Bill I hope you Dont lose anything. Stay warm!!

Mike

Since we are expecting 27 degrees tonight I just went to my favorite nursery in Riverside (yay Parkview!) and bought more freeze cloth. The owner showed me their makeshift plumeria protection for a new acquisition of 80 large plumerias. They have placed 100 watt incandescent bulbs about one foot above the pots every 3-4 feet and then topped it all with shade cloth. They had no damage last night and Riverside did have sub-freezing temperatures. Off to the Home Despot for bulbs we go!

Bill,

It was supposed to be 32 in Simi Valley last night, then mid day yesterday, they changed the prediction to 34. Unfortunately, when I got up I found out it had gone down to 28! A puddle on my block had frozen over. That's amazingly rare!

It's supposed to be colder tonight.

I put more frost cloth, socks on tips, brought more plants inside. Some of the frost cloth I put out up yesterday blew away, so that was no help. I reinforced them today. I really hope I don't lose any plumeria - or palms for that matter. Best to you, Bill and all your plumies, and everyone in Southern California.

Not looking forward to the next couple of nights either.

My plants are too darn big to cover without heroic efforts,
so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed.

It's been an unusual year. Most of my plants still have
most of their leaves and I'm hoping the foliage around the
tips will protect them.

Forcasts have called for morning frost the last couple of
days with temps in the low 30's, but not below freezing.
Haven't seen any frost or freezing though. Tonight's
forecast is for 29 F.

Here's hoping for the best!

All my guys (gals?) are wrapped up in frost cloth. We're also expecting some intense Santa Anas in a few days, which should be interesting. SimiDude - I secure the frost cloth with tall garden stakes, wooden clothespins, and small metal stakes that I use to pin the cloth to the ground, and this keeps them pretty stable.

I looked underneath the frost cloth this afternoon - most everyone is doing ok, although Cal Sal has at least one mushy tip already. Guillot's Sunset, Cindy Schmidt, and Aztec Gold are so far so good. Everyone else is in the greenhouse or indoors. I put a string of incandescent tube lights around the Cal Sal to hopefully keep it a little warmer under there tonight.

But, I mean, really!! There was ice on my windshield when I got up the other day. While surfing this morning, I could see my breath! Thankfully the water is about 10 degrees warmer than the air, but it was weird to get IN the water to warm up!

The weather is so strange. It seems the east coast and west coast changed places. We are going to be in the 70's tomorrow when we should only hit a high in the 40's this time of year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all of you out there and sending warm thoughts. I'm hoping the trees don't have too much damage. It would sure be a shame and painful to see you all lose trees. Please keep up updated. Peg

Hello Everyone!!!!

Just wanted to say that I was thinking of you all in southern CA. I hope that you don't have any damage and that this strange weather will shift and you guys can get back to normal temps.

Like Peg mentioned, we are having unseasonable temps here in Virginia today and they are saying the cold front will pass thru sometime tonight and bring the temps back down to normal.... I have seen some flowers blooming already and even my Pindo palms re sending flower shoots up already. Everything is so confused here... I hope this doesn't kill off the blooms on the cherry trees again this year .

Please keep us updated on everyone and their trees...

Bill... I don't think "psycho" will be phased by this. (Really hoping). :-)

She is one tough tree !!!!

Keep warm and remember to put on socks with those flip flops !

Take care,

Laura

This weather is really strange, that's for sure! Today we were in the high 60's, a good 30-40 degrees above normal. Tomorrow low to mid 30's again:( Oh well, I will take what I can get.

To Bill, Simi, and all our Southern CA growers, I wish you all the best.

Andrew

Bill,

WOW... I hope your patch is ok, didnt think it would get that cold in your area at night. Let me know if you lose anything that I can replace for you. This seems to be an extreme winter for both coasts, luckily my patch has not dropped below 37 so far and it looks like its going to warm up by the end of this week to the upper 70s.

Good luck all and protect your babies.

Cheers

Thanks for the tips, Daogirl, they helped me. You're hardier than most - surfing in this weather! The cold kept me from even the hot tub outside, let alone the entire Pacific Ocean! I'm impressed for sure.

Laura, you're not kidding. Many of us don't even have jackets here, we so rarely use them. I'll look to see if they have any down flip-flops next time I shop!

Thank you very much Andrew for your support, I appreciate it. Last night, it went down to 26 in nearby Northridge, where Island Plumeria is. That's unbelievable. Tomorrow should start warming up, and I'll be able to take the socks off the outside plumeria. They seem to be okay so far. I'm more worried at the moment about my palms - as these may not show ill results until a few days later. The rest of the plumies are staying in the sunroom until March!

Unfortunately, wind storms may be coming now. I lost a Silk Floss tree in the wind a week and a half ago, so not too excited about this.

Thanks to all the non-Californians for your support. We think very little about the weather over here since it doesn't change very much, then when stuff like this happens, we tend to be less prepared. I had an emergency plan, thankfully, but I'm glad it didn't get even worse as I could't have brought in or covered everything!

I hope everyone's plants survived. That same cold front came through TX Saturday. I'm just watching to see if I need actual BTUs or can get by with a fan in the greenhouse the next few nights.

Stay warm ya`ll! Hopefully all the plants will be fine, they are a lot hardier than we think.

All my plumeria, all the ones I know on the island except some seedlings have survived short freezes in the past. It`s the prolonged, hours of below freezing that is a big problem.

Got my fingers crossed for ya`ll!
Tally HO!

Bill,
I'm hoping all your plumerias survive!! Lets look forward to the upcoming 70's weather :)

Chuy

Looks like another cold one for the Ventura/Santa Barbara area. The only thing saving us is the horrible East wind that starts up after midnight and blows off all your sheets. Atleast the air is moving...BUT..I have been told it is the magic number of 38 that a lot of plumies don't like for days in a row. HHMMM, let's see, we are on day 5 of lower than that...fingers crossed, roxanne P.S. is this where the term 3 sheets to the wind came from?

No, the term came from sailing ships, where the "sheets" are the ropes that hold the lower edges of the sails. If all three sheets came loose and were blowing in the wind, the sail would just be flapping and the ship would be lurching around with no way to really steer it. Much like drinking way too much alcohol.

Hey, Bill, any news on your trees yet? My fingers have been crossed for all your babies!

Jen

from experience it takes several days to see any major damage but I think at the moment I do not see any bad except a few black tips. Of course, Psycho started blooming again as if to taunt the cold- such a brat.

just when we thought we were thru it...1 more night of cold and wind...nice weekend coming. Any thought on the ones we have raised from seed in this climate being being stronger to the elements than those shipped in? roxanne

Returned yesterday from a Sun, Mon Tues trip to Palm Desert
to find this. Not a pretty sight, but I'm pretty sure the
leaves protected the tips. We'll know later this year.

Ah. back to shorts and flip flops today- about time. I seemed to have excaped any real damage like qaguy. Hope your plants are fine. you should know in a few weeks or less.

Bill, great news! I would love to see all your trees someday.

It looks like my plumeria all survived, and probably my palms, too (I'll know in a few days). I did not anticipate seeing 28 degree weather here, but hey, I learned a lot from the experience. Just hope it doesn't happen again anytime soon!

I gave a quick look at the plants today and didn't see
any real damage beyond the leaves. Tomorrow, I'll give
them all a real close inspection and see where I stand.

Fingers crossed!

let's all hope the worst is over...is there an advantage to clipping the ugly leaves off now or let them fall off on there own? mahalo, roxanne

Oh Thomas! They look so bad. I'm kind of glad I have to bring mine in so I don't have to worry like that. I guess there is an advantage to growing them in colder climate. Hope they all are ok.
Bill - SimiDude - Glad to hear that yours have made it through. It would be terrible to see the trees die.

Roxanne and everyone else hope yours made it through ok too. Peg

I hope the only problem all of you have is lots of dropped leaves to mulch up with the mower. Glad to hear things are looking up. I have a few more weeks of potential cold (not that it will actually be cold but just the potential to be cold).

Glad everyone made it through! We got down to 38, wind chill of 30. I had the flu and then worked so nothing got to come inside. Plumeria on the backdeck exposed to the full brunt of the wind didn't even drop the new leaves that they decided to sprout. Broomstick rainbow, the variegated ones and several others have not lost a single leaf this winter. Even the peppers are still blooming.

It is now the middle of January, past our freeze date and supposed to be back in mid-60's to 70's the next week. I hate winter!
Tally HO!

Man, my dwarf Singapores look like crap, although most of the tips seem to be okay. Any opinions on whether I should go ahead and clip all the brown floppy leaves? I'm going to cut off all the inflos, since they seem to be shriveled.

Singapores don't like cold/wind , right? I would not cut the inflow off unless you are sure they will not get wet where you cut...infection can set in, right? I have 3 Mele Pa Bowmans that are so happy and still have leaves but I did put a sheet over them when it dipped so lo...we are in Ventura and seem to either have freezing wind from the ocean or from the mountains. But I read that Mele Pa Bowman is not as cold sensitive as the other singapores. I had 2 white Singapores when I 1st started 10 years or so ago and lost them 1 winter when they were in a cold place on the deck. Only know enuf to be dangerous..roxanne

I'm leaving them all on. There was very little damage to the tips
of the plants themselves. I believe the leaves 'took one
for the team' to use a sports metaphor. The leaves sheltered
the tips from the cold.

Going to use the same theory with the brown leaves. They're
still up there providing a shelter from the cold.

Of course, the cold snap is over and the leaves will probably
blow off with the next big windstorm anyway. At least
I won't have to pick them all up at once.

Hi Bill and everyone, although I don't grow plumies anymore I still hop over and read about you and your plants every now and then. I see from Bill's headline it's been cold in Cali!!! Well at the moment we are blanketed in snow, the UK is shivering. Airports, road, rail have all been affected. Been down to -8c here, that's 17.6f!! Just been snowploughing the drifts off the drive so we can get out if necessary. It's no wonder I struggled to grow plumies, but it was fun trying to!!
Regards, Gill.

Hi Gill. Our cold cannot compare with yours. In fact, today was like summer- I paddled 6 miles on Newport Bay and then rode 9 miles on a beach cruiser. Temps close to 80 (26.6C) I always think of you when my alstramerias start to bloom and they are about to go off big time due to the rain. Take care. Bill