Good morning, and we will now return to our regularly scheduled programming. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
Last weekend's cold snap was one for the record books: two record lows (17° and 18°) and a record low maximum temperature (26°).
On the books it looks like we were out of it on Wednesday when the recorded high temperature was 69°. Unfortunately it didn't feel like 69°, as we had persistent cloud cover and fog (fog! In Denver!) for most of the day. Man, I really hate high humidity.
It felt much warmer yesterday, with no clouds and no fog and the high at only 65°.
And this weekend will be perfect for assessing the damage: today will be sunny and in the upper 60s, and Sunday we may break another record on the other end of the spectrum: the forecast is for a high of 82° and the record high for October 18 is 84°.
Guess I'll find out if my dahlia tubers, tuberose bulbs and begonia rhizomes froze, or if they can be collected and stored for next year.
I'm afraid, though, it's going to be a visually dull fall here: the sudden intensity of the cold seems to have freeze-dried a lot of the leaves, so rather than changing color, the leaves went from bright green, to dull brownish-green. It's really weird driving down some of Denver's premier, parkway neighborhood streets — rather than bright green leaves changing to fall colors, seeing trees loaded with uniformly-shaded olive green.
This weekend I'll find out if my dahlia tubers, tuberose bulbs and begonia rhizomes froze, or if they can be collected and stored for next year. I'm pretty sure that at least most of the dahlia tubers will be OK — they're planted in the ground and, even though our cold was extreme, it's doubtful that it was cold enough, long enough, to counter the stored warmth of the soil.
With the begonias and tuberoses I'm not as sanguine. They're potted, and those exposed pots can freeze faster than one might expect. The tuberoses, at least, are in big pots, but most of the begonias are in hayrack planters attached to the fence — not a lot of bulk to protect the rhizomes. I mean, it's not a disaster if they freeze; I can buy more next year. But it would be an annoyance — beyond the expense of replacing them, when I have them stored I can start them earlier in the spring and ready to bloom by June.
This was my first year with tuberoses, but it would also be advantageous to be able to start those early, too — the majority of the tuberoses didn't bloom until late September (in fact I picked a just-emerged bloom stalk right before the big freeze).
Although the brugmansia — as is usual — dropped most of its mature leaves after being repotted and moved inside, it did manage to hold on to one bud which opened last weekend. The Mister has promised that he'll get my pot-grower approved LED grow light installed this weekend, so I'll find out in the next few weeks whether it will set buds and blooms year round. If not, I may have to try another type or two of brug, as I'd really like to have one blooming in the dead of winter. I do have an everblooming jasmine, which is a welcome addition to the indoor environment. And if the lights work out well with the brugmansia, I'll likely buy a Meyer lemon next year — the only thing that's stopped me so far is lack of winter light.
The Mister is also going to re-purpose a bank of lights that came with one of his Craig's list aquarium deals. One of the aquariums came with lights for growing aquatic plants; the Mister tried plants in one of the tanks, but his fishies didn't like the intensity of the light. So that big, long bank of fluorescents will be hung over the kitchen window, adding some artificial sunshine during the dead of winter for the orchids on the windowsill, and whatever other plant I decide to shove onto the counter. That's what I call a win-win.
It's going to be a very busy weekend: beyond getting the plant materials out of the ground (and, hopefully, pots!), I'll have to prepare a place to put them, getting the Mister's stuff out of the way so I can close the door on the cold storage area (he has aquarium stand parts sticking through the doorway... now, where the hell am I gonna move them?).
And then I have to go check out my own Craig's list finds: I found two well-priced treadle sewing machines, and if they check out OK, I'm going to buy one of them as a Christmas gift for the Polish Princess. When I told her about the machines, and asked if she'd like to have one, after considering where she'd put it (well, her older son will be moving out within a year or two... and she does have a garage to store it in the meantime), after looking at some of the cool attachments that are available she accepted — then cursed me for passing one of my hobbies on to her again. See, I taught the Princess how to knit; and she became interested in spinning after trying out my spinning wheels; and then she caught the gardening bug from me. Of course, coordinating the sewing machine shopping will be complicated: beyond that I've heard back from only one of the two possibles, the Princess and I work together and either one or both of us will be likely be called into the office by the Bossman this weekend.
And somehow, I'd like to fit a nap in.
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your gardens?