Our NWS site has a malfunctioning thermometer this morning I think. All sites around us including WUG sites show 25-27. The NWS site shows a low of 38. I picked 3 Barlow Jap's last night. Two green and one ripe. Will be the last of mine. It has at least 30 green fruit left on it. I covered it with a blanket but sure it will be history. Jay

Still green here, so they were wrong again. LOL Seems odd that Love County is freezing and Delaware County is not.

Since moving here, I've learned that cold air really does settle in those low-lying areas known as 'frost pockets'. There's probably no bigger frost pocket in OK than the Red River Valley. It is what it is and I just have to deal with it.

Our first year here, 1999, we had our first killing freeze at the end of September. I was very relieved to learn that was atypical. Most years we're frost-free until early to mid-November, but one year we made it to mid-December.

High and dry in Midwest City. I watered and covered yesterday afternoon as insurance. Woke up this morning and a couple of the covers had blown off in the night, but no damage. Even the cannas were still happy without protection, which means we might have gotten to 33 or 34.

One sad note though...
This morning I fixed the last okra omelot of the year with what was the last harvest of fresh okra. It's gonna be a long time til next August when the Okra is in again...

Keith

Don't know how low it got here, but was still right at 32 at 9 am. And at 10 there was still frost on the north side of the sheets that we used to cover the Chinese Cabbage. All the warm season stuff went a while back but the cold hardy stuff, turnips, mustard, lettuce, spinach, kale, radishes, and bok choy all look fine, so we will have salads and greens for a while yet.

Temps were 34 degrees at the lowest, but I did water and cover my plants yesterday afternoon. I wasn't able to quite cover the Jet Star that I had lost, but that had grown one branch back. so it had those limp leaves this morning that denotes death. Everything else is fine as wine, including the tropicals in pots, and those planted at the edge of the pine tree. It gives just enough cover so that the plants will probably hang in there until we get a sustained freeze. All are still blooming, and my tropical milkweeds are still surviving: Asclepias curassavica, Calotropis gigantea, and A. physocarpa. The Night Blooming Jasmine has blooms all over and is very fragrant right now. Smells heavenly! Funny it waited until temps cooled off considerably to put out heavy blooms! These tropicals just floor me sometimes.

I intend to cover them again tonight, since next week is supposed to be warmer temps both day and night, but the next freeze after that might be the one when I give the tomatoes up to Mother Nature.

Susan

We were in Beavers Bend from Wednesday through Sunday, so we weren't home to see how low the temperature dipped here in SW Logan County, but there are definite signs of a freeze. The sides of the impatiens that faced out are black and withered, but the sides next to the house are still green and blooming .... it's a strange sight. And the basil did just the opposite, the side next to the house is dead and the outer edges are still green. Go figure. The pentas, portulaca, and zinnias are mostly dead, with a few little signs of green left. I haven't had a chance to check the coneflowers yet. There were still a few blooming last week before we left.

It was wonderful in Beavers Bend ... perfect fall weather with cool crisp sunny days and cool nights. The fall color isn't the best this year though, thanks to the dry conditions. But even when it isn't at it's best, it's still beautiful there! We enjoyed campfires in the evenings, and long walks on the leaf-covered trails during the day. The beautyberries are gorgeous!!

Suzie

Suzie,

I was wondering where you were! It sounds like a lovely visit to Beavers Bend.

I have uneven damage on some of our surviving planta similar to what you described, but with mine in almost every case, the surviving and undamaged (or mostly undamaged) plant or plant portion was somewhat sheltered by a nearby plant that was taller, or a nearby tree or wall or something. Since we stayed below freezing for 7 hours, I'm surprised anything remained undamaged.

We have a forest of beautyberry bushes here, scattered around the approximately 10 acres of our land that are wooded, where the beautyberries and black cherries are the main understory plants. I would guess there's probably a couple hundred of them, and I love them. Mine are growing in clay soil, with a few inches of nice forest soil on top of the clay and are mostly in full shade or heavily dappled shade and they reach a decent size and spread. Of course they have to survive on whatever rainfall they get, and some years that isn't much, but I think it limits their growth a bit.

We spent two days down on the Red River Labor Day weekend on a fire call, and I saw beautyberry bushes there in very light shade and sugar sand that were twice the size of mine and twice as lovely. I had no idea they'd get that tall or spread that wide since mine don't.

Beautyberries are one of my favorite native shrubs. The berries are so unique and you don't see berries of that color on anything else that I can think of.

Dawn

Dawn,
Beavers Bend is where I first saw beautyberries quite a few years ago, and it took me a while to find out what they are called. That first time I saw them I took oodles of pictures of them because of their brilliant color .... there is nothing like them for sure! I don't think I've ever seen them here in central OK, but maybe they're around and I just haven't been in the right places. Are they a food source for the birds?

Suzie

Suzie,

I won't say all birds eat the berries from the beautyberries, but some birds, including robins and quail do. Generally, they don't eat the berries until frost has hit the plants. Like many native berries, frost and fermentation improve the flavor and make them more palatable to various birds.

Some small animals like foxes and possums eat the berries too.

Dawn