cedardave

Well its seems my luck is beginning to run out. After a pretty good warm summer... the fall has now arrived. Tonights low is 2c... 35f.No threat of frost tonight as I have the heaters running in the yard...everyone has not been brought in yet. I suppose winter is inevitable again...darn.

dablo93

terrible weather here, 13 c at day and 8 at night, windy, rainy and no sun.
last weeks weather was great with 5-8 c at night and 17-22 at day. the east of the netherlands had in the night temperatures of 1-5 c with some groundfrost, i'm happy that i live in the west!

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mskitty38583

it was 42* here last night. brought all of the potted nanas and plants in yesterday. still have 4 more pups to dig up and 5 more potted plants to bring in. i hate the cold!

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tophersmith

Hang in there I think the real cold won't be here for another month.

mskitty38583

i know im dreading it. everything gets all brown and crunchy and nasty looking. but i guess without the winter we wont have the pretty spring flowers.

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cedardave

I still have all my huge basjoos in the ground. That will be an epic task in itself to get them inside.I have brought in all the really cold sensitive stuff I dont want to risk losing.Still....I need to find places for all the coconuts ,oleanders and other assorted stuff.I was hoping winter would maybe feel sorry for me and skip a year..I suppose not. I have radiant patio heaters going in the back yard so I will be safe incase of an unexpected frost... Im just having trouble finding the time to get it all done. I suppose its all part of the fun right.

CookieCows

We started digging yesterday, late afternoon. I took the dresser out of the spare bedroom and now the bed will have to go also. I under estimated the space I would need. And to think that it all started last winter when everything fit in my bathroom. We had to lop the tops off. I won't be able to get the Saba in without cutting it more than half way down and since it didn't pup I don't want to take a chance leaving it outside. My butterfly ginger didn't bloom.... until NOW. Buds are forming so it'll be a wonderful smelling room. Am going out now to dig up more! I'll be glad when this is done.

Deb

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fishman0422

While I still have new leaves unfurling from the basjoos time is definitely running out. The days are usually still in the 60's - 70's and last week we even hit 80 a day or two. Today was nice t shirt weather. The nights have gotten down to MAYBE upper 40's lower 50's a few times.
Let me say I don't envy most of you guys. I'm not pulling a darned thing out of the ground! I only cover up my nanas and cut down and mulch over my cannas and elephant ears. Last year I pulled out my imperial taros and boy did I regret it. I don't have a garage or basement so I stored the bulbs in styrofoam containers in my shed. When I opened them up in the spring they were mushy and had fungus. Later I learned I should have been fine leaving them in the ground. From what I hear others have had problems storing those bulbs for the winter. So this year we ended up purchasing more elephant ears only they weren't imperial taros, I don't know what type. I also pulled out a couple of the cannas last year that I thought would be vulnerable due to their location. In the spring those bulbs seemed to be so-so. After splitting them up I gave some to my father and planted in four locations for myself. ONLY ONE came up for me and that bulb even had a little growth on it when it went into the ground. All of my fathers came up. Every single canna that I mulched over in the ground came back and I easily took pieces from those for planting in other spots. If those vulnerable areas don't work out next spring I'll just do more of the same. I'm constantly checking out different plants and their hardiness...usually with disappointment. Gingers, lillies, and bromliads always catch my eye. Someday I may have a few things which I will have no choice but to bring in........ew.

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The Reluctant Gardener

CookieCows

I'm going to mulch over alot more next winter also. It's helpful to hear about other peoples results of past winters. I'm mulching over my cannas and EEs this year as I have seeds from the cannas and my EE was from Walmart and easily replaced. I'm mulching some of my lateritas also with some back ups potted and brought inside. But the other nanas ... it looks like a forest in that room already. My daughter thinks I should put big river rock inbetween the pots to look more decorative with a fountain ... ok yes I'm thinking about it!! I'm going to dig up a couple tomato plants too and bring them inside as an experiment to see how long I can keep them going. I hate store bought tomatoes. We were at Lowes looking at lighting but I think I'll need to order online. Somewhere there is an old thread that has some good information regarding grow lights that I need to find.

P.S. The down side right now to bringing all these nanas inside are all the jumping spiders that are living on them and no longer benificial to me! They rear up at me and live to scare me.

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moomooman

We got a predicted low of 48 thursday night... 60s and 80s are nice, but this dry air is really bad for the aloe plants. Old man winter's on his way

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Lakes and Rivers >swimming pools

JCDerrick

OK I'm glad I'm not the only one rearranging a spare bedroom for my bananas, LOL. This all started in a small apartment, where I had a few plants here or there. Soon as we moved into the house, my wife gave me a whole room. Then last winter I expanded so much I gave up my plant room and instead took over the entire garage (and had to get two 1000W halides). This year I had to buy two portable greenhouses AND I need the plant room back - plus I'll keep using the garage.

Needless to say, I've been told "no more plants that come inside for the winter."

So hardy or bust from here on out it is. LOL

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Malama 'Aina



Normal Jan. Low: 34°F, Normal Jul High: 92°F
Coldest: 16-20°F, Warmest: 98-103°F
Annual Precip: 48 inches

magicgreen

EWWWWWWWWWWwwwwww Winter is on the way, and I just can't WAIT!!!
Those crispy icy clear days!! Nothin like it! Just smells sooo Good!!! AHh YEA....YOU KNOW WHAT IM TALKIN' ABOUT!!!!!! The coldddddd!! You know it!!!!...Yea...... the cold..............Oh Yea...........SHO YOU RIGHT!!!!!!!!!
Everyone in my neighborhood watches me with my plants in the summer and spring, SHOOOOOT.... alll year long!!! Always!!!!!! They look and see what I'm gonna do! (FOR-REAL) I decorate for the seasons!!!!!!!!
Halloween is Comingggggggg!!!!!!! I go all out!!! It's FUN!! Everybody knows about our house!!!!!
Mid-Westeners know about lettin' that garden go to sleep in the winter to purify the earth of germs and such ; and dwelling on another phase of life,
such as ,,,,,ahhhh,,,,,, planning next year's garden...............Ya know.......
I'm having a Wonderful evening, Hope you are Too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Lynn aka Magicgreen...................................................... ........

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(Started growing bananas July 2007)
(Zone 6)

Bob

A little fired up for fall Lynn? Actually I go all out for Halloween here too. This year though my old glass front porch is full of bananas that I've collected over the past month(with more on the way). I guess I'll leave the jack-o -lanterns outside this year and let the kids kick'em(thats Jersey).

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saltydad

After we hit mid 40's last night I brought in my Siam Ruby pups (already potted), Allamanda, Adenium obesum, all my Plumeria cuttings, Heliconia, and Caladiums. I'm now debating whether to leave the Siam Ruby mom out over the winter as originally planned. I still have to pot up my EE pups and in-ground Caladiums, The parent EE's will be left out under heavy straw mulch. Then I have to start cutting , wrapping and mulching my basjoos, ,musella and sikkim, my palms, gingers, and this doesn't even account for pulling the non-hardy plants from the pond and setting up my tanks in the basement. Then I have to do the fall pond cleanup (empty dead leaves, vacuum pond, trim and drop hardy plants to bottom of pond, etc.). I will be using my entire living room, 2 bedrooms, and part of my dining room. I hate this time of year.And we say gardeners aren't crazy.

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Men In Nursing- "A Few Good Men"

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." - Francis Bacon





"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
John F. Kennedy, September, 1960


http://flickr.com/photos/saltydad/ and
http://community.webshots.com/user/saltydad
http://s751.photobucket.com/albums/xx151/saltydad/

JCDerrick

LOL, I like to think of it as a little interior decorating for the winter. Like my own personal indoor arboretum.

Hrm, maybe I should charge admission...

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Malama 'Aina



Normal Jan. Low: 34°F, Normal Jul High: 92°F
Coldest: 16-20°F, Warmest: 98-103°F
Annual Precip: 48 inches

mskitty38583

my saba that is like 8 ft tall, has the big pup( jasper is his name-o) and jasper is coming in the house....jasper is 5 1/2 ft tall. then of course brutus( the mom saba) just decided to throw 2 pups out about 2-3 weeks ago. i cant cut the little pups cause their only 8 inches tall. you might be glad when its done but youll be looking at them all winter long smiling!

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mskitty38583

spray your nanas before you bring them into the house

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v1rtu0s1ty

We've been at 38F for the past several days and my basjoo hasn't given up. Today, weather.com, accuweather and weather.gov is forecasting a low of 36F with patchy frost. After tonight, it will be back to 40+ and there was even a forecast of 68F-70F during morning. So not sure if this is a sign that I should protect my basjoo.

mskitty38583

im banished to the den with all my plants and nanas......the cats would love to get into them. be some dead cats....lol! i finally got my aquarium up and running so there is humidity in the air( still no fish or plants but there is now running water.) lol. i have saba , ornata green, tropical ee's and a few other things left to bring in.....i ran out of room 5 days ago. but i love coming into the room on a freezing cold day to see lush nanas and tropical plants growing!

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JCDerrick

We should start a thread with photos of our dens, living rooms, garages, etc full of plants. I can use it as evidence to my wife we're not the ONLY ones doing it, LOL

Edit: Here we go. Post your photos.

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Malama 'Aina



Normal Jan. Low: 34°F, Normal Jul High: 92°F
Coldest: 16-20°F, Warmest: 98-103°F
Annual Precip: 48 inches