Oh come on. What happened to global warming???
My hibiscus and all that are blooming but I'm not thinking they will be tomorrow.
27 in Bluffton tonight???
BTW check out my member page picture. LOL>
LOL
Calling for 23 here tonight - guess that means goodbye to what was left after the first frosts. *sigh*
31 here now at 11:00 in Whitehall (near Irmo)
I covered my containers that have perennials in them, brought in some of the tender ones.
I forgot to empty my bird bath and just went out to do that and there is already a layer of ice on it.
My poor sprigs of New Guinea Impatiens that I put with my Confederate Jasmine pot are froze solid, poor things. But the jasmine should be okay, right?
Will Daylilies be okay in large pots, or should I cover them too? I can dig them out tomorrow and put them in the garage if I need to.
How about my containers, the pots of Salvia, agastache, etc. ? I am so new to this, and I have planted so many large containers with perennials.
They are in very very large containers (24-26 inch pots) but they are not filled completely with earth- I padded the bottoms to keep the pots lighter. ~ That may have been a mistake. Won't be the first one that I have made!
I di bring my new shrubs inside the garage, as I have not had a chance to get them in the ground yet.
Oh, now I am worrying.....
Hit 22 here, and my yard looks like it was nuked. What had survived a few frosts didn't do so well with those temps last night. Even my GH was struggling to stay in the high 30's (so now I'm a little concerned). I think my fan was moved and stopped circulating the air properly, so I'll tweak tonight. Garage kept warm though, never went below 65 (so the insulation did the trick). Looks like we've got several more cold days ahead of us. What gives with this weather? Sheesh
what gives with this weather?
hmmmm.......
am I wrong or is it winter? It did get cold, but nothing record-breaking.
Basically everything in my greenhouse got kicked pretty hard (hopefully not dead, but I'll have to wait and see), it was going to happen eventually. Anyone else want to complain? lol!!!.....it's just nature, easier to roll with it. It's going to be cold all week
Winter starts December 21. And last night tied the record for us of 22°F, set back in 1891.
You mean there's a whole month before winter starts? lol....it's been cooler for long enough that it's ...close enough, no need to count days till spring yet :)
I was surprised that out of everything I pulled from the gh today that a plumeria that I picked up from tigerlily (for rednyr if I can ever get it to her) looked great...not too many things were looking too happy, but gotta focus on the positive
you got me curious though,where were you able to find daily records? everything I saw was a record low for the month of November, looked like 12F back in 1970 for you all, 11 for my location (in 1985...brrrrr...)...just wondering
NOAA's weather records for KCAE (Columbia Metro Airport) here in Lexington. They are available on the web; I have it bookmarked at work. I used to stare at those records for weeks at a time in college - only then it was combined with stuff in the 1800's and it was written diaries - now that was "fun."
This is very unusual for us to have cold temps like this so early. We typically hit a bottom of 16F (give or take a degree) on the average year - and it's usually just one day right around Christmas or as late as the first week in January. Makes sense since the shortest day of the year is Dec 21-22. Beyond that single day though it's unusual for us to see anything below 25F, much less several days of it in a row. They are calling for 23F on Friday, which will probably be close to another record. The record for the 18th was 24F, so we'd have broken it by two degrees had it been a night sooner. That, if memory serves me right, would have been in the 70's.
Edit: Found my post it note. Here's the last few years (the coldest day).
07-08 :: 16F - January 4
06-07 :: 16F - December 9
05-06 :: 20F - December 22
04-05 :: 14F - December 24
This message was edited Nov 19, 2008 7:19 PM
I checked our area records and apparently our record for Nov. 19 was 29. So we broke that at my house with a low Monday night of 26. This is a bit early in the season to get this cold. But, what the heck, now or in Jan, it's gonna happen. My stuff in the garage looks fine. Meanwhile, outside, the window boxes look like someone took a blow torch to them!
I was just thinking that the way things are going, we may get more nights below 30 this week than we normally get the entire winter.
I'm already counting down to the solstice. :)
Deb
"I was just thinking that the way things are going, we may get more nights below 30 this week than we normally get the entire winter"
I was thinking that myself tonight. Calling for 19F (or worse) here for us now on Sunday morning. That'll be a new record. NOAA said this was supposed to be a warmer winter than average, but man, I just hope this isn't a sign of things to come this winter.
Even the 8-14 outlook shows us with a good chance for colder than average weather. Long term says EC (equal chance) now.
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/
This message was edited Nov 20, 2008 10:17 PM
Looks like I bottomed out at 27 but it's hard tell with all the water around here etc. Depends exactly where you are taking the temp. I see some frost bite. Cavendish banana turned brown and it's done for this year. My other banana still stands. LOL. Some how my hibiscus still look fine today. Buds and all. We'll see what they look like in a few days, it's a lot warmer tonight.
I returned to live in the countryside of my native Sumter County, SC , three years ago, after having spent 28 years in Phila and adjacent S. Jersey suburbs. I had forgotten how dramatic the radiation cooling effect is around here. I've noticed, much to my chagrin, that the recent cold snap has resulted in colder nightly temps here than in Phila and NYC. I cover my sagos on frosty nights, which are much too common round here, to prevent unsightly bleached out fronds all winter. Once again, this year I will be returning numerous salmon pink oleanders whose leaves froze solid Friday night (19 degrees), although they were advertised as cold hardy to 10 degrees. I am seriously considering relocating from Sumter to Jasper County. Are Sagos , CIDP's, Chinese fan palms and cold hardy citrus grown easily without winter protection down there? Thanks for your feedback.
I completely forgot to cover the Sago's - shoot. I guess I better check on them.
As far as Jasper it depends where exactly you are but in general yes you can grow a lot of plants without protection. Farther inland you get the cold it is durning the winter. Closer to water you are the warmer.
It is funny but the closer you are to Hwy 17/I-95 the colder it gets. I live out on the sea islands towards Hunting Island and it is always 10 degrees warmer here in the winter than it is around Hwy. 17 at Gardens Corner.
Picked my first Ponkan tangelo today and it was over the top sweet. My Oleanders do not look phased at all by the cold (it got down to 32 here). My Bouganvilla has a few crispy leaves, but only a few and a geranium has reddish leaves it did not have before the cold. There was damage to a white justicia which is in a pot and I believe it might have been too dry when the cold hit. I covered my tropical hibiscus on the deck with row cover and they have done fine also. Coleus were the only real casualties but If I cut them back they will bounce back quickly.
Ponkan tangelo??? Got me on that one. Never heard of it.
My next up for citrus is a Rangpur lime and I think I will be done with things that fruit.
I tried a Ponkan at a farmer's market in St. Augustine several years ago and it tasted so good; the farmer told me he was sure it would live here so I got Ned to order one for me. The Orlando is yummy also but although they look ripe now, they don't taste good until later in the year, usually right after Christmas.
My poor meyer lemon which has never been a pretty tree (I ought to call it a lemon bush) is really loaded this year.
Whoa, can you grow those up where I am? Do the blooms on your lemon smell really good in the spring? I had a small lime tree once, and I always liked the smell of the blooms.
I haven't done much with fruit(ing) trees (my family never had a lot of luck with peace or apple trees) - so I've never gotten back into them. Pear was about the only thing that easily produced each year.
Talk to Stan McKenzie, he'll know what citrus you can grow.
http://mckenzie-farms.com/
Thank goodness it's going to be warmer tonight!
I didn't loose anything unexpected and to my surprise, a mandevilla vine, in a pot, came thru the cold intact. I didn't even cover it,but it was underneath the covered carport.
CoreHHI, I checked out your pic. Nice..;) I went as Caribu Barbie for Halloween, complete with Sarah Palin hair!
Barb
Keonikale: You know you can grow Meyer Lemons in a pot, so even if it's a bit too cold up there, you can drag 'em in the garage for winter. I have them here, in pots but have never brought them inside. When they were tiny, I wrapped the trunks and tossed a sheet over them when there was a freeze. And, they smell awesome when they bloom.
I also have a naval orange that has never produced fruit, but blooms like a champ, and somehow, that's enough for me. :)
Deb
Thanks. Though the thought of anything else in the garage (yikes). I do love the smell of those blooms though.
l just checked Stan McKenzie's site and he has many varieties of citrus that can handle temps into the low teens. He is in the Scranton/Lake City area and that can't be that much warmer than Lexington. The best part is that all citrus blossoms smell wonderful.
Deb, I was told they need consistant moisture during the time the tiny fruit are forming in the spring. We had a drought one year and I did not get any fruit at all. I also use a citrus fertilizer that I can get from Ned Rahn, our local citrus guru.
Thanks, Ardesia. I've gotten lemons, but never any oranges. I will try being sure that one gets enough water this spring. I suppose I really should fertilize them, specially since they're in pots. Adding that to my spring "to do" list. :)
Thanks Alice. Those may make a nice addition to the backyard. It's not that large of a yard, but I'd love to get at least one fruiting tree in there.
I'm sure you can find a hardy enough citrus tree. I've tried many of the hardy citrus so if you have any question I might beable to help. I can tell you I don't like meyers lemons much because they're sweet for a lemon. Also the rind can't be used like a regular lemon. Does it taste bad?? No but I would pick something else.
I wanted limes but there's no way I can get away with one of those so here's my answer. http://www.floridata.com/ref/C/citr_lim.cfm. That should give me a lime favor but hardy enough for my area or at least that's what I think will happen. You might beable to find something cold hardy that taste like something you want. I have a sabokan grapefruit which is very cold hardy. Mother tree is in Columbia or so I was told. It has more of a lemon taste than a meyers lemon. Just a thought.
Here's a link to Ned which Ardesia talked about. http://www.plantfolks.com/index.html
Also where I got most of my citrus trees. He hangs out or works with the McKenzie's. Ned seem more like a hobby gone wild so I wouldn't call it work I don't think. LOL.
Maybe they taste diffferently with different soils???? I like my Meyers although I mostly use them to make marmalade. In a pinch however they worked well as regular lemons and they make awesome lemonade.
My Sambokans are very sweet and I eat them like oranges. I am trying 2 different limes; both made it through last winter but they were babies then and did not fruit. We'll see what happens this year. If I don't get fruit at least I will get that lovely fragrance when they bloom.
Ned would love what you said about his hobby gone wild.