Rosemary and Lavender
I'm worried about the rosemary and lavender I planted.
Rosemary 'Arp' can survive temperatures down to 0 degrees F, but not for too many nights in a row. This fall, we've had constant night temperatures below freezing, and yesterday when I woke up it was 11 degrees. After coffee and sunrise, it got up to 15 degrees (but "felt like" 7 according to my monitor.)
I have a very small sprig of rosemary 'Arp' planted outside in a spot up against a warm west facing wall, and it's probably okay. But it's still only fall and there is so much winter to come. I'm a little worried.
I also have a small sprig of lavender planted in a a tall pot outside. It's a dwarf English lavender called 'Wee One'. It can take colder temperatures, below zero for brief times, but in a pot it's more vulnerable. And the pot is terra cotta, subject to cracking.
I never got around to moving it into the unheated garage -- I thought I had so much time this fall yet. Now, frozen solid after so many nights in the twenties and teens and this recent bitter spell, I needed to rescue it. So I toted it inside, snow covered and iced, and I'll wait for the furnace heat to warm it up a bit and melt snow all over the floor.
My pretty 'Seiryu' Japanese maple is also hardy below 0 degrees F for brief periods, but it too is in a pot and that means the rootball gets much colder than trees in the ground. But it's too big for me to move. I might manage it with the hand truck, but I have to roll it through gravel to get it over to the garage, and the wheels won't move in gravel. At least this pot is fiberglass and won't crack when frozen solid.
The maple never lost its leaves this fall. Japanese maples are prone to this; if cold comes on before the tree has gone through the process to harden off the leaf, it won't separate and fall off. I wrote about the process of abscission here, and I had it happen several winters on the Japanese maple in my Connecticut garden.
I worry too about the tiny stick of Chilopsis I planted at the corner of the driveway. Desert willow, like rosemary, won't take temperatures below zero F for long. And it's a tiny thing, planted just last summer.
I thought I would have so much more time after Thanksgiving to get ready for winter. I never got the patio chair cushions off for storage in the garage, and now here they are wet and ice covered.
I need to take them off, set them in the sun to dry out, or bring them inside to drip all over the floor, before packing them away in the garage.
But it's too darn cold to go out there and do that, even with gloves. Did I mention it's still only fall?
Rosemary 'Arp' can survive temperatures down to 0 degrees F, but not for too many nights in a row. This fall, we've had constant night temperatures below freezing, and yesterday when I woke up it was 11 degrees. After coffee and sunrise, it got up to 15 degrees (but "felt like" 7 according to my monitor.)
I have a very small sprig of rosemary 'Arp' planted outside in a spot up against a warm west facing wall, and it's probably okay. But it's still only fall and there is so much winter to come. I'm a little worried.
I also have a small sprig of lavender planted in a a tall pot outside. It's a dwarf English lavender called 'Wee One'. It can take colder temperatures, below zero for brief times, but in a pot it's more vulnerable. And the pot is terra cotta, subject to cracking.
I never got around to moving it into the unheated garage -- I thought I had so much time this fall yet. Now, frozen solid after so many nights in the twenties and teens and this recent bitter spell, I needed to rescue it. So I toted it inside, snow covered and iced, and I'll wait for the furnace heat to warm it up a bit and melt snow all over the floor.
My pretty 'Seiryu' Japanese maple is also hardy below 0 degrees F for brief periods, but it too is in a pot and that means the rootball gets much colder than trees in the ground. But it's too big for me to move. I might manage it with the hand truck, but I have to roll it through gravel to get it over to the garage, and the wheels won't move in gravel. At least this pot is fiberglass and won't crack when frozen solid.
The maple never lost its leaves this fall. Japanese maples are prone to this; if cold comes on before the tree has gone through the process to harden off the leaf, it won't separate and fall off. I wrote about the process of abscission here, and I had it happen several winters on the Japanese maple in my Connecticut garden.
I worry too about the tiny stick of Chilopsis I planted at the corner of the driveway. Desert willow, like rosemary, won't take temperatures below zero F for long. And it's a tiny thing, planted just last summer.
I thought I would have so much more time after Thanksgiving to get ready for winter. I never got the patio chair cushions off for storage in the garage, and now here they are wet and ice covered.
I need to take them off, set them in the sun to dry out, or bring them inside to drip all over the floor, before packing them away in the garage.
But it's too darn cold to go out there and do that, even with gloves. Did I mention it's still only fall?
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