Tom Bennett wrote:
On 10 Jan, 11:31, "Dave Cornwell"
wrote:
"Tom Bennett" wrote in message

...



Slight but steady precip of individual snow grains, since 09.30 or
thereabouts. Overcast, with an erratic westerly air movement (too
on-off to call it a breeze), to replace the flat calm we had until
09.00. Temp still -1.9C after an overnight low of -4.7C. Ground
obviously is still rock hard. It will be interesting to see what
"tender" plants get through this cold spell, when spring arrives. I
suspect parts of my garden have been subjected to lower than -12C,
probably for the first time in nearly a decade.

It's too early to tell for sure but some of my allegedly tender
bamboos and "half-hardy" shrubs look OK, so I'm quite hopeful. Over
the past 20 years, many plants that were previously thought not to
be particularly frost-hardy (and because of that weren't planted)
have been found to be OK in most cold spells.

I'd echo the sentiments a few days ago about this cold snap being
beneficial in reducing pests. With the ground here being frozen hard
for so long, I've noticed the birds have been very busy ferreting
around for food on leaves and branches, pausing to peck away more
objectively as they appear to find it. Presumably much of it is
overwintering insects and eggs, as all the berrys in my garden were
taken weeks ago.

- Tom, Blackmore, SW Essex.

-------------------
Hi Tom, guess that is what I saw this morning then. (see above) I
have just brought my date palm in which has been living outdoors for
a few years but was starting to look a bit speckled. Bamboos have
gone a bit grey but they do that in drought (which we have now)
anyway. Plus, saw a gold crest in a dwarf conifer in the rockery
yesterday, for the first time. More evidence of wildlife starting to
struggle.
Dave- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hello, Dave.

Don't want to go too much OT but some evergreens can suffer (some
terminally) from drought in winter if there is prolonged frost in the
ground, which locks up moisture, accompanied by dry and dessicating
wind. The leaves then scorch, occasionally killing the whole plant.
The effect is sometimes misunderstood, as it's not the classical lack
of hardinesss,where the plant dies because it can't tolerate being
frozen.

Temp. -2.5C here at the moment, and falling.


- Tom.

I forgot to bring my Canary date palm indoors for the winter this year.
Amazingly it is still going, some fronds have died back but the centre is
still alive and well. I may leave it out now for the rest of the winter as
where it is it gets a tiny bit of heat from the house walls, faces south and
also gets warm exhaust fumes from the oil-fired boiler. It is also sheltered
from the very strong east winds we can get up here. I have had it now for
nearly 20 years and it has thrived on neglect, poor thing, it had a bit of a
shock moving to Dartmoor though, he never goes thirsty that's for sure :-)

Will
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