Might be another shot of Arctic air coming...end
of Jan-early Feb.
Keep an eye on the forecast!

Looks like it went down to about 7F here. I should have added heat to one of my windmill palms, but I never did, so I guess we will see how it looks this spring! All my other palms shouldnt have a problem with the cold and I did pile up some snow on the unheated trachy's protection which should keep it a little warmer. My fig isnt being planted in the ground until this spring so right now it is dormant in my unheated garage. Its above freezing in there, but it usually stays in the upper 30s to mid 50s range this time of the year.

There may be a chance that this storm will bring enough warm air to make the precipitation mainly rain in the NYC area. But then again, there is also a good chance it could be mostly snow. My guess is that it will be somewhere in-between!

There does look like another chance for cold, but hopefully not as cold as this arctic blast! Some parts of New York State ,just 200 miles north (albeit much higher in elevation), were in the 20s and 30s BELOW ZERO! Im very happy that it ended up being a few degrees warmer than the original forecasted low of 3F here.

Hope everyones palms and other subtropicals are still doing well.

I hear you tropical zone. 7 degrees for a few hours is tolerable. I have a small fig in dormant storage as well. My lemon trees in the greenhouse are blooming galore, after my Meyer lemon tree was so finicky all year - now she's blooming 1,000's of flowers. I just worry the greenhouse is too cool at nite (40-45)for lemons to form, however if we warm-up to normal at least; 2 dozen lemons should form like two years ago. The lemon flowers are so fragrant during the day when the greenhouse is in the 70s.

It's not to late to add lights to your tracky, but as long as it is covered and the snow is piled around it, the palm should hold up with leaf damage. Adding protection gave your tracky an extra half zone to full zone. When was it planted in the ground?

Jim, I hope no more artic air slips it to this region. Its been unusually cold. I have an olive tree covered with some plastic & lights and was hoping for one of our normal winters so it was more likely to survive.

All night last night is was -22C or -8F. I put a thermometer in one of my enclosures and my windmills were at -1C or 31F (at the bud). The cold spell is officially over today for us. Fight back against Mother Nature ! lol

It was planted in the ground this past April as a 3 gallon plant. Its very close to the house and also next to a concrete path, a brick wall, and is relatively sheltered. Hopefully that will be enough to keep it alive (I dont even care if it loses most of its fronds as long as its alive!).
I should also mention that the cast iron plants look really great so far and are in the same location (and they start to get damaged apparently around 10F or so). I have a garbage can lid over them to keep them from being crushed or frozen by snow and maybe to keep them a little warmer too. They dont have too many leaves yet because when I bought them all the leaves were cut off. I hope it starts to grow some more leaves this spring, but they are very slow growing.
So far the only palm I have with damage is my Sabal Domingensis. So far it looks like it will survive, but it is protected and it hasnt seen very cold temperatures. I dont think I would recommend it as a cold hardy palm, but we'll see how it comes back in the spring!

Greg, at least your only trying to protect an olive tree, I saw this one house around here trying to get a bougainvillea to survive the winter with just some plastic! At least they tried, but something tells me that that plant was a gonner before Christmas! I hope your olive tree makes it! Tell us how it goes!
Good luck!
-Alex

So I guess this year is officially a 7b (smh lol), I hope that was the coldest we'll see in years.

We dropped to 7-9 degrees, in a way I'm happy because 0-5 was the forecast.

I agree, a low of 5 isn't the worse thing. Lets hope that's it. Its also the prolonged teens that may be a palm threat after too long. We need some thaws in the 40s so the palms can relax. Palms are a relaxing tree.

TZ, your tracky sounds like its in a good location.

It is viscously cold here.

My Trachys, Meds, and Butia are all receiving the best protection I have ever given. The Sabal Minors and Needles are unprotected, yet look pretty good .

1/3 of the winter is complete. 2/3 more to go...

Jack

I prefer meteorological spring,March 1!

One more month of winter(-;

The "official" low at DCA was 17. I know, not real cold, but... its DCA (National Airport) which is always about 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding areas. Im about 1 mile from there, and I recorded a low of 10F. MOST of the area when down to 4-9F. Just goes to show you the power of being right on the unfrozen Potomac River. Actually, DCA kind of sticks out INTO the river so it is surrounded by water on almost 3 sides. Far and away our coldest night yet.

Hello to ALl of my friends!!!!

I just read this thread and i am dreading that i am overnighting in EWK tomorrow night!!! Yikes...talk about cold....i dont think that i can stand this cold anymore!!! LOL....I will let you all know the temp there...if I can move!!! LOL... : )

Great to see you all....

Laura in VB

Hey alex i saw some unprotected oleander outside thats still alive

I hear you Laura, this cold winter in NY has been just too much for us. It started early and we may be breaking snow records soon. Where is will you be?

Jacklord, good news, Winter really is 2/3's over since our coldest months are Dec, Jan, Feb and Feb is unpredictable and it often pops into the 40s many years and continues mild to March in this zone 7a region. In March our sun trajectory has recovered enough to warm all southern exposures/microclimates to cause my protected plants to bloom. We do have a 1/3 of winter to go and I pray it eases early.

Oleander is cold hardy but this kind of winter killed mine about 10 years ago.

It was a blamy 25F for the low last night. 45F for the high today before we get 2-4" of snow with the next storm Wednesday night. ;-)

Wow, Im surprised to hear that an oleander is still alive after this cold! Do you know where it is? I love oleanders especially when they are in bloom! Thanks for the info Dennis.
Speaking of southern flowering plants, Frost proof gardenias not only can keep buds after a late frost, but they actually seem zone 7 proof too because mine is still as green as it can be with just a few Christmas lights and a frost cloth. Im going to get some more this spring and give them less protection. They are much better bloomers than regular gardenias too and dont require any special care to bloom for me so far. I cant rate them for a zone 7 yet because with its protection, it has probably seen no colder than 15F or so, but it is still very green and most gardenias couldnt survive being covered like that for an entire season.
Good luck everyone! Looks like we might just fall short of the average high temperature today which is definitely an improvement. Chance of some wintery mix tomorrow and the snow on the back end of the storm could end up giving us a few inches of snow (hopefully not before the rain melts some of the snow still on the ground!).
-Alex

I noticed that my Trachys (while still not looking great), ARE looking much better than just a few days ago. So, don't panic if your Trachys are showing signs of discoloration or those characteristic rings. Some of the leaves will return to normal, and as long as the bud is firm, they should be good to go for the growing season. I finally broke down after those predictions of 0 F and ended up providing some protection (regular, small X-mas light, bubble wrap, and an relatively light weight (insulating blanket) I picked up at the nursery. I used the blanket more as a scarf draped around the midsection (including the growing bud but leaving the leaves at the top and the base of the palms exposed. I tugged gently at them today and they seem very firm. Careful, for those of you that are protecting with lights. I was surprised at how efficient this little set up was. The air inside the bubble wrap felt very mild (not hot, not too warm, but relatively mild). I opened it up a bit as I don't want to encourage growth at this point. TZ, it would take a monsoon to quickly melt all the snow I have in my yard. I would go out with a yard stick to measure it, but I would have to climb the glacier that borders by driveway area (it was built with all the snow accumulations we've had. I got sick of shoveling and ran out of space for the snow so now my "blacktop" is covered in a few inches of snow. I really am expecting another big time weather 'event' from this latest storm.--And though I am sick of the snow, I like it much better than the arctic cold. I certainly hope Feb. is milder, but expect it to be just as stormy--along with that other notoriously stormy month--MARCH!!

March is always a stormy month. Last march I lost half my power for 3 days (fortunately all the major appliances still worked!) and the wind caused a lot of damage (more than I have ever seen here!) But I would even take that over a snow storm. In March of 2009 we saw the 2nd coldest temperatures of the winter (12F) and the most snow of the winter (close to a foot). It occurred on the 1st to 3rd of march, but it still proves that winter can be present in the month of March! Lets hope that this coming March brings average temperatures and sunny skies!

Hey Greg,,,I'm staying close to the Newark airpot So hopefully we will be able to get out tomorrow aftrnoon...would you like to meet and have breakfast? Only kidding...i know that the traffic will be crszy...but some day if i have an overnight here...i would love to m

meet you and your lovely wife!!!

sounds like fun.... maybe i could get her to make a few lemon pies!!!

Laura in VB

Hi Laura,

That's a nice possibility, lets keep it open. My wife thought it was very nice of you to send me all those plants last summer:).

Hi again Laura,

Hope you got out of Newark safely. If business takes you into New York this Spring or summer send me an email to GChristiangreg@aol.com and let me know the dates. I'll run it by Heather and I'm sure she'd be delighted to meet you too. It will be fun, you'll get to see my Brooklyn Palms:) I am also close to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and that's a great place to have lunch and see all the plants. Although their outdoor palm garden is not maintained like years ago and we no longer have a tracky, its still really nice. Try to give me a couple of weeks notice before if possible.

Hi Alex, The frost cloth is a good tip. Do you find it works well? I still like March better since its usually milder than Feb:)PS. If Laura came to the Botanical Garden with my wife and I; you would be welcome to meet us there for lunch during the summer.

njoasis, I am glad you gave in and protected your palms. You won't be sorry:)Last year when the temps started dropping into the low teens, I know my fig was vunerable and I was glad I covered it when I brought in a big harvest the past summer.

The frost cloth works really well for me. Its dark in color which does allow it to absorb more heat, and it allows the plants to breath a little too. Lunch sometime would sound good, hopefully weather for enjoying the outdoors isnt too far away!
Im sure the delays at the airport are piling up. Hope you dont get too delayed Laura!
Good luck!
-Alex

Hello Everybody!!

Thank you Greg for the wonderful offer!!

Sounds like a great plan...I will let you know when I overnight in LGA or EWK this spring/summer...
It will be fun to meet Heather as well!!!

Alex..that would be fun to meet sometime too!!

As far as me stuck here in NJ?.....one word...CANCELLED!!!

Delays over 6+ hours...doesn't look good....expecting 6-9 tonight...

Take care everyone!!!

Laura

Sorry to hear about the delays Laura. I know it can be fustrating. Glad we have a plan:) It will be fun if Alex can meet us too. Heather will make us the lemon squares.

I'll be posting some of the latest snowstorm pics soon. Parking is a nightmare in New York.. lol .. city life. Last night my SUV skidded into a good parking place and we left it there :)))

Hello Everyone...

Before I left Newark..they released the snowfall total for the month of January.....32.6 inches

LGA totals for the month of January...36 inches

ANother storm is on its way...I have seen enough!!! I know you locals up there have had it as well...Unbelievable...

Take care everyone...

Laura in VB