makes me feel guilty throwing mine out..If there are any seeds you want to try and I can get them for you please let me know...we can figure it out for mailing [ do you have restrictions ?]..I usually pop mine into my sisters Christmas parcel...[to the UK].. Have not tried anywhere else to send outside of the USA
We are having some lovely sunsets too, it always gives me joy to see them, lovely picture Philomel
want to wish the rest a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING...marion

I'd forgotten all about this thread! Hi Adina, good to see you here!

Here's Bo the dog (playing the wolf he thinks he knows he is)

Peterson, my MIL kept her Christmas poinsettia one year, she just left it in it's pot setting in the corner of the dining room - on the floor, not near any particular light source. By Easter dinner it had grown a long slim branchlet that reached for the ceiing and arched over the dining table in a 'Shop of Horrors' way.

That is quite a story Blooms, I will have to remember
NOT to do that..[smile]...Knowing myself I will probably hide in a dark corner [or closet] and forget... it is called foggy brain syndrome, others call it ''senior moments'' !!!
[ I remember on a gardening program it being mentioned that it is best to put them in a dark cupboard], well, if it is a cupboard you do not use for some time..as in undisturbed..mine could be there for years !!!
I think it takes the fortitude of someone like Adina to bring it to fruition..

Hi everyone
Adine, you must be a plant doctor, your plants look beautiful.
Baa, BO looks like he taken on the lovely autumn colours.

Philomel the Atlantic looks big and colourfull I went to the Pacific yesterday here's a pic of that.

I just came back inside a little while ago, gorgeous warm sunny day here again, bright blue skies,the roses are blooming, my Christmas camelia is covered with the brightest red flowers [ lovely golden centres] true, my heliconias got a little nipped by the frost last night, but they will recover..this is a blessing!!
It is picture perfect for Thanksgiving....

Happy Thanksgiving to all the American DG !
Hi, peterson89, are the pie and the turkey ready ? I have to tell you that the poinsettia must be covered at least 14 hours each day. I cover them from 5 p.m. till 7-8 a.m. the next morning. Also they have to stay in a sunny window, at least 6 hours a day. Yes, you can put them in a dark cupboard or closet (especially in September and October when the days are longer), but only for 14 hours a day. I advise you to go to the University of Illinois site or Paul Ecke site, you probably have heard of him. He was the first to bring Poinsettia into a buisiness in US. There are a lot of usefull advices about growing poinsettia, even about taking care of those which you've bought from the flower shop. Thank you for your offer, I'd like any seeds you have. Weeds has sent me a lot in a card. As far as I know, there are no restrictions.

What a lovely sunset, philomel ! Here is a picture from last winter, taken from our window.

Very beautiful view, bootandall. I try to be the doctor of my plants and almost everytime I succeed.

Nice to see you here, Baa. What a big dog you have ! Do you know mine ? His name is Boss and he is a german shepherd.