Surprising survivors

Garak garak@code-garak.de
Sun, 30 Apr 2017 23:58:17 PDT
Hi All,

In southern Germany, we've had a rather mad winter as well - after first 
frost in mid November, December was average, with the occasional -5°C at 
night, but the January hit hard, reaching down to -16°C at night and 
sometimes -5°C as maximum day temperature - all of that with only 5-10 
cm snow cover. that conditions with only rarely a day above freezing and 
double digit minus at night held for about 3 weeks. That was followed by 
a mild February and an outright hot end of March and beginning of April 
(several days scratching the "summer day" mark of 25°C) so everything 
exploded out of the ground - just to be cut down by three frost nights 
last week. -4 °C cut down a lot of formerly lush green foliage to black 
slush. It was quite an active Winter, having to heat the normally 
unheated stone mason atelier i use as a hibernation place, and moving 
plants in and out several times. At least this saved my very first 
Kniphofia sarmentosa flower.

Actually, I don't think i have lost much on the bulb front, even Allium 
schubertii is in budding stage now, and they're said to be critical in 
my area. Rhodophiala bifida is well, too. Freesia laxa didn't make it, 
even though protected by a wall, but that was only an experiment anyway, 
hoping for another mild winter like the three before. I'm still waiting 
for my wall-protected Mirabilis jalappa, but I think i'll have to rely 
on the seedlings this year. The Alstromeria lightu salter's hybrids 
didn't only just survive, they appeared at places several meters away 
from their place. it's only their third year, so i'll have to ask: are 
they capable of sending runners  2m away or did I clear seed pots I 
thought to be a loss? Speaking of surprise seeds: I have some aroid 
seedlings at places at which I know I have emptied pots - Let's see what 
those will be, as i have a few candidates in Arum or Arisaema - as these 
seedlings survived the frost attack, i don't think they're Zantedescias...

Survival isn't everything, though: while both Moraea polystachia (in the 
atelier) and M vegeta (both atelier and wall protected outdoor) have set 
buds, the polystachya only opened the first few in late october, while 
those later on showed color but died away without opening. the vegetas 
now do the same, unfortunately trying to start to flower just in time 
for the late frosts (of which I protected them, of course). Can anyone 
tell me if it's light or temperature that they miss? I'm still hoping 
for the outdoor vegetas, as they are several weeks later than those in 
the pot.

The non-bulbs have been less lucky - I can only hope the actinidias and 
the Sichuan pepper will regrow, and there will be no quinces, apples or 
walnuts this year, all of them victims of the late frost. Interestingly, 
the late frost seems to kill of mostly asians, as the Tropaeolum 
speciosum wasn't impressed at all, even though in full leaf. The deep 
freeze january has cut a Berkheya purpurea (south african thistle-like) 
down, but they seem to return from the rootstock now - making them a 
honorary geophyte i guess.

-- 
Martin
----------------------------------------------
Southern Germany
Likely zone 7a


Am 30.04.2017 um 19:57 schrieb Jane McGary:
>
> Have you had any pleasant surprises like these? Let us know.
>
> Jane McGary
>
> Portland, Oregon, USA
>
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