Decembrrrrrrrrrrrrr 2010

December 27 = 30
December 28 = 29
December 29 = 24 degrees..........

That was the second cold wave.........the first blast was almost the same only worse.......

NOW WHAT..........temps are going to the upper 70's..........the plants are now dormant....but if we get 2-3 weeks of warm temps the dormancy will be gone and boom ... a real killer freeze could hit in late January........stay tuned as this could get really ugly........

SEE there is always something to worry about..........

OH YEAH................HAPPY NEW YEAR..............

Some Landscape Photos from Work.............

Took a few photos around work yesterday afternoon...........the first warmish day in a long time.....there is some freeze damage here and there..........
Here is a nice little pond behind teaching building.

Some holly berries for Xmas.............ahhhhhh........

The grass below is not real happy due to the freezes............

That is it for now.................

12-14-10 Freeze Test Results are in.............

Here is the data from the 12-14-10 freeze....I retook photos (see blog og 12-14-10 for originals) of the plants today......Here they are.....

1. Rose and Camellia = fine..........no suprise.....

2. Philodendron 'Frilly Philly' = not fine at all = probably dead.....

3. Jatropha = no officially DEAD..........very touchy little guy.........

4. Philodendron bipinnatifidum (selllum) = fine........

Remember we had 26 degrees for a few hours...........NOT bad actually............

It was 26 degrees this morning...12-14-10...

Here is a toasted Jatropha.........

Twenty six degrees for a few hours last night..........

Tonght will be colder as the wind slow and frost sets in.........

The Jatropha curcas (in photo above) is doomed........the other plants from yesterday's blog look ok but it is too early to tell.........

Our 6 mighty citrus trees and their fruit are ok but tonight could be the killer..........

Oh well, maybe next year............

December 14th Freeze to be even worse than last week......#$%&*@#

We are on the damn 7 day weather cycle now.........last Tuesday was grim for December......tonight will be much worse............anyway we must keep going ahead..........it will be "Save the Farm Night Tonight at Home".....can we win one more time...........???????

Anyway........Below are 4 photos taken today (Dec. 13th, 2010).....it should be 25 degrees tonight with a 15 mph wind.....tomorrow night will be as bad or worse with frost.....so in a few days I will retake these photos and see what we get......below is what we have to observe.......

Rose and Camellia:
Philodendron 'Frilly Philly' outside my office.....facing west.....

Jatropha curcas right next to the 'Frilly Philly' outside my office facing west.....

Philodendron bipinnatifidum (selloum) 100 feet north of the other plants in the photos....

The plants in these photos are in an inner square garden area protected on 4 sides from the northwest wind....it is pretty breezy but they miss the full fury.....we shall see what happens...

A Few Photos of Foliage around Work Today..............

Aglaonema:
Ficus:

Pothos:

Ficus:

Croton:

A Few December 8th Freeze Photos................

Jatropah curcas = a tiny little burned...........
Camellia sasanqua = happy today..........

Below: Banana NOT happy..........Pentas doing ok.........

For Next Week the Forcast is even colder........WFT........"FOXTROT".......WFT............

Cleaned Greenhouse Propagation Area Today........

This is the teaching/propagation greenhouse (teaching how to do things wrong)......I get to teach again this winter........therefore the propagation area had to be fixed.......it was disgusting.......warped, breaking down and dirty......we cleaned it...added new shade cloth........cleaned the crud from the misters..........reset the timer..... and attached the mist line and shade cloth to steel guide pipes (replacing the warped plastic pipes) to get the curves out of it......finally we will hang new sides tomorrow.....

All in all it was a great project for a cold December day........fishing would have been better......

Before (the photos do not show how bad it really was):
After (with our test tray of cuttings to see if the timers need adjusting):

After:

Before:

December 7th Freeze..........

Well, we had a tiny harmless frosty last week........
Tonight looks grim though..........cold, clear, windy and basically nasty today..........should freeze pretty good tonight...probably 28-30 degrees for a while anyway........

Bad side: green beans, tomatoes, and peppers are in trouble......Adeniums are in 'big trouble' also as I am letting some sit out to see what happens (like I don't know already).

Good side: broccoli, beets and onions will be fine if not happy.......Our new Philodendron cultivar will get the cold stress test that we wanted for them.......this is very important.....

Other than that I will do some kind of baking tonight to keep the oven going.........maybe make some more noodles thanks to Mosaic Mom's help...........that was great fun.....YEAH homemade noodles tonight......maybe in HOT SOUP.........cold does have its plus side (small though it is) ..........

Mosaic Mom's Plumeria.......It Lives..........

A while back a friend of Mosaic Mom gave her a sad little cutting of an unusual plant.....it was some sort of Plumeria species with white flowers and unusual leaves (see bottom photo).

MM pulled some horticultural magic, prayed and paced alot and finally got the cutting to root...........a couple of months later and now this plant is starting to thrive....

It should a fine flowering specimen by next summer.....Horticulture makes for a real interesting life....

I do not know the species of plumeria that it is...........I just call it
"MM's Purdy Plumeria Plant"......