Karen- That should do well. Only wrap to the ground for freezing weather as the inside will get too warm if we get a very warm day which you know we can. If you can open up in the day and close down in the night you will do really well as long as we do not get a cold Santa Ana and your structure ends up in Malibu. Bill

Hi Bill,
thanks I feel good about it. I will open the sides and except for the back, clear plastic during the day to let sunlight in. Ha on flying away. I have concrete cans to put the pipes in, 10 lbs each, and can put ties off those that go down into the ground, dog ties that stucture hit 50 miles an hour winds once in Simi Valley, bent but was one of the few that made it. My sis and I almost did not. ha

What concerns me is we are dropping temps so quickly, and never been this cold in December. What is next? Hope everyone protects their plants on here...
Karen B.

Thanks for the warning Karen. I went out about 9 PM last night to put my car in the garage, and it was cold!!! I have been so busy with Christmas that I haven't had a chance to care for my plants. Hopefully this afternoon I will be able to gather them so they can keep each other warm! Good idea for the cement; my brother didn't do that with a portable gazebo and it ended up at the neighbors! Eloise

Hi Karen, I do hope your plumies pull through ok. The structure looks as though it will protect them well enough. It's 8.30pm here at present and the temp is -2c already. A hard frost is given out for tonight. Our pond has been iced over all day today. Us out here in the rural areas get hit harder than those in the built up places...they have each other to keep them warm!! Haha!
Good luck.
Gill.

Hi Eloise,
Yes the concrete cans can hold the poles down. You can also go to a pet store and get dog stakes. They are heavy circular long metal staves that screw down into the ground. Each holds 70 lbs..so concrete and staves will hold down pretty good.

YEs cold tonight..not sure how low the temps will go. I don't know how to handle this.
Karen B.

Hi Gil,
I have no idea how my plants will do. Suppose to be 38 tonight. I am hoping those in the tent structure will be warmer. Guess will see tomorrow. I have about 9 in the house, larger ones in cans. I can't keep carrying them out to warm temps in the day, and cold back inside at night. sooo gonna have to re-think this one out. This is a first to do this. We are usually in the high 60's or 70's, 50's at night

Brr you sound cold, glad you have your greenhouse. I thought you were the opposite of us? warm now.
Karen B.

Yes it is cold here, how I wish we were warmer Karen. You have 60's and 70's at night in Dec, wow, that's amazing! A hot day for us in summer is if we get to 80f. Not too many of those this year, last year was better though. 2007 has been a washout, literally, so very wet and cold. Glad to see the back of it one way and another as it's not been a good year for our family.
Our seasons are the same as yours, not opposite, but many degrees cooler. Just spoke to my Aussie Aunt, they have 30c/86f at the moment, lovely! Am truly envious, hope to visit them again in 2008, can't wait. I would be growing so much wierd and wonderful stuff if we lived there. John despairs at me now with all my experimenting with plants, after 32yrs you think he would have learnt by now!
Just checked the g/h heating and had to 'up it' a bit more, was too cold in there for my plants. Outside it's 35f/2c at 11.30am. brrrr! I'm upstairs at the computer for a moment, trying to warm up again, got a coffee and a mince pie, the cat is on my knee, she's like a furry hot water bottle!
Take care, Gill.

Gill- You have solved our problems. All we need to do is load all our plants into our private jets and go south of the Equator for the winter. Six months in Australia with blooming plumies would cure any winter blues. Now I am curious as to if plumies go dormant in the Southern Hemisphere in Dec/Jan or in Jun/July. If the latter, it would show that length of light and/or temperature variations are the switches for dormancy. Does a plumie exactly on the Equator get confused? New thoughts for winter. Bill

Hi,
I have a question. None of my plants have gone into total dormacy, all have their leaves except for one. How long can plants stay in the house??? then I will be running into a problem on watering. I have 10 in the house.
Karen B.

I think you can go to weather.com and put in your zip code and pay attention to your low temps over the 10 day forecast. You only need to bring your plants in when you have a frost warning or temps are predicted in the low 30s. A plant can stay in the house all winter but may be slow to go dormant if it gets light and stays warm. Remember, if you have leaves, you need to lightly water so it does not suck water out of the stem and branches causing them to wrinkle. Take them outside on a warmer day and water. By the evening you can bring them in and you do not have to water again for 7-10 days until the leaves drop. You can also put a plate under you plants inside the house and water. When water comes into the plate, suck it up with an old turkey baster or a sponge so when the water stops the plate is dry. Do not water very often (once a week with full leaves, every two weeks with a half dozen leaves, and once a month with a couple of leaves). With no leaves, water a cup a month. In this case, less is more. No mother hen behavior allowed. Bill

Hi Bill,
thanks for the info, have copy/pasted to keep. I have all ready tip damage to two plumies. Kimi beauty in the tent has black tips, cane brown about a inch. , brown leaves. kaula wilder, have two. One was in a can, up against the house..first 37 degrees got it, black tips and about a inch down the branch is brown. gardenias are black branches, cannas brown leaves.. dam.

Others in the tent, plumies , don't look well, but tender tips are still ok, about 15 or more in there, plus 5 in ground.

I have 12 plants, in cans, in the house. Taking out and back, they are heavy.. I have a bad back. So am trying to wait out the hopefully cold spell. Have Jeanne Jr, kimo, penang peach, etc....all 3rd year plants trying to keep warm ..plus singapore, .

This is the pitts!!!

How is everyone doing??
Karen B.

Hi,
suppose to hit low 30's in the San Fernando valley tonight. I have plants covered, and all cans inside...hope for the best.
Karen B,.

The local Pasadena newspaper boldly announced that the low yesterday would be 40 degrees, "present temperature 37". There was ice on all my outside water the next morning.
My plumeria are all tucked into my old portable greenhouse, kept warm at night by a halide light on a moving light track. The temps inside there seem to stay around sixty at night, with the light on from eight at night until eight in the morning. The new light is working better than the little electric heater I used two years ago. The plumeria donÂt know whether to go dormant or wake up. A number of them had a tip fungus infection started when I put them inside. Hopefully this weekend I can find the fungicide I bought from Exotic Plumeria a few years back and dose all the needy plants up with it.

Hi Altadenamara
Lucky you having a greenhouse..suppose to be a little warmer tonight. Its the cold temps late in the night that are tough on plumies. Is warmer tonight, mid 40's.

oh, tip fungus been watching for that too, I would think you should treat. I wish the temps would go back up. I am trying to take the cans inside and out. Just can't do that anymore. Its breaking my back. Sooo have a tent type structure set up, going to just have to leave them out there, wrap the sides and hope for the best. I don't know when all this is over what will happen to the spring blooms or plants, hope no temps below low 30's.
good luck
Karen B..In the San Fernando Valley.

Hi,
I have decided not to keep any of my plants in the house in the cool temps, have taken them all out..30 of them. Cannot be carrying them in and out, hurts my back. Read too many messages of getting bugs, don't want to cope with that.

I have most all in my tent set up, top and sides covered, to hope will keep them warm enough. so far ok. Tonight is raining, not cold, so have the front open.

I have black tip damage to my red white gardena, hate that. Is a big plant still in bloom, in a 15 gallon container. I think I did it. I put a flannel tablecloth over it to protect it from the mid 30's..by the time I got up to remove it, warm morning temps came in, plant was hot. so think that was my mess up. So now, not covered, under my patio.. dern. have a couple that the first low 30's hit tip damage..but over all doing ok. if it got stupid to freeze, will forget back and bring them in, trying not to be a "mother hen Bill" but it hard.
Karen B.

My few small plummies seem to be doing o.k. A few leaves have fallen off, but they don't seem to have any problems being outdoors. I am keeping my eye on a plumeria tree (white with yellow center) not too far from my home for weather damage. That plumeria is planted in the ground, unprotected from the sun and cold and is on a very busy street and year in and year out, it appears healthy and always flowering! I don't know who lives there and the house recently sold, but I don't think anyone really does anything special in terms of care. I assume once a plumeria is established, they are quite hardy??

Love the rain! Eloise

Hi Eloise,
I have had some my plumies in cans in a protected covering, in the 30's. . But when it rained, had to pull back the top covering, too hard to control water,....they obviously all got soaked. I later put most of them on my patio to stop keeping being soaked. Problem is if cool temps, cannot dry out. Thats when they can develop problems. Soo hope it warms up.
karen b

Hi Karen B., I better go out and put my plummies into the garage. A few mornings ago, my car registered 51 degrees in the garage, and when I drove it out and on towards Granada Hills, it registered 41 degrees. I knew that was closer to the actual temp. outside because just getting to my car, it was freezing! Anyway, since the garage is warmer than outside, I think that's the best place to put them in. On my way now before I forget, lol!

Hi Eloise,
You are close to me, I live in No. Hollywood. I don't know what to do now. My husband and I set up a canopy set up to keep the plants warm.. With the rains, I had to pull the tarps back on top, big puddles. Everyone got very wet. I put some of my plumeria in cans on my patio. Now wet, not warm enough to dry out. Plants in the wet ground and some in cans wet are in 39 degrees cold plus heavy wind tonight. Just what can the plants take..

Bill how much cold 30's can they take? Can't take them inside, now my studio is full of Christmas presents. Only singapore is inside, and a large cutting
Karen B..

Hi Karen B., Yes, we are close. I have no clue what the temps were like last night here in North Hills. My plummies are safe in the garage. I haven't been outside today, but I can hear the wind blowing! I better check on my brug that I put out to get rained on!

Perhaps it's best to take off the tarp while the winds are blowing as they might snap off some of your plummies. Do you have a corner in your yard protected by fencing that you could put your plumeria up against that?

Eloise

Dear Plumeria lovers,
Calm down and take a deep breath. Mine have seen 120 degree temps and 30 degree temps and I didn't lose one. I never put plastic up,no christmas lights on them or anything else. Just in the backyard against the backyard peremiter fence mixed in with the normal valley plants. All my plants are from hawaii or mex. There from cuttings that I took off trees myself. A lot depends on your plants exposure in your yard to the elements. Last year you all remember the freeze we had in So Cal. I lived in the Palm Springs area at the time and saw lot's of large trees that were damaged then others that were unharmed. 20 foot high by 20 feet wide trees. Depending on the exposure to the cold some were damaged and some had little to no damage. Most important thing is to cut off the damage immediately so it does not kill the whole plant. The tips get that rot and it will travel all of the way to the roots. A lot of people waited to long to trim off the rot and thus destroyed some huge trees. I did see some of them sprouting new leaves from the base though. Good luck through the winter.
Chris

Hi Eloise,
I took all my tarp back on top for the rain and wind, had too. My plants in the ground and some of mine in cans are in a south/east corner of my yard. block wall behind and to the east. With the rain and cold temps, wet in 30's is cold.

I have a few on my patio, seems warmer there. sooo tomorrow, no rain, will take my plants back out in my tent setup and see what happens. Am afraid to take them inside, afraid of them getting bugs. Garage, my husband has a full work shop in there, no room. Hope you are doing ok..
Merry Christmas.
Karen B.

Hi Chris,
well hope I do not get to that point of tip damage..having to wait another year for plants to come out of it, another year to maybe flower. I have not had a lot of flowers many plants new second year. it gets discouraging. Well temps in the 30's is not good..tonight are in the mid 30's, glad yours made it..
Hope all in the valley do well.
Karen B.

It looks like another beautiful day here in the SFV. I need to get my potted plummies out of the garage so they can soak some of that sun!

Karen, can't your hubby get some of his stuff out of the garage? Tell him plummies are ALIVE where stuff in the garage isn't -- just kidding, lol!

Merry Christmas to all, Eloise.

Hi
Well my plants like most in the San Fernando Valley have gone through hell. Mid 30 night temp like tonight 34 with wind, high 30 plus mi winds, Is shredding the leaves. I have a canopy set up, cannot use it, had to un-fold to protect the plants. Winds would have put it in Bill's back yard.. ha. The plants in the ground are in the 30's element and look awful, have tip damage to some. My plants in the cans are on my patio, south east side, covered each night are fine. No dormacy yet.

With the information Jack gave and the elements of cold.. we shall see how strong Plumeia are, the plants, will they make it in all these cold temps.. I don't know what I will have this spring.
Karen B.

Hi Karen,

Looks like mine are doing about as good as can be expected, i.e., they've lost some leaves. I took them out of the garage so they can get some light, and left them out. As I've mentioned before, my plants are small. One is about 3-4 feet tall, single stem but faired well with the winds. I think I will leave them out from now on.

Different topic: My biggest concern now is that my cockatiel flew away and I hope she isn't freezing out there as she used to be indoors. I know birds have their own way of keeping warm. Her wings were not clipped so at least she will be able to get away from cats or whatever.

Hang in there with your plummies, and you keep yourself warm, lol!

Happy New Year. Eloise

Hi Eloise.
Oh.. so sorry to hear that your cockatiel flew away, that must be heartbreaking. I am so sorry to hear that. I don't know a lot about that one, don't know if they can remember where to come back to their home or not, good thing her wings were not clipped..For a long time was a lost big parrot in our trees..just screamed. eventually left, sure was a pet too.

Most of my plants are your size, in 5 gallon cans, do have some larger too. I have tried to bring the 5 gal in, take them out. But think when it rained and got so cold, got a few. Kimi Beauty has tip damage, leaves are fried, kaulda wilder too so far, darn.

Aztec gold in the ground, now don't know why, the small leaves that started to form and tips are white, plus upper trunk is whitish..what does that mean? maybe froze, hope not. Will be a third year plant, with hopes for flowers.

Doing my best..hope yours are ok too. Didn't you say you live in Pasadena? near watching the parade?
Karen B

Hi Karen,

I only have three plumeria with names, Pink Moir, dwarf Yellow and Kimo; the others are with no names so at some point it will be interesting to see what blooms they produce. Supposedly, I have a red one according to the lady I bought it from, but she didn't have it named.

I got advice to put my cockatiel's cage outside in case she came back to roost -- didn't happen. I don't think she would know where her home is being that her cage is usually in the laundry room.

I am in North Hills. It's bad enough that I live close to a grammar school, let alone living close to the Rose Bowl if that is where the parade will be, lol!

Curious, a few years ago I went to a home here in the SFV where the guy was having a party in his backyard. We did potluck, and were given a ticket for a free plumeria cutting. We could also represent a plummie lover who couldn't attend because of distance or whatever. The original invitation was posted here in GW. Do you recall that, and were you there?

Eloise

Hi Eloise - so sorry to hear that your bird escaped and I do hope your bird returns home.

Hi KarenB - plumeria addiction is such a pain isn't it? I cringed at the thought of the freeze. I hope it was just a fluke and hope for a great 2008 growing season for all of us addicts :)

Kasie

Hi Eloise,
Sorry, you did tell me you live in No. Hills,sorry. Its smart to leave your cockatiel's cage outside. She may be in the area and see it..sure hope so.

I have about 30 plants. Starting my third year to grow plumies. I like so many on here, lost most of my plants in Feb, in the freeze. 3/4 of my plants I have bought this spring and summer. I have worked very hard to get the recommended varities on here, hoping they would grow and someday bloom, not many did this summer.

on one, Kimi Beauty I got from Maui Gardens, has heavy tip damage..hate that. A red black one. Another one Bill talks about is Gardena, red white, so much black tip damage..darn, a 5' one in a large container, on my patio. Plus a couple others. I have kimo you mentioned, a first year plant, so far is ok.

Pasadena is where the rose parade will be a ways from you, I will be watching. Hope your birdie comes home, feel for you, I like birds
Karen B.

Hi Kasie,
Yes, plumies are addictive. I worry about them, check them daily. sure hope it doesn't get any colder, want them to make it and bloom next year. When my Christmas tree comes out, will have room to move some to my plants in my dining room if the temps drops below the mid 30's, did couple weeks ago with winds, keep an eye on the weather forcast. warmer tonight, thats good. Yes a good 2008.. I have the flu, sure has been the pitts.
Karen B.

Oh Karen, so sorry to hear you have the flu. I hope you are better soon to enjoy the New Year.

I'll watch the parade, off and on, as well. Hopefully I get out and do some yardwork.

Kasie and Karen, thanks for your well-wishes about my cockatiel.

Wishing all a happier and healthier New Year! Eloise

Hi Eloise,
thanks, Happy New year to you and all too. I think childrens germs are the strongest..my grandson was sick at our house few days ago and my husband and I caught his cold, and got so sick. Hubby is ok now, am trying to stay away from him, not to make him sick again, think I need a couple more days to get back, been tough.

I watch the parade couple times and try and see it all, do enjoy the parade. when we get well, will have a second Christmas with my sis and her boyfriend and family, they did not come over for Christmas eve dinner.. Hope your birdie comes home.
Karen B.

I am so happy both of you are on the mend. I've been lucky so far and not caught a cold, especially since I have three grandkids, two of which are in school.

I think it's great that you will continue celebrating Christmas!

Aside from plumeria, I have been getting hooked on brugmansia! I have several cuttings rooting right now and hope to acquire more. Those folks over on the brug site are great enablers, lol!

I haven't watched tv as I was busy sewing a chair padding for a rocking chair my grandbaby got for Christmas. Oh well ... Cheers, Eloise