soaphouse's Blog
soaphouse's posts about: freeze
Mar 25, 2008 | 5:20 PM PST
Tags: freeze , frost
We had another spring freeze last night. It got down to about 28 degrees! So, of course, when I heard the forecast, I knew I had to take action. As soon as I got home from work, my hubby and I set out to cover what we could. Hubby was GREAT help and tied together the sheets to go over the azalea bed. We also covered the newly planted tree peony, the hydrangeas, the fruit trees, the lilac, and the japanese maples. I also wanted to cover the larapedulums in the front, but they are huge and I didn't have sheets big enough. Once we had it all covered, hubby said it looked like a homeless camp! Once in got dark, the backyard looked like it was full of ghosts!
As you can imagine, I couldn't wait to get those covers off today and see how everything did! I am very happy to say that everything is OK! Although, the Saucer Magnolia definitely got all its blooms zapped, but we had a chance to enjoy those for a few weeks. Also, the laurapedulums are looking a bit sad, but they will bounce back nicely. I was also a little worried about the uncurling fronds of the autumn ferns, but they look unscathed. Even the daffs made it! Hooray! I am going to keep all those sheets handy in case this happens again before april 15th (our last frost date)
Mar 23, 2008 | 5:22 PM PST
Tags: easter , egg , maple , azalea , lilac , frost , freeze , raised bed , veggie bed , single knock out rose , knockout , creeping phlox
We have had a wonderful Easter weekend in the garden! Yesterday, i was able to sneak away to my favorite local nursery to check out their spring inventory. It was SO exciting! Everything looked so wonderful it was very hard to control myself :) But, I was a good girl and only picked up 2 small single knock outs- hot pink variety and 5 small sized creeping phlox (2 lavender and 3 hot pink).
The knockouts have been on my list for a while. I have been wanting to plant them at the base of the new "sculpture" at the front window seat bed. Not only will they add nice color all season, but they will give some interest to that bed during the winter when all the perennials are dormant:
See them on either side there? I know...they are small now, but luckily those guys are fairly fast growing!
The Creeping Phlox went in the berm in the front yard along side the driveway. I just love the little punches of color and I know they will fill in nicely and provide great weed supression:
That was all done yesterday. Today, after Easter service, we had a wonderful little egg hunt for my daughter in her grandmother's back yard:
She has such a wonderful yard for that and my little girl had so much fun!
When hubby and I got home, he finished up the veggie bed fences - now they are all ready to plant up come April 15th (our last frost date)
Speaking of frost, it is supposed to get down to about 32-34 degrees tonight...not too cold, but enough to make me worry a bit, so I attempted to cover the budding azaleas, my newly planted tree peony, the lilac, and the 3 Japanese maples. I do hope this helps....I guess its worth a try, not sure if I needed to bother but it makes me feel somewhat proactive.
Hope everyone had as nice of an Easter as we were blessed with!
Mar 9, 2008 | 5:13 PM PST
Tags: freeze , frost , saucer , magnolia , daffodil , cut flowers
Well, this happens every year in my neck of the woods. We get all the signs of spring: the warm temps, the afternoon rains, the buds on all the plants. Then, lo and behold we will get a night back down in the 20's and it usually zaps a lot of things. Nothing new here, but none the less...."we" always act surprised. So, last night was that night...I promptly covered up the tender plants and then realized that my saucer magnolia with its hundreds of buds would probably be zapped and never allowed to realize its blooms this year....we brainstormed a bit on creative ways to protect it (but its a big tree) so we set out to take lots of pictures and I took some cutting for a vase to see if I could get some blooms indoors:
Hubby took that picture above....not too shabby :)
I also realized that all my daffodils that I have been enjoying so much would probably get it too...so I shot a pict and cut 20 to take in for a vase:
SO, I am excited to report that when I woke up this morning....everything looked OK!!!! The daffodils are still nice and perky and the buds on the saucer magnolia aren't showing any signs of frost damage. How exciting!!!! And, even better...the branches I brought in full of buds, are starting to open. So, I learned that I can do that and it works and now I get the blooms indoors and out....doesn't get much better that that!
HOORAY!
