The part of California west of the San Andreas fault is sliding northward and some day will move to southern Alaska. (Its in no danger of sinking into the ocean.) However, at the rate it is moving, its going to take years. Sometimes, the fault locks in places and then in a few minutes moves several years worth - think the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. You don't think it moves that direction? There are photos showing large displacements in railroad tracks where those crossed the fault. Aerial photos of the west slopes of the hills shows kinks in stream beds where the streams cross a major fault. There is a east-west road that goes toward Half Moon Bay south of San Francisco. It has a concrete surface except where it crosses the San Andreas fault. At this location, it is asphalt. The fault creeps and was rupturing the concrete roadbed. The highway department gave up and paved with asphalt across the fault. That was something they could easily patch. That part of California can create problems for surveyors. One day, the surveyors were trying to lay in the corner stakes for lots in a new subdivision, but were having a problem with their reference points creeping. They gave up deciding to come back the next day. Before they returned, an earthquake struck the area.

But those sort of natural disasters are rare enough to be a seldom encountered occurrence, whereas nor'easters, Atlantic hurricanes and blizzards are a year-to-year phenomena!! And don't think the northeast is immune from earthquakes..........several thousand have been reported in that area since the 1970's, with 10-20 occurring each month :-) As with the west coast, most of these are small enough to be almost unnoticeable but there have been a good number that have caused significant damage. Personally, the risk of a volcano erupting (exceedingly low) or the possibility of a serious earthquake sometime over the next 25-50 years is far more tolerable to me than the annual expectation of devastating storms and blizzards. A major disaster once every 25-30 years (or longer) is a lot more preferable in my book than something that occurs on a routine basis year after year.

'Bud blast', can be broadly described as the aborting of buds before or soon after opening. Deficiencies of the immobile nutrients are a common cause. Major changes in the amount of light and water the plant is acclimated to, but over or under-watering can also be causal. Radical temperature, cold air from air conditioners or warm air from heat sources can either cause buds to be aborted, and night to day temperature changes can cause condensation within the bud sheath, which can cause the bud to rot. Chemicals/fumes from gas/diesel engines or ethylene gas from any source can cause bud blast. Aphids and thrips can feed on buds or cause infections that cause them to abort. Humidity too low or plants too close to supplemental lighting are often issues, as is chemical damage related to EC/TDS (salt levels). And sometimes, often infuriatingly, the issue is often idiopathic. I think directing your prophylactic efforts toward maintaining those cultural practices the plant approves of, particularly soil moisture levels, temperature, and fertility. Make sure the fertilizer you're using includes all nutrients essential to normal growth. If you have any suspicions that water/condensation in buds might be an issue, first, don't mist or spray the foliage with water. After the bud erupts, you can try carefully peeling back the bud sheath, which will help prevent water or condensation from causing rot issues. If you find aphids/thrips, treat appropriately. I can't be more specific w/o seeing the plant. Often, though, in cases like this and given a list of potentialities, the grower is able to eliminate a goodly number of possibilities and concentrate on the more likely of the causes. Also, Nitrogen applications in fall have no effect on whether or not buds that begin forming during the prior summer are likely to be injured by chill. Diminishing day length (technically, it's increasing night length) starts the plant/buds on the path toward dormancy, and increasing chill seals the deal by stimulating the plant to enter deep dormancy. Too, plants that are provided with a full compliment of nutrients, including nitrogen, in the months immediately prior to a predictable dormancy will be better able to resist chill injury, which is probably not even what is affecting your plant. Fertilizing with super phosphate is far more likely to result in an iron deficiency that a greater profusion of blooms when used on containerized plants; and, you'll find no scientific evidence that "extra phosphorous" increases a plant's resistance to chill injury. In fact, dosing with any element or compound aimed at providing only one or two nutrients is not a good choice for conventional container culture. What IS true, is the right amount of phosphorous as relative to all other essential nutrients will produce more blooms than an over-abundant supply, which has only the potential to be limiting. In fact, anytime you supply any nutrient at rates that surpass the needs of the plant, it can only be limiting. Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 is an acid-forming fertilizer with the "right" amount of phosphorous (compared to the amount of N it supplies), and would supply complete nutrition from a single source. Please do not add 'mushroom compost', or dolomite beyond what is required to bring the pH into line, to containerized plants. The urea the compost contains can cause plasmolysis (fertilizer burn) and it can raise the EC/TDS of the soil solution when the salts it contains leaches into the grow medium. Stick with a nutritional supplementation program that gives you control and minimizes the likelihood of damage that so often results from relinquishing control. Al

Thanks mxk3 - it's pretty special to me and has long and somewhat checkered back story but is one of my favorite plants. It is a cultivar of chloropetalum called 'Volcano' and was developed in NZ by tissue culture. The success rate of the TC was low so they discontinued it and it's now no longer available commercially. As you can see it is quite a robust plant - this is half of my original plant - with nicely marked leaves and lots of big, deep red flowers. Apparently tolerates considerable neglect as it has been growing and flowering happily in the same container for more years than I care to admit!!