Re: first frost
Well, my rebloom may be over (not sure yet). I had below 30F both Sunday
morning and this morning near Belen, NM. A month earlier than two years
ago. I can't remember the date last year, but I think it was in mid
November.
I had 85F in the yard on Friday afternoon; by midnight it was 65F, by
7:00AM it was still over 50F. I was thinking something like "yeah right -
the forcasters blew it again - gonna be 85 again today - they never get it
right in October. They had forcast a high of about 60F and a low Sunday
morning of about 29F.
Then a few minutes later the wind started up (again!). This was no normal
wind. By 8:00AM it was 38F and hung between there and 35F for the rest of
the day, with about 70mph winds (no heat in the house yet; it was COLD). I
was hauling house plants in, digging space heaters out of the basement,
draining irrigation, and ignoring the poor Iris, Mums, Daylilies, and
whatever else had flowers. By 10:00PM it was to 30F and seemed to stay
there all night (but there was 1/4 inch on water outside the front door).
The wind finally quite almost exactly 24 hours after it quite, and it
warmed to about 65F on Sunday, but not enough to keep it from reaching 28F
by this morning (funny, no ice this morning). Well they did miss the high
on Saturday. It was 65F at my house - at midnight.
The Sunflowers in front of the house look fine, the ones behind are black.
The Mums look sort of kind of OK, but aren't as pretty as on Friday. The
butterflies don't seem to mind though, the Mums were covered with Painted
Ladies and Buckeyes by Sunday afternoon. The Rosemary and Lavender didn't
even notice that it got cold, and are still covered in flowers. The fig
bush (it's trying to be a tree - but in this windy place - well) is sort of
a crispy crinkly gray now. Usually the leaes turn yellow with brown
stripes and fall off before it freezes; this year it thought it was still
summer, and was in full growth.
This morning the flowers on 'Black Magic' and 'Eleanor Roosevelt' didn't
look too good, I think more from the wind than the cold, but it's hard to
tell for sure. Plus, two days ago, an invasion of Cucumber Beetles had
eaten wholes through all the remaining Iris buds. Don't think there are
any new buds coming out there now. So, the Iris season has come to an
abrupt hault me thinks?
Yes, I know, this doen's sound so bad to you northerners, but it sure
caught me off guard. Luckily not too off guard.
Should warm up again (always does), at least for a while, so maybe they'll
be a few more surprises this season?
Nice day today, probably will be in the mid 70's. Finally some nice autumn
weather. I guess summer just ended.
Dave
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