It's been an easy winter for most of US. We've seen no measurable snow this year (not even the freak October storm you got), only a few trace dustings. May get a slushy mix overnight, but the wind blowing off ocean tonight is a blessing as its still 40, while down in Richmond its 33 and snowing.

I wrapped my pindo since it was the first winter, though I'm not sure I want to deal with a large palm I'll probably have to wrap each season. I have seen a photo of a very large pindo (10') down in Bethany Beach, but the owners have it wrapped every year. My gut feeling is to buy a large Birmingham from Gary's in NC and be done with wrapping. I did put plastic buckets over my two small med fans and double frost cloth over the larger one on the two nights in the teens. They look great and have seen two others unprotected in pots out in the country, I'm not too concerned any more.

Your plants always impress. One of these visits to my family in the NYC Jersey burbs I'm gonna pop over to see your garden in the summer!

Thanks Wetsuiter. Just warning you that my garden looks pretty terrible until about early July lol!
Its been a great winter. We got under 6 inches of snow for the whole year (including that terrible october snow storm) which less than usual, but not even the top least snowiest winters (or at least I dont think so). The best part about this winter is all the warm days we had. We got into the 60s several times and 50s were common too. If it wasnt those 3-6 wintery days, January's high temperatures would have probably averaged in the 50s this year!
Good luck with the snow tonight. We completely missed out on that one thankfully, but it seems like your not going to get hit too hard by it either! The ocean is a big help!
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Looks good Alex

Your D.A. is fine-
I would put it in a bigger pot as this will greatly increase the frond size.

Click for weather forecast

Thanks Jim! I'm definitely taking your advice about the Tree fern. I also thought it needed a larger pot, but I was afraid of breaking the roots or something.

Do you think now would be a good time to repot or should I wait until spring when it goes outdoors? I have a lot of bad experiences with Cycads making very irregular fronds indoors and I dont want that to happen to my tree fern too.

-Alex

Great pics, everything looks really good. That livistonia should put out some nice growth this year. Did it receive any protection?

Everything is looking good with the exception of the livistonia you toasted.lol That will teach you not to listen to the weatherchannel! seriouly, hope it recovers for you.

We ended up with our first snow last night. All of my 20 some palms where protected except for 3 trachys which are next to the house. They only had their fronds tied up and the trunks wrapped with burlap. Looks like they came through fine.

Chad,

Alex, understand about July being peak. We'll talk more as that time gets closer. What part of the city you in? Definitely not Manhattan from what I've seen!

We escaped snow accumulation last night. Only a few light snow showers fell, but we stayed on the rain side of the freeze line thanks to a strong ocean wind. We've had no measurable snow this year, just two minor dustings that didn't even get the grass white.

Thanks PJ. The Livistona did recieve protection, but the fronds that touched the edges probably got a bit too cold and thats why they were fried.

Thanks Chadec! The livistona will definitely recover. Last year I had a similar problem. Last year it actually looked great at the end of winter and had no damage (even though it was a cold winter). But then I left it unprotected when it went down to 20F and it was toasted even worse than this year. It made a fast recovery though.
Hopefully that first snowfall was the last one for you!

Wetsuiter, yep we will definitely talk when it gets a bit closer! Glad you didnt really get any snow. Looks like most of the coastal areas got little to no accumulations. The storm was definitely a bit less than forecasted for a lot of areas.

I got a lot of work done in the yard today. I replaced some lights, pruned a few damaged fronds on the palms (didnt prune the livistona yet because the dead fronds will help insulate it if it gets cold again) and cleaned up a bit. The daffodils and tulips are coming up fast. They have already grown since I took the pics! The Tree fern has also grown a bit too since I took a pic of it!
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Daffodils are blooming down here. Saw my first group over in Rehoboth Beach in Mid-January (I posted pics of that), but now the rest of the,area is seeing them bloom a few weeks early. I saw spiarea (sp?) with buds, leaves emerging and some open flowers. The home owners said they've been blooming a little all winter. I also saw a few galardia flowers two weeks ago. Weird.

My daffodils are a little bit behind the other ones around here, maybe because I just planted them last fall, but I havent seen any in bloom here yet. Won;t be too long though hopefully. Its always good to see blooms in Feb since it usually means that spring is very close.

-Alex

Now would be fine Alex....

This way it has plenty of time to heal indoors if needed
while the roots will stay warm.
Should then be in good shape for spring!(-:

Click for weather forecast

Thanks Jim, I'll try to get it done tomorrow if I can since the weather will be nice outside! I'll post pics when its all planted!

I got 2 new plants today! I got a Monstera deliciosa (something I have been looking for a while now) and I got a nice sized Alpinia zerumbet ginger. I'll try to post some pics of them tomorrow!
-Alex

Not bad TZ. I just returned from a long weekend in Myrtle Beach and your garden would compete with those I saw.

Grabbed a few goodies at one of their nurseries too.

Thanks Jacklord! Im sure you found some nice finds in Myrtle Beach! I have never been there, but I've heard of some good nursuries and there are lots of palms around the city!
-Alex

Tons of palms including a few Date Palms.

Grabbed a Camellia, a Pittsotorum, and a Gardenia. Everything was half the price you pay up here.

Your butias look great in my opinion, Alex. You're going to love the Alpinias -- they're wonderful plants indoors or out. I have a bunch of the variegated variety that look great with my faux lava rock ; )

I never thought of growing a Monstera vine outdoors, but they are one of my favorite plants. Do other people do this? How do you protect them? Just cut them down to the ground in winter like a banana and mulch?

I do have some Philodendron 'Hope' plants in my garden. The ones in the courtyard area haven't even died back all the way this year with such mild temps. They still have green leaves and they were just planted in the summer.

What kind of tulips do you have? My wife convinced me to combine bulbs with tropicals in the garden and I think it's a good idea for spring color, since most of the tropicals don't look like much until summer. I got some variegated firespray tulip bulbs from Breck's last fall which look kind of exotic from the pictures -- I'm looking forward to seeing them pop up in the spring.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

-Ben

Very nice plants Jacklord! I am always very jealous to see the prices of tropicals in nursuries down south since they are often half the price (sometimes even less than that) than the prices they go for at nursuries here. There are a few nursuries here that have good prices on the tropical "annuals" (I wish they were not sold just as annuals!) but its hard to find good prices on the hardy subtropicals!

Thanks Ben! Glad that you like the butia! I really like the variegated Alphinas, I see them all the time in Florida and in California and they are really beautiful plants. I wish I can find the variegated ones here, but Im happy that I at least found the green variety since those aren't usually found here either!
The Monstera vine is going to be a potted plant for me. I wish it could grow outdoors, but its way too tropical (Tree Philodendrons might make it with protection though, I always wanted to try them in the ground, but they do well in pots so I guess its easy enough to bring them in). Monsteras are one of my favorite plants also and mine is just starting to get those nice spilt leaves so Im hoping that it will have lots of adult leaves by the end of summer! Your lucky to be able to grow philodendrons in your area, they are a great family of plants!
I fogot the name of the tulips I bought, but I think they are early or mid spring bloomers. I used to not really be crazy about spring blooming plants but like you said, it takes such a long time for the tropical plants to start looking nice so the spring bulbs at least give me something to look forward to (and I dont have to give them any care which is another big plus!).

Thanks for looking! Im going to post pics of my 2 new plants definitely by tomorrow!
-Alex

Here are the 2 new plants I bought. First pic is the Monstera and the second is the ginger! I cant wait to see them growing outdoors!

You can grow philodendrons in z7b too, Alex. Check out these hardy philodendrons.

They're not the split-leaf philodendrons like Monstera; they're more akin to P. selloum. I ordered half a dozen of them from Plant Delights and they're pretty darn cool. Supposedly, they're hardy to 7B, just mulch 'em. Like I said, the ones I planted in my courtyard still have green leaves.

Your new plants look very nice. Hope you enjoy them!

You probably shouldnt have shared that link because now I'm definitely going to end up getting one, lol!
Philodendrons are one of my favorite plants and Im glad that there is one that is relatively hardy! I'll have to give it a try.
What was your lowest temperature so far this winter? Most Philos melt when it gets into the mid 20s.
-Alex

Well, I don't think this winter really tested them -- our lowest was about 24F. My courtyard probably stays a couple degrees warmer than that because it's against the building on one side and protected by a brick wall on the other. The ones I have planted in the front beds died back to the ground along with my cannas, gingers, etc., but I expect them to pop up again in late spring. The ones that are still green in the courtyard got snowed on heavily in January. During the snow, the temps went consistently into the 20's at night for at least a week. Pretty tough for philodendrons.

Thanks for the info! Definitely pretty hardy for a philodendron. I guess the real test will be when a cold winter comes! We definitely get below 24F every winter so I doubt it would be evergreen here even in a good spot!
-Alex

I have been debating whether to try one of those for about a year now.

I am thinking of gettong one too....they are kind of expensive.
maybe if somebody comes across a good deal THEY CAN POST IT HERE(-:

I agree, they are a little bit expensive, but I will definitely get one if they can be found at a good price so if anyone knows where they can be gotten cheap, definitely post!
-Alex