Lawn looks creamy.

Here ya go, Dotty! The snow on the fir branches is pretty.

Great! We can make our own Christmas Cards this year.

Warm Regards,

Bo

p.s dottyinduncan, was that a brug I saw in your photobucket? If so, then what kind?

Hi Bo. I have a Charles Grimaldi, a NOID peach that is a lovely plant -- flowers well, easy to grow and lovely scent, plus a double Logees species. They were all so happy last week...I hope I have enough cuttings in the greenhouse.
Our PNW snow is so pretty the way it sticks to the trees and doesn't get blown away like it does in the colder parts of the country.

Nice pictures!

Bo I saw on your page that also grow brugs, which ones do you have? (I have about 15-20 cultivars & species)

grrrnthumb, I've just started growing brugs this summer. I have a frosty pink in the ground. I have about 7 in one gallon pots (should you need any). I also have cuttings of a shredded white, Isabella, Apricot, Versicolor Peach, Dola and Ecuador White. What cultivars do you grow? And how are you overwintering them? I'd love to see pics.

Happy Growing,

-Bo

Bo I feel bad hijacking Dotty's winter pictures thread, but maybe she'll forgive me since she grows brugs too. ;)

Species I grow are arborea, sauveolens, versicolor, vulcanicola, sanguinea; and a few brug relatives like Datura & Iochroma.
Cultivars I can't remember all, but... Frosty Pink, Charles Grimaldi, Maya (variegated), Daydreams (double), Chesa (dbl), Mountain Magic, Miss Emily McKenzie, Serendipity, New Orleans Lady(dbl), Golden Lady (dbl), Naughty Nick, Jessie's Angel, Whiskers, and many very promising young seedlings, like Amethyst x Wildfire.
Right now they mostly look like a bunch of sorry little sticks wintering over in my garage with the other tropicals, but here is one when it was warmer:

- Tom

Bo I just noticed you said in the ground still? Not much chance of surviving most places in WA, and if it does it will be stunted in spring. I'd recommend getting it dug up (tonight, lol!).
I overwinter by pruning the newest soft growth, strip all the leaves, spray the whole thing with a sharp water spray, pot in a small pot, and I keep it in cool temps (50's & high 40's) in my garage under lights. If you have a nice woody trunk, you can also keep them in the dark if it's cool but not freezing. Water very sparingly. :)

- Tom

Here's a thread I recently posted:

Winter Protection

Tom - I too feel bad for hijacking Dotty's post. Sorry Dotty. You'll forgive us plantaholics... But, yep, my frosty pink is in the ground. I've read on the brug forum that with some winter protection that it will be ok... *crossing fingers*
Wow, your brug is decisively impressive!! How did you get it to be this huge? What kind of fertilizer do you use? I dream of having a brug this huge! LOL

-Bo

Bo what city or microclimate are you near? Did anyone who told you it would be ok live in the PNW?
Up here near the Canadian border, a zone 8 winter is actually far different from a Georgia or Texas zone 8. Our coldest temps stay cold a much longer time than them, which is what really kills these zone 9 plants. Also the overall wetness of our January combined with the cold temps is the knockout punch that puts them down.
Many survive 1 winter, but by springtime none are nearly far along as the same plant overwintered in a non-freezing garage or basement.

There are two things involved with claims of tender plants being hardy in the north. One, places like here have spans of multiple winters where tender plants can make it through okay.

Followed by a winter or two like this one may be, when they die.

Two, as mentioned southern areas that sometimes get as cold may often warm right back up again a few days later - there is no significant penetration of the soil by frost and resulting freezing of the roots.

Here is one to help get Dotty's thread back on track. This one is near me in Marysville, taken today. For some reason this one laughs at cold temps every year, doesn't hardly damage the fronds.

AHH, but grrrthumb, I checked out your photobucket pics and there's a lot of brugs sneaking back into the thread. You certainly have an elaborate set up for starting your cuttings. I am not clever at those things. I put a bunch of trimmings in a bucket of water in our basement where there is absolutely no light but it is warm. When I remember them a couple of months later, I top up the water which is pretty disgusting by then. The brugs don't seem to have minded though, by then the roots are sometimes 18 inches long and the tops are pure white. When I am ready, I bring them into the light gradually and pot them up.
Having said that tho, I think some are easier than others to start and you have some very small cuttings which have grown most impressively.

Hi Dotty. :)
I usually do root them in a bucket too. Have a couple in the garage like that right now. The aeroponics are mainly for hard-to-root species; haven't used it much lately because it's a pain to clean.
- Tom

Timber Bamboo.
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Nice pictures!

Nice light rays Botann!

Dottie, any light rays this time of year is appreciated, isn't it?
Fall is officially over now that we have had snow and cold temps.

Here's the last of it.
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Very pretty! I always enjoy pictures of your garden, it is absolutely lovely, winter or summer.

Thank you Dottie.
Mike

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More great pics. :) Which kind of timber bamboo are you growing there?

grrrnthumb, I traded some Black Bamboo for the Timber Bamboo at the old Mizuki's Nursery on Empire Way in Seattle in 1988.
Bill, the owner, didn't know the variety. I don't think it's anything special as far as Timber Bamboo goes. When it flops over because of ice or snow, it doesn't come back up and I have to cut it off where it comes out of the ground.

The lower picture is a combination of Gold and Black Bamboo. Phyllostachys aurea and nigra. I trim the 'floppers' about once a month.
Mike

Here are our winter wonderland pics hubby & son took the day after the storm.

backyard views of greenhouse, patio, concrete yard decor, raised beds & layer chicken coops (oops a white bucket is left there, too)

view from deck of path back to more coops for ducks, show chickens, and rabbits. The visible green and clear shower curtains are closed to reduce wind for ducks and chickens in raised cages.

driveway back toward house & gardens. Porch looks bare compared to summer baskets and pots put away in greenhouse

stone path from driveway to trail in woods

closeup of snowball bush leaf with snow