Good question : I didn't expect temperatures lower than -7°C and in previous years, my maples didn't suffer, except a few in 2011-2012 when the cold spell lasted for over a week. The layer of snow on the pot soil might act as a form of insulation blanket, we'll see... I'm not worried about the larch or other conifers though.
Vertrees/Gregory says that Japanese Maples can live down to -10°C (14F) for the roots, and -18°C for the aerial parts. Now in our climates here, the ground is unlikely to freeze that hard. In a pot though, it if's -12C for many hours, it's possible, without any insulation. So lets hope that didn't happen. It "only" hit -4 last night, expecting colder tonight and the next. The wood for the stove is holding out so far... Good luck guys, not over yet. -E
Well I stood in a queue for nearly 2hrs waiting for my vaccine and at -2°C it was cold enough. But I stood there thinking about how lovely it's all going to be very very soon now, with colourful new leaves on our trees and being able to visit grandchildren and hopefully this virus behind us all. That thought warmed me up no end. A good Spring and Summer is within touching distance everyone!!!
Hi D, @Acerholic , I second Sulev’s sentiment. Yes, the colorful new leaves will be there, but nothing will be close to ‘normal’ for years to come. (I got my second shot this past Saturday, no waiting, everything was very well organized. I had a pretty strong reaction the next day with fever and chills, but all fine the day after that. I am in my late 40s but in a group that qualifies, they say side effects vary for different age groups.) We are all very lucky to have our gardens to provide extra joy in our lives during these challenging times. Well, when spring finally arrives. Early May in my case.
@Nik good evening N, so glad to hear you have had your second jab, even though you had the side effects that I'm just experiencing this evening. (Second half of 60's for me). But the alternative doesn't bare thinking about. I think there is light at the end of the tunnel, but agree that it will take some time for normality to reappear. And oh yes, aren't we fortunate to have our gardens and wonderful friends on this forum to chat to, to take our minds well away from what is going on in the world. Escapism is so good for mental health IMO. Anyway a bit off topic, so I will just add that we are going down to -6° C tonight and then a cold Saturday, but on Sunday it all changes and some warmth starts to return. Will that be the last throws of Winter!!!?? Who knows, but let's hope so. Have a great weekend.
Good morning, -8° right now. Can't wait to be on monday as some of my japanese maples bonsais are slowly bud breaking and they are in a room that has no natural light.
A cold start but it's going to rapidly change today. An ominous scene greeted me when opening our curtains though. Red sky in the morning shepherds warning.....
There are so many sayings about the weather, some totally wrong, but this one seems to be relevant. We have an equivalent in French : Ciel rouge le soir laisse bon espoir (... leaves good hope = shepherd's blessing) Ciel rouge le matin, pluie en chemin. (... rain on the way)
Here's one I grew up with - not that I'm a sailor or anything. “Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warning.”
It's funny the different cultures have sayings for this, ours is 'Red sky at night shepherds delight, red sky in the morning shepherds warning'. But whatever the saying, it seems to always ring true..... well nearly always.
Maybe part of the reason is that, while you do have sailors in your history like we do, we do not have shepherds.
Good morning G, great to hear from you. Looks like this white stuff is everywhere. The lantern shot certainly gives a warm glow. Like it very much. A nicely insulated maple that is very fast asleep that won't be leafing out anytime soon by the look of the depth of the snow there.
All the garden is once more covered in snow - maybe 5 inches. Based on comments I read here, I'm not too worried about my Japanese maples but wonder what the hellebore, daffodil and snowdrop blossoms are thinking . . . time will tell when this all starts melting tomorrow. As an aside, our somewhat younger neigbour came over and shovelled our driveway today. It is a job that I've always kind of enjoyed but I think I'd better just say 'thank you' and not argue. I did give him some Valentine's cookies.
My inground figs are covered with 2.5 meter high snow pile and I didn't plant all my trees into the ground (3 of them are indoors in containers, just in case). But still, -25ºC coming together with strong winds, could be too much for my inground figs. They are too young to cope with such extremities. Last winter we had only down to ca -15ºC for few moments, but this winter we already got one really cold wave (-28.5ºC on the ground), the second could be worse, because of strong winds and much lower predicted air temperature. I am lucky, that I didn't let my avocado to overwinter outdoors, almost did that, because ofseveral extremely warm recent winters.
That is so soul destroying Sulev after all the hard work bringing them on. I do wonder with all the talk about global warming that we have come to think that Winters are going to always be much warmer, but nature has and probably always will come back to a normal routine that we are not ready for. I do wish you good luck with ALL your plants. My thoughts are with you.
I hope our friend @Nik is staying warm tonight. The weather reports I'm hearing from the US are very alarming.
