We had a week with several hard freezes. For us this means more than 4 hours below freezing. The worse of this series had 12 hours in the low 20s, this was the worse seen this year. Friday night brought a light freeze and Saturday we were back to spring like temperatures. I spend much of the day working in the yard and taking note of things. Happily, the new growth on the roses I shared last week was not damaged, the cuttings I've been working on also seem to have fared well. Some signs of color are starting to emerge.
This is my 4th season with this camellia. She was but a foot tall when I purchased it and is now about three feet high. I almost lost her during her first year. Her sister, planted in a shadier spot did well so I moved this one. She's recovered quite nicely. Our warm days trigger the buds, which have been developing since June to open. The buds themselves are oblivious to the freeze but
you can see the damage it causes the petals. This will be fine, a hard freeze after she's in full bloom will be detrimental. This is her sister. Her second year she had 21 blooms while the other had but one. Last year the other surpassed it. I'll no longer be able to fairly compare them as I'm using two different pruning styles so one will be tree like and the other bush.
This is my nun's orchid. I acquired her last spring and have never seen her bloom. From what I can tell it's mostly a pass along plant here and not really in commerce. Most of her time here has been spent in shady corner pretty much ignored beyond an occasional watering. I did read she doesn't do well with consistent temperatures below 40 degrees and that she should bloom late winter. I moved her to a spot closer to the front door and when freezes are expected she'll come indoors for a week or so at a time. She was brought in last Monday afternoon. On Thursday morning when I passed her I spotted a bud. Closer examination showed two buds. Now I've detected 7, including a few that haven't fully emerged. I'm sort of excited!
She moved back outdoors yesterday. Tho one is hiding (camera shy I guess) there are three taller sprouts for buds. If you look at the base you of the growth on the right you can see a bud just rising, there are 4 of these (or were yesterday, hopefully there are more) I've read that the ragged foliage is normal and may get worse as she gets bigger. After her bloom cycle, she's be moved ag'n to her shady hide away, it seems to have done well by her. I've read a bit on propagating this, the stalk of the blooms is used to start cuttings. I expect to try a few in the ground next year and have a few to pass along.
What's happening in your garden?
Very interesting, thanks for sharing Vic!
ReplyDeleteI have also enjoyed your post. My mother has the wonderful Camellia named The Czar and I did a post about it. Camellia's are such old favourites and it is interesting to read about the differences between your sister plants. I unfortunately do not have any in my garden YET!! LOL But I think that you might be teaching me a thing or two here Vic.
ReplyDeleteDormant, brown, rather dull looking. But the quail like it.
ReplyDeleteTwo things that I miss the most about living in a more temperate climate are camellias and orchids, although we do have some native orchids here in Idaho that should become propagated (I hope) as gardeners start demanding native plants at the nurseries.
ReplyDeleteMy garden has turned into the most slimy horrible mess! Because of our early snow my kids did an incomplete job raking up the leaves, and now with the rain and snow melt those leaves have become slimy and gross. The previously frozen ground has thawed and is now thick icky mud. And week's worth of frozen chicken poop is now thawing and starting to decompose. I don't even want to go outside but I have most of a cord of wood that I need to stack, and moving it up hill through the thick mud to the wood pile is difficult work that hurt my lower back as the wood shifts inside the wheel barrow over the soft ground. The only good thing is that weed seeds and hibernating insect pests should be easier for my chickens to scratch up and eat, and we should have some nice, sunny weather coming up to help dry things out. But I would settle for some snow to cover it all up again.
Local plants are mostly found from small independent nurseries or are pass alongs, shared only among garderners.
ReplyDeleteVery fertile stuff. You need to gather it so to mix into your soil when the time does come for you to work it.
ReplyDeleteLocal nurseries are starting to carry native plants and there's a movement to collect and propagate native plants, but of course it has to be done slowly and carefully so that wild native plants aren't over collected and therefore become endangered in their natural habitat.
ReplyDeleteI compost the poop along with the straw in the henhouse, and generally the poop in the lawn breaks down and decomposes quickly so it isn't a problem. But the problem over the past few weeks is that it froze and didn't break down, and now it's decomposing all at once. So the next time it freezes I use a stick to take some golf swings at the poop and hit into some beds that the chickens don't frequent.
ReplyDeleteWow! that sounds like a great afternoon. I wanna play!
ReplyDeleteLOL! C'mon over!
ReplyDeleteI just got around to looking this up, I love the color of it and I'd really like to get a single or semi double as this is. My full doubles tend to take to long to open. Could you link us to your post?
ReplyDeleteI am more than happy to share this post with everyone..I hope that you all enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteMums Camellia: The Czar.
ohhhh thanks ma'am.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to bats in my country but I must admit I have never been keen on housing bats.
ReplyDeletehttp://ausbats.org.au/
gonna look them up, and wish i could get a photo of my bats so i could identify them.
ReplyDeleteTry for it when the weather warms up. There are links though from this site that might identify yours from the the district they are found in.
ReplyDeleteI have to get a better look. I spot them at the oddest times and when i have time to come back to study they've disappeared.
ReplyDelete