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 > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@mailman1.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@mailman1.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/