What’s looking good despite the freeze?
djacob Z6a SE WI
3 years ago
After covering hostas for the last few days due to close to freezing temps, here’s what’s looking.
Sagae went from 3-5 eyes in one year. Hornbakers plant
debra
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peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
3 years agodjacob Z6a SE WI thanked peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canadadjacob Z6a SE WI
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Looking back at 2007 (late freeze, horrific drought)
Comments (5)I have had a totally different weather pattern so my observations aren't pertinent to your question, but perhaps they'll be interesting in themselves. It looks as though we're going to have a third drought year after a second year of Zone 9 winter temperatures. I'm looking at my garden and wondering what qualities are due to the heavy soil, what to the lack of water, what to the inherent character of the roses growing there, what to the difference between grafted and non-grafted varieties. The Teas and Chinas on the Rose Road, planted at the beginning of 2005, are mostly 3'-5' high, but perfectly healthy and sturdy looking. The one year they grew significantly was the first year they were in the ground, when we had a decent amount of rain. The Gallicas are mostly unhappy roses, in very heavy clay and (unfortunately) full sun; they're grafted, unlike the Teas and Chinas, which may make a difference; and they've never had a good year of rainfall. The grafted Teas also are less thriving than the own-root Teas, though that may be due to other factors (drought and soil). I'm just going to have to see how the roses behave when we get another year of good rain, and heaven knows when that will be. Also, I'm forced to buy most of my roses grafted (on Laxa, I think), and have to propagate them from cuttings and grow the offspring to see what the difference is between grafted and ownroot rose behavior. Most of our roses planted 2002-beginning 2006 went into poor ground, while the last two years we plowed beds in moister and more fertile soil, which all the roses except the Teas and Chinas like better. I made large orders of once-blooming old roses last year and am looking forward to seeing how they do in the new beds. Possibly my most interesting discovery is how many old roses react to poor soil and drought: not with weakness and death, but by staying relatively small but healthy and floriferous. This is true not only of the Teas and Chinas, but also of 'Alberic Barbier' and of the Bourbons. The latter ('Variegata di Bologna', 'Zephirine Drouhin', 'Honorine de Brabant', 'Gros Choux de Hollande') are in a sunny, windy, dry area, and while they aren't large, they're sturdy and healthy. My impression is that they're just waiting for a wet year to get bigger. They're also more or less once-blooming in a dry year, though rain in August or September would probably induce a fall flowering. While I've said my roses are generally healthy, last year for the first time I had several roses suffer dieback from disease, and this may have been the result of drought-induced stress, as I hadn't seen it in earlier years. The traditional weather pattern here, unlike in the eastern U.S., is wet weather from mid-fall to mid-spring, with a period of dry cold in the middle of winter, and dry summers. Roses like this just fine. Two years ago (?) we got an unusual strong rain in June, and 'Golden Celebration' was just covered with blackspot, normally a problem I see on the DA roses only in later fall. Lately it has been too dry: four months without rain in 2007 and 'Safrano' actually lost some growth; but a couple of dry, hot, sunny months would, I think, be perfectly satisfactory to my roses. I have no problems with a period of rest. It becomes part of the natural cycle of the garden and it's pleasant in its own way to see the roses shut down and then come into flower again with the fall rains. But the last few years have been too dry. Melissa...See MoreWhat looks good/bad in your garden, February 2013?
Comments (20)Thanks for looking/commenting Kevin and all. I love that 'Monterrey Frost' agave too, so nice and impervious to the recent cold. Yay. My 'Hercules' aloe definitely has tip damage too. It's been in the ground for six years and has grown a ton--I'm excited to see the blooms and to see that it's finally branching. I'm sure yours will do the same too. Now for something that looks (looked!) bad, and then good. I'm tired of the "dwarf" oleander around part of my covered patio, so this weekend I ripped them out (big job) and replaced them with fifteen rosemary plants, and added 1000 lbs of gravel mulch. I cleaned up the arbor too and planted honeysuckle, which is thriving on a trellis nearby, and I finally added some pavers underneath the arch too. I'm embarrassed about the "before" pic, but with the holidays, a month of houseguests, this awful weather and my work things just got nasty, hah! It took all weekend but now it looks better. Not great, but better. Happy gardening all, keep the updates coming! BEFORE: tired, sickly, abused "dwarf" oleanders and an orange that unlike my others never looked good. Not the open soil under the archway. Shame shame on me, hah! AFTER: not perfect, but better. I removed the sickly citrus, and the oleanders and replaced them with rosemary which does so well here, and has great scent and blooms and color. I also added pavers under the archway and planted two honeysuckles (Lonicera japonica) at each side. Last year I had all sorts of different vines on there--quite a mess. The recent cold snap took care of that so out they went, plus I cleaned up the remaining twigs (tsk tsk tsk)....See MoreJune 2015 what looks good/bad/awful in your garden?
Comments (77)Here's a couple pics of two of my Mango trees that were planted in ground this early spring. They're both doing quite well despite the extreme temps and no extra shading. Usually new young tropical fruit trees need sun protection on their first few summers here to get acclimated but these ones don't seem like they need it. They're throwing out new growth all over the place with only minor sun burn on the older leaves. Mango 'Lemon Zest' Mango 'Coconut cream' I threw several good Manila mango seeds in pots and a few are starting to sprout now. I'm going to dig a few deep holes in the ground and transfer these in fall to get their taproots to start growing deep. They'll probably going to grow much better than the grafted ones without taproots. Elephant ear fig is doing very well too. No sign of sun burn on these big leaves. I'll plant out a few more of these in the front yard in the fall. My Longan tree is doing well too in the heat. Full sun all day and flushing new growth. My Shell Gingers are finally starting to take off. These guys really like the heat. I've had them in ground for more than 7 months now, started them from rhizomes. Very slow growing, I was expecting them to grow as fast as my Canna lilies. Afternoon shade is recommended for these guys. The one's I have in full sun all day aren't as good looking as these ones that get afternoon shade. Lots of water and rich organic soil is a must. I can't wait until they get to 7+ft tall and flowering. I can't wait for the monsoon rains to roll in! I'm tired of watering every day! LOL...See MoreDecember 2015 what looks good/bad in your garden?
Comments (12)I always like to put my new container plants through the ringer in the winter to see how well they do with no/little protection from frost so I can know where (and if) I can plant them in the ground. If they show bad signs I move them into the patio or indoors. I've had a few 25-28 degree nights already with a lot of frost (almost looked like snow on the ground one morning) so I've had some good tests. I was pleasantly surprised how well the "cattley guava" did. Hardly any stress, no dead leaves, and this plant is supposed to be picky and tropical (I'm wondering if they sent the wrong plant :P) It seems to dislike the sun here in the summer so it'll probably always be in a container. The okinawa spinach had a few top leaves slightly damaged by frost, but now it's a large plant and can handle that pretty well (it's slightly visible in the picture above). The longevity spinach got wasted by the frost. I brought it indoors and now it's starting a new shoot from the soil near the old one so I'll leave it inside for the rest of the winter. I don't know if it was just too young, but I'll probably test it again next year when it's large. The Ylang Ylang didn't fare well either. It'll have to remain on the patio. It lost all of its leaves but it already has new branches/leaves starting on the main trunk once I moved it to the patio. It really doesn't like frost. I ordered cherry trees a few months ago and they arrived on Friday! Here they are soaking: I planted them shallow with a basin around each. The Royal Lee, I planted it near a tangelo tree (on the left) that I'm planning on removing. The tangelo's graft died 3 years ago and now it's just the rootstock grown up. Minnie Royal: They're both on Colt Rootstock: I'm going to get some mulch around them before the next freezes come in just in case....See More
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
3 years agodjacob Z6a SE WI thanked cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)djacob Z6a SE WI
3 years agodjacob Z6a SE WI
3 years ago
steve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohio
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoOnly 3 yet to surface. One a late riser, I fear for the other 2. Lots of stuff did well, leafed out and uncovered:
Frosty Morn, Hawaiian Luau, Krugerrand, Petticoat Junction, Ruffed Up - no damage in the coldest area with little to no tree canopy. I always thought that helped and it seemed to help as lots of stuff under trees were OK. Probably depends on how cold it gets.
Lemon Love Note, Obsession and Wolverine also did well in the open.
Appletini, Apple Candy, Gypsy Rose, Jet Stream, June, Kisuji, Lakeside Dragonfly, Mourning Dove, Neptune, Paul's Glory, Prairie Sky and others all did well either under trees and/or close to the house.
More telling is what got covered and still showed damage: Diamond Lake, Etched Glass and William Lachman. The first two were only pips and still got damaged. Anything with plantaginea in it did poorly. Spartacus was uncovered and damaged although it had tree canopy and right next to other undamaged and unprotected Hosta.
Here is Bridal Falls (protected) with her two attendants, War Paint (just planted pips a couple weeks ago) and Love Song (decapitated).
djacob Z6a SE WI thanked steve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohiodjacob Z6a SE WI
3 years agosteve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohio
3 years agodjacob Z6a SE WI thanked steve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohio
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djacob Z6a SE WIOriginal Author