The MGS Forum
Our gardens, a month-by-month pictorial diary of what's looking good now => Our Gardens => Topic started by: Umbrian on December 01, 2012, 07:49:23 AM
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After an unusually mild autumn that has turned very wet in the last week or so we are now being forecast snow for this weekend :( Time to batten down the hatches and hope that the temperatures do not plummet too low as the ground is absolutely saturated and the results could be disastrous for more borderline plants ::)
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Did your snow turn up Carole?
I used to love it when it snowed in England. Only if the ground wasn't frozen when it fell though. That way, it would make a lovely duvet over the plants and keep them from freezing.
It is getting chilly here in Crete, but not cold yet.
We have had a lot of strong, warm, drying winds from the south, out of Africa lately.
They seem to be more destructive than the cold northerly ones.
They wrecked the flowers and leaves on my Brugmansia.
However the wind direction has changed now, so it is chillier, but calmer thank goodness.
Daisy :)
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:) No snow yet with us but it fell on higher ground quite close to us. However it has turned very cold -1c two mornings ago and the saturated ground has turned rock hard, completely frozen, so I am hoping that snow does not arrive having the reverse effect to the one you described! I have moved and protected all my more tender subjects (in pots) to their winter positions and am hoping for the best as usual :) How is your garden looking now after the mealy bug invasion?
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Devastation!!! At least in parts.
I have replanted a lot of the mealy bug razed areas, but of course the new plants are tiny at present. So, there are a lot of empty spaces.
This will be our fifth winter here and so far, I haven't seen a frost.
Lots of snow on the mountains around every winter, but not yet here at 300 metres above sea level.
Daisy :)
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After a week (in Toscana) in which snow was followed by intractable ice, this morning the rain gauge has overflowed at 150mm. Sodden describes the garden. Buxus has performed well and returned to the vertical position. Most of the Phlomis are a complete mess, falling down the slope and on themselves. I would like to cut them back, but it is all new growth. Do I risk losing flowers if I cut new growth now, or are the plants likely to put on more new growth between now and flowering?
Arbutus andrachne has remained vertical, but young oaks are falling over. They should regrow if I cut them back. In the park like area outside my fence there are many olive branches down. Those olives have never quite recovered from the '85 cold ansd subsequent covering with brambles.
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You have obviously been suffering from the strong winds that hit us in Umbria too. I would tend to leave the Phlomis and see what happens regarding the weather to come, the growth ,even if battered, will afford some protection to the plants if we get more severe weather and tidying up can be done later. I have not suffered too much damage but did have to stop and remove a (small) tree that ws blocking our access road the other day. Am wondering what the fates have in store for us in the New Year, January and February can be the most difficult months here ???
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Joanna, I'd second Carole's advise, partly because I rather doubt if the phlomis would put up a new set of flowering shoots in time for spring.
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Thank you so much to Carole and Alisdair. I'll put up with the fallen plants until warmer weather arrives and then I will stake them.
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I have presumed that you are talking about Phlomis fruticosa Joanne that should not really need staking. My plants are about 12 years old and have a strong woody framework. I try to prune them after flowering, preferring the chance of a second flush of flowers to the admittedly, attractive seed heads. This keeps the plants strong and the new growth matures well before the winter weather comes. I cut down to a good strong new pair of leaves and recovery is fast. Neglected bushes can be pruned hard into old wood and will send up new growth readily.
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Umbrian, by far the floppiest Phlomis is P.purpurea. However, it's growth habit has meant that it is easy to propagate, so I have three or four, all about three years old. And yes, I like the seed heads too and am always hoping for a surprise seedling so it is usually well into September before I cut them back. P. chrysophylla is also having difficulty supporting itself. It is beginning to have a woody basal stem so the pruning technique will need to build on that.
As an aside re. the snow, I was astonished when a metre long green snake jumped across my path from one terrace to another yesterday. It had been hanging out in a sunny spot where the voles are tunnelling. But this was after a week of subzero temps and 170 mms rain. What is the trigger for hibernation? If it is short days, they are running out of time.
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I have just come back from a trip to the local town. There is a cold northerly wind and all the mountains are covered in snow.
This is the first proper snow of the winter.
Luckily, my garden is only 300 metres above sea level, so it has not reached us yet.
I have a thermometer just outside the window by me. It says it is 5 degrees centigrade. Brrrrr.
Daisy :)
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Snow down to about 150 mts in Cyprus this morning ! most unusual.
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A friend who lives in Nicosia e-mailed us some photos she took at 8am today showing snow on the Pentadaktylos Range which is quite unusual. As I was writing this post we had a short (5 mins) snow flurry here in Kolossi (30/40 m asl) which is almost unheard of. The only time I can remember it happening in my time on the island was the winter of 1967/68.
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This is North Pentadaktylos (Five Fingers) has not melted and more forecast tonight.
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o606/yvesans/Snow_zpsb036c304.jpg)
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Here is a picture at St Hilaron Castle
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAJ5pXkCcAAMcoX.jpg)
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Following yesterday's snow flurry we woke this morning to find a thin sheet of ice on one of the water-lily tanks, very rare. From the BBC World News broadcasts it seems that the whole Middle East has been hit by an unusually cold spell.
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It was strange here, in the west of Cyprus.
On a few clear days a year we can see Turkey, 200km to the north; the Taurus Mountains stand suprisingly high on the horizon. Yesterday we could see it very well, but that was with a overcast sky starting to snow! The cold air coming south from Anatolia must have been very clear.
And for a while it was really wintry, snow driving down and settling all around. (100m alt.)
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Today I went to Jerusalem to see what was left of the snow...after a week of heavy rains and some snow.
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After a very wet but not unduly cold winter several people, local "weather watchers" have told me that we are going to have an early spring. The little birds in the garden, about, but silent in the winter have become very noisy and busy . The other morning when in the car I was surrounded by flocks of Goldfinches that emerged from the bushes alongside our valley road, many more than usual. Probably the most encouraging information however was from a neighbour whose sister lives in the South of France and who reports that the migrating Cranes are on the move. Time to get into gear again hopefully onve the ground dries out a bit.
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December snow very sparse but this is a view of the garden earlier this week.
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And a further photo showing some of the damage suffered in the garden. The snow was the wet kind that collected on branches, evergreen leaves etc and weighed them down. We also experienced high winds at times when it was snowing that meant certain, more exposed things suffered more. Heigh Ho - the joys of gardening. :) :'(
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Brrrr! No wonder it has been so cold here with the wind from the north. Only 4mm. of rain though. We hope to have more to set us up for the long hot summer here on Ibiza. This is the very opposite to what we are used to in SE Queensland in Australia. We are just starting a very steep learning curve in mediterranean gardening.
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Despite the damage from wet snow I'd love, just once, to have a decent fall of snow here in the Adelaide Hills. We've been here 35+ years and in that time had only two light falls of snow, flurries really - but photo's taken here-abouts in the 1880's into the 1920's show deep snow covering the houses, streets and gardens.
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Snow and Teucrium marum. We have had about ten nights here in Toscana this winter when there has been complete snow cover of the ground. Each following morning the cat tracks have headed straight to the T.marum., commonly known as Cat Thyme. The poor plant has no leaves left, even though I thought it was well protected by netting. Clever creatures, cats. How could the plant ever survive in its natural habitat?
Now I must decide whether to try to move it. But to where? A hanging basket suspended from about 10 m. height. It is such an attractive plant in a dry garden.
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I reluctantly gave up on Teucrium marum. Even planted among the strongest smelling herbs the cats immediately sussed it out as you've described. And the big toms rolling about started to destroy the neighbouring plants too.