Where I live, the average is a mere 32 inches or so. This year, we ended up with 42 inches. Plus, it's cooler here than say, Oklahoma, although it can get hot. The weirdest thing is how dry this winter has been so far. By this time last year, and the year before for that matter, we were running out of places to pile snow. One of my kids moved to Olympia, WA recently. That locale seems to be getting plenty of moisture lately! I think 'effective precipitation' is really the key, as others have already pointed out. Overall, I think we're seeing fewer "three day rains", where it comes down slowly but for a long time. It's all big downpours now, with the accompanying runoff. But with this current drought, gotta wonder where we're headed for the next growing season. +oM

hehehe....I'm starting to feel like I'm in a receiving line at an very big Italian wedding! This forum looks deceptively obscure and small, but step in the door and....MEET the inlaws! "This is my cousin Vinny. He's a Grimaldi man all the way...he'll set you up". Okay, my giggles are subsiding enough to type on... Phoenixryan, thanks for the welcome. And I really appreciate you confirming that Kartuz is a reliable grower, cuz that was just a shot in the dark. And I also appreciate knowing about the eBay grower/venders. Someone else mentioned them in this thread but I thought they were folks from this forum. So now I know they are eBayers. Well any addict will tell ya...always good to have sources...day or night. Hi Daniella (or is it Daniel?)! Maybe we should start a 12 step program for pre-brugs. However your enthusiasm is dangerously contagious and it might backfire. And yes we are all one...and I'm sure to become color blind. Speaking of enthusiasm... I went to the nursery today and the woman attendant led me through a maze of plants in the greenhouse and finally stopped at the one brug plant which apparently was left like an orphan to fend off the winter alone. I was still on a brug high from my conversations in this forum and was speaking about them in hushed, breathless tones of awe. The attendent seemed perplexed at all the fuss. I asked when they were planning to get more in and she said it was not really on their plant list, but they sometimes took them when growers had them available. She said they weren't big money makers for growers. I must have gasped because she raised her eyebrows and began backing away. I'm guessing she thought I was one of those folks who claimed to see the image of Mother Mary in a leaf or cracker....as my reverence for this mere 'plant' seemed vastly disproportionate to her own borderline disinterest. See what you guys did! I need to get a grip! Anyway, thank you again for all the help and welcomes. My name is Dragonfly Wings and I've been a brug addict for two days, one hour and 36 minutes....

Well, for all intents & purposes it never freezes in Miami. However, in the inland suburbs like West Kendall, Miami Lakes, and Davie, it has dropped into the upper 20's. I don't think temperatures like that have occurred in over 20 years. Most years a dip to 40 or the high 30's is as cold as it gets, and only for a night or 2. Most people landscape in So. Fla. like they're in Maui or Puerto Rico, which is safe practice for the most part, because virtually EVERYTHING recovers if left alone. Besides, who wants to play it safe for that 30-40 year freeze by planting sabal palms. BORING & makes So Fla look like Orlando.

Ah Jim, the oleander rustling bug has struck has it? Oleander rustling is a favorite pasttime on the island. You wait until they are in bloom, then drive slowly down the streets until you see one, or smell one you like, then you jump out, snip a couple of branches and jump back in the car. They root so easily. Theres a great book the Oleander society puts out on them. We went around one year and took cuttings from the ones in the book, since we knew where they were and that way we knew WHAT they were. A lot of the pics are in Galveston, Kewpie Gaido (of Gaidos restaurant fame) was big in oleanders & her & her gardener-Clarence- used to drive all over the island rustling them. I'll have to pull out the book and see where they are native to, it's not Jamaica, I think it's the Asian continent. And yes, Galveston got them from Jamaica and the Caribbean after the 1900 storm as part of the replanting. Sorry to say we lost a lot of the old ones along with the trees. We made leis from these as kids. I wouldn't believe the guy who said his horses and cows got sick and died, it wasn't the oleander, they taste far too bitter. There has NEVER been a documented death from ACCIDENTAL ingestion of oleanders, even by a horse, they just taste too bad. There was a case a couple of weeks ago where some horses got sick, the oleanders were chopped up and mixed in with their feed. My dog has eaten so many brugs in her life, she chews on the sticks, my cuttings, never been sick. Another thing about toxic plants, it might be toxic in one area and non-toxic in another. A lot depends on the soil, water, etc. Anyone grow castor bean? One bean chewed up will kill you. And in India people are known to commit suicide by chewing the sees from thevetia peruviana-the yellow oleander. A gorgeous plant by the way. TallyHO!