Jump to content
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT LOGGING IN ×
  • WELCOME GUEST

    It looks as if you are viewing PalmTalk as an unregistered Guest.

    Please consider registering so as to take better advantage of our vast knowledge base and friendly community.  By registering you will gain access to many features - among them are our powerful Search feature, the ability to Private Message other Users, and be able to post and/or answer questions from all over the world. It is completely free, no “catches,” and you will have complete control over how you wish to use this site.

    PalmTalk is sponsored by the International Palm Society. - an organization dedicated to learning everything about and enjoying palm trees (and their companion plants) while conserving endangered palm species and habitat worldwide. Please take the time to know us all better and register.

    guest Renda04.jpg

How was your winter?


Ed in Houston

Recommended Posts

Here is a short summary of the 2015-16 winter (December, January, February) for Houston Hobby Airport.

                       Highest      Lowest      Avg. High        Avg. Low      T. Departure         Precipitation    P. Departure

December:         83              40               70.6               52.2             +5.8                   3.49                -.54

January:             78              34               63.8               44.2             -0.1                    2.51                -1.36

February:           81              36               71.4               49.7             +3.3                   1.66                -1.55

In summary it was a sunny and mild 10a winter. I will be ordering the same for next winter.

Ed in Houston

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very warm winter here in Austin as well. Bergstrom International (the cold spot) recorded a low of 27F this winter. In town, 34F was the recorded low.

Clay

South Padre Island, Zone 10b until the next vortex.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Warm here as well...

Dec- who cares, wasn't cold

Jan- 36.5 (prob 34 in the open yard)

Feb- 39 

Edited by RedRabbit

Westchase | 9b 10a  ◆  Nokomis | 10a  ◆  St. Petersburg | 10a 10b 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mildest in my decades old memory.   6 inch bananas on the trees.   Unprotected Bougainvillea that never stopped blooming.  Mango and Papaya seedlings in unprotected pots still alive, with leaves.  Tabasco peppers fruited all winter and still going.  I have seen mild ones, but never one this mild.

  • Upvote 3

In my post I sometimes express "my" opinion. Warning, it may differ from "your" opinion. If so, please do not feel insulted, just state your own if you wish. Any data in this post is provided 'as is' and in no event shall I be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, damages resulting from accuracy or lack thereof, insult, or any other damages

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bad winter by San Diego standards. No extreme lows but a lot more sustained chill than last winter, plus some crazy winds that did damage...

Paradise Hills, 4 miles inland, south facing slope in the back, north facing yard in the front

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had a 11/A-11/B winter here in Cape Coral, but as I mentioned in another thread we still had some minor damage which more than likely had to do with the strong cold winds we experienced.

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll use the station from the beach as the official station from the city only records the last 7 days and only makes data for professional use:

Gandia, Spain. Located about 38º 58'N in the Mediterranean Sea. We are at zone 10b/11a, but this year appears like 11a/11b:

                       Highest        Lowest      Avg. High        Avg. Low      Avg. Temperature      Precipitation (mm)   

December:  23.8ºC/74.85F    8.0ºC/46.4F    18.2ºC/64.76F   10.4ºC/50.54F   14.3ºC/57.74F   0.0mm              

January:      24.6ºC /76.28F   5.1ºC/41.18F  18.4ºC/65.12F   11.8ºC/53.24F   15.1ºC/59.18F   1.5mm/0.06in             

February:    24.7ºC/76.46F    4.4ºC/39.93F  18.7ºC/65.67F   11.4ºC/52.52F   15.05ºC/59.09F  6.4mm/0.25in

March (3 days): 25.6ºC/78.1F  9.5ºC/49.1F  21.3ºC/70.34F  12.1ºC/53.78F  16.7ºC/62.06F  0.0mm

I live in Altea, Spain 38°34'N 0º03'O. USDA zone 11a. Coastal microclimate sheltered by mountains. 
The coconuts shown in my avatar are from the Canary Islands, Spain ! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hooray for 10a here on the northwest coast of Florida ............ I am thrilled. This will be the first time since moving into my beach home that we have had a mild winter....we barely touched freezing on a couple  of occasions. Still have banana trees and elephant ears! ..... gonna be some crazy growth this year!

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10a winter here as usual.  What was atypical was the bizarrely warm/hot November/December which literally featured no chilly/cold weather whatsoever.  January and February have been slightly below average, with several near freezing nights and 1-2 nights that were at or just below freezing at my location.  Somewhat widespread frost occurred several times as well.  Many of my zone 10b palms show minor cosmetic cold damage and a few have moderate damage.  The same is the case with many of my other tropical plants in the ground.  Like others have said, I think the cold winds played a role as well as frost formation in open areas.  I only lost one small palm, a Pacific tall Cocos, but it was weakened already.  As of today, my Areca catechu looks rough, but definitely alive.

Overall, not that bad at all when compared to other winters in the past 10-15 years.  Historically speaking, this winter would be considered to be about as warm as they get in my area.

Now my concern is the lack of rain.  It is getting really dry here and no significant rain is in the forecast.  I was hoping for a wet spring.  Oh well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, _Keith said:

Mildest in my decades old memory.   6 inch bananas on the trees.   Unprotected Bougainvillea that never stopped blooming.  Mango and Papaya seedlings in unprotected pots still alive, with leaves.  Tabasco peppers fruited all winter and still going.  I have seen mild ones, but never one this mild.

Wow I can't believe how much warmer it was in Southern Louisiana than the FL Panhandle!

2 hours ago, Alicehunter2000 said:

Hooray for 10a here on the northwest coast of Florida ............ I am thrilled. This will be the first time since moving into my beach home that we have had a mild winter....we barely touched freezing on a couple  of occasions. Still have banana trees and elephant ears! ..... gonna be some crazy growth this year!

Your beach micro-climate saved you. I'm just a little less than 10 miles due north of Destin on the mainland and less than a mile from the bayou. December was 10a (incredible) But then in January it got near/at/or a little(minus the cold night) below freezing close to 10 times with heavy frost with about 5 of those events. Hit 28 degrees 3 or 4 times with the cold night getting to 25 which was disappointing. In all though, this 9b winter was an absolutely wonderful relief from the past two years of high teens. Amazing to think if I had a queen in the ground it would have survived! Didn't have to cover the citrus at all. Philodendron selloum no damage. Strelitzia nicolai only moderate burn, and even though my bananas were very fried, the leaves have already resumed growing at the top: so at least I won't lose their height.

Edited by Opal92
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately, it was worse than normal here in San Diego.  It has been all over the map as far as highs and lows, but we had a severe wind storm followed up by two nights of frost at my place in Oceanside that did a lot of damage.  I've been at my current location for six winters now and this is the first time I have seen palms damaged by cold.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here in New Port Richey, Tampa Bay, coastal Pasco county, it was another 10a winter with two nights at about 34F with light frost in open areas only. Overall, we went below 40F six times. February was chilly but not cold, with many 40;s at night and 60;s for daytime highs. Wet January followed by a normal February but very dry the past 10 days as iun almost zero rainfall. Some of the most wicked, sustained windy weather that persisted for days. No damage on anything. Papayas still fruiting. Mangoes about the size of a golf ball now way up high at 40 plus feet on the tree. My Fishtail towers over the house so no hope of pruning anything on that monster anymore. My Triangle out front has multiple flower branches and ripening seed. Nice specimen at 25 plus feet. Mule Plam trunking nicely. Impatiens blooming all winter long. It is predicted to begin a warm up next week with 80's all week long, so spring has arrived! Rain would be a nice finish. :lol:

Begonias are my thing. I've been growing and selling them for three decades, nearly two in Tampa Bay. NPR is an bhour N of St Pete, coast

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lowest for me all winter was 27F.  That happened once and then there was another night or two at 29F.  Couldn't be happier.  Bananas pushing out new growth already, camellias have been spectacular and loads of great citrus to eat all winter.  I vote for this type of winter every year.  Also, we had tons (no exaggeration) of rain and the Savannah River has been pretty high for months. 

IMG_0590.jpg

Joseph C. Le Vert

Augusta, GA

USA

Zone 8

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic.  The stretch of consecutive freeze free years is now at 6.

  • Upvote 1

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm telling you Ray, it's the new normal.  Orlando officially had 7 years between January 2003 and January 2010 without a freeze.  Then since 2011, we have been as low as 30F, depending on the official reporting station you check, but no significant freezes (below 30F) have occurred in the city.  Perhaps gone are the days where freezes were an annual occurrence?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

I'm telling you Ray, it's the new normal.  Orlando officially had 7 years between January 2003 and January 2010 without a freeze.  Then since 2011, we have been as low as 30F, depending on the official reporting station you check, but no significant freezes (below 30F) have occurred in the city.  Perhaps gone are the days where freezes were an annual occurrence?

I pray you are correct but if you look at the history of bad freezes we often get breaks such as this, then reality hits.  Living through the freezes in the 80's sort of scarred me permanently :D.  Even though that was a bad decade, just look back at history and you will sometimes see long breaks of freezing weather. I just don't want people to be shocked when a bad freeze happens again as it will, unfortunately. So lets enjoy this nice break as long as we can! 

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Palmaceae said:

I pray you are correct but if you look at the history of bad freezes we often get breaks such as this, then reality hits.  Living through the freezes in the 80's sort of scarred me permanently :D.  Even though that was a bad decade, just look back at history and you will sometimes see long breaks of freezing weather. I just don't want people to be shocked when a bad freeze happens again as it will, unfortunately. So lets enjoy this nice break as long as we can! 

I wasn't alive then, but researching and hearing about those 80's freezes scares me: single digits in N. FL!!!!! It's no wonder you look around this area and the only old palms (30+ years old) you see are pindos, sabals, and saw palmettos. I am already coming up in my head what kind of landscape plan I'm going to have making sure the backbone is stuff that can survive a similar freeze. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This winter was also delightful in the sense that while it was a mild 9b, the more northern deciduous trees (flowering pears, maples, cherries, redbuds, etc.) didn't get confused from too much warm temps making them flower in early February or something. The cold came right in the middle of winter with the freezes evenly spaced out through January. Through February plenty of nights well into the 40's for good chilling hours, most things are really waking up about now. Just noticed today buds swelling on dogwoods, and the Chinese elms. Also, a nice mature group of Bradford pears near my place are getting ready to have a spectacular bloom out.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Opal92 said:

I wasn't alive then, but researching and hearing about those 80's freezes scares me: single digits in N. FL!!!!! It's no wonder you look around this area and the only old palms (30+ years old) you see are pindos, sabals, and saw palmettos. I am already coming up in my head what kind of landscape plan I'm going to have making sure the backbone is stuff that can survive a similar freeze. 

:D now I know I am old!

  • Upvote 1

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, palmsOrl said:

I'm telling you Ray, it's the new normal.  Orlando officially had 7 years between January 2003 and January 2010 without a freeze.  Then since 2011, we have been as low as 30F, depending on the official reporting station you check, but no significant freezes (below 30F) have occurred in the city.  Perhaps gone are the days where freezes were an annual occurrence?

Sadly you're dreaming if you think the big freezes are over for good. It's simply a case of very cold air over the arctic (polar vortex type stuff) being timed with a dip in the jet stream and boom! Mid to low 20's. Until the arctic warms there's always going to be a risk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All over the map, everything from cold, windy hailstorm to hot dry summer like conditions,  but mild for the most part.  I think I have frost damage on one plumeria and that is it.  It is kind of weird since none of the others were touched and none of the Bougainvillea ever looked phased, Nepenthes grew right through the winter and is flowering now.  I have a tomato that is still producing from last year. 

Just for fun, the back of the Dypsis pembana spear reads like a map of the cold weather events this winter. each represented by the dark patches on it.  The last one was the big storm that came through at the beginning of Feb.  I observed this same phenomenon on a Dypsis plumosa in my old yard and have not seen this on any other palm.

 

Jan: Rain

Feb: No Rain

Mar: Rain?

20160304_161141_resized.jpg

  • Upvote 1

Carl

Vista, CA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This might be my last warm winter, do for a cold one in a year or two. This years low was colder at 19F in January, 32F twice in February.  I started putting the semi hardy foliage pots out in mid February. And there is so much in bloom right now it awesome, native and otherwise blooming early.  Peach tree is almost ready to bloom, other trees are in full bloom. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here in Escondido the absolute minimum was 31.4 at my place, and about 15 nights in the 30s.  Being 20 miles inland, the daily spread of temps is about 25-30 degrees. Average in December (coldest month)  is 68/41; in August (hottest month) it's 89/63.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, palmsOrl said:

I'm telling you Ray, it's the new normal.  Orlando officially had 7 years between January 2003 and January 2010 without a freeze.  Then since 2011, we have been as low as 30F, depending on the official reporting station you check, but no significant freezes (below 30F) have occurred in the city.  Perhaps gone are the days where freezes were an annual occurrence?

I'm comfortable with thinking Orlando and Tampa probably won't see a temperature below 20f again, but we'll probably see 25f... Unfortunately it doesn't matter too much how warm we are 7yrs in a row if we get down into the mid 20s during the 8th year. Taking climate change into consideration, who can really say for sure.

It is kind of odd to think we all have an interest in global warming. I wouldn't mind if Tampa is at 10b in 20yrs and Miami is at 11b, but I've got a feeling that wouldn't come consequence free. 

  • Upvote 1

Westchase | 9b 10a  ◆  Nokomis | 10a  ◆  St. Petersburg | 10a 10b 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple of winters ago, most of the Great Lakes froze over.  It made big news.  Back in the 1950s-1970s, it was routine for the lakes to freeze.

That is a major climate shift.

Also consider this:  When the Titanic sank in April 12, 1914, the ocean temp in the vicinity was 34*.  Now, at the same time of the year, it

averages 50*.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always tell people the 1980's, much like the 1890's, are the anomaly and not the other way around.  Multiple episodes of temps in the low/mid20's in central Florida and repeated 29-32F temps at Miami's airport are very unusual especially in the span of 10 years.  Of course bad freezes will occur again but I for one am convinced the frequency of these events has decreased.  I looked historically at Tampa's records since 1890 and the last 25 years have unprecedented warmth.  Not by coincidence, this coincides with the warmest global temps in the 150 years or so that we have reliable weather records.  Manmade or not the climate is changing.  It probably won't be immensely noticeable until long after I'm dead and gone but the climate is definitely changing.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

I always tell people the 1980's, much like the 1890's, are the anomaly and not the other way around.  Multiple episodes of temps in the low/mid20's in central Florida and repeated 29-32F temps at Miami's airport are very unusual especially in the span of 10 years.  Of course bad freezes will occur again but I for one am convinced the frequency of these events has decreased.  I looked historically at Tampa's records since 1890 and the last 25 years have unprecedented warmth.  Not by coincidence, this coincides with the warmest global temps in the 150 years or so that we have reliable weather records.  Manmade or not the climate is changing.  It probably won't be immensely noticeable until long after I'm dead and gone but the climate is definitely changing.

Understood, and even though that was not normal, it was normal to me living through those times. It happened before and it will happen again, albeit maybe not as often. There we times like in the 40's and early 50's that people thought wow, we are having some good years, then reality hit. Then same thing after '62, some good years then 1977 hit.  Sure the climate is changing, it always has and always will, we may be on the warmer side of that change but that can change, as it has happened before.

Believe me I am hoping that we stay with the warmer winters, but I have heard this before, even when I moved to Florida in 1980. They said the last big freeze was in '77, we should be good for another decade at least. Living in St Pete trying to grow my collection, was extremely difficult in the 80's. I was involved with Kopsick at the time and it was a tough decade. I was in the City Beautiful Commission in St Pete in the 80's trying to push them to grow more tropical palms, and it did not happen because of the numerous freezes. So that was my reality and not sure how many people on this forum were growing palms in the 80's. Of course during that decade people stopping growing most tropicals and turned to hardier species. During the 80's you could not find a coconut in St Pete except at Kopsick and a couple in very special micoclimates, and I could count them on 1 hand. Dr. Young in Tampa lost a lot of his palms during that decade.

Tom P. (Palmateer) on this forum had his Cuban laurel freeze to the ground and had it removed as he got tired of it looking so bad, even though it looked great before the 80's.

  • Upvote 1

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also wanted to mention I worked at Disney from '90 to '96 in Horticulture. I was the palm and orchid specialist there and was responsible for the Mexico pavilion during the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. I was the main person who decided what would be planted at the new Animal Kingdom in regards to palms. The Animal Kingdom was being built at the time and it was my job to tell the powers at be what palms we could grow and fit with the African theme. A lot got shut down because they all had the memory of the 80's. But now you see many more tropical palms at Disney that were only a dream 20-30 years ago, and those are the palms I was trying to push in the 90's.

Just like now, we all have memories of the last 6 years of nice warm weather weather, so we say sure we can grow these tropicals. But unfortunately we will get hit again, will it be as bad as the 80's, probably not but we can not say for sure as it is out of our control.

  • Upvote 1

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe the earth has a way of maintaining homeostasis.  When it heats up to a certain point, negative feedback will kick in. Warmer oceans means more evaporation, greater cloud cover, until it is enough to limit incoming solar heating leading to a tipping point and reversal to cooling. It may be sudden, and no one knows when (or if) it will happen. When it comes to future freezes in FL, all bets are off.

Edited by displaced_floridian
revision
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Despite the one or two days we bottomed out at/around 34f, I'd agree that this was an easy winter with much more growth than I'd anticipated. Certainly never expected to celebrate Christmas by bbq since it felt more like late June than December.

At the same time, I was glad that it finally cooled off to slow down everything.  

Looking at any damage I'd see traveling to and from work in Sarasota, or just around Bradenton, I'm thinking it was the prolonged episodes of wind that damaged all the local palms and more tender stuff. 

Beyond cosmetic, have to agree with Ray and others that winter 2015-16 was a breeze for Florida. Traveling on the road atm, I've yet to see any real cold damage to palms I have passed along the way. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎3‎/‎2‎/‎2016‎ ‎10‎:‎03‎:‎59‎, Austinpalm said:

Very warm winter here in Austin as well. Bergstrom International (the cold spot) recorded a low of 27F this winter. In town, 34F was the recorded low.

Hey Clay,

I got down to 33.6F here at my place a while back.  I can't imagine that Austin, even with the heat island effect in town could be warmer than my place near the water here in Corpus Christi.  When I was younger, Austin was definitely 8B, and I don't think it was a high end 8B either.

Anyway, on my thread about Coconut Palms in the RGV, Oliver posted photos of his producing Coconut Palm that he planted 10 years ago at his office in Brownsville.  He has gotten 3 viable nuts that sprouted from it over the last 2 years, so now we know that South Texas Coconut Palms can produce viable nuts, at least in the lower part of the RGV.

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Best winter ever for me! In western Puerto Rico at about 900 ft. I need no heat, as the low recorded outside on my porch before dawn was 66 F last September. Next lowest temperature was (many nights) 68 F.

Highest at that spot ( in the shade) was 88 F which I got many times until February. Since then the high probably 85 F.

So only ceiling fans off or on as needed all year round.

Sometimes when it is really "cold" like 70 F or below, I do close the window shutters just to my bedroom at night...

So much better than VA where the average winter low was 20 F and I recall it hitting 0 F one winter. Plus hotter there in the summer.

Plants like the temps here too!

Cindy Adair

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Cindy Adair said:

Best winter ever for me! In western Puerto Rico at about 900 ft. I need no heat, as the low recorded outside on my porch before dawn was 66 F last September. Next lowest temperature was (many nights) 68 F.

Highest at that spot ( in the shade) was 88 F which I got many times until February. Since then the high probably 85 F.

So only ceiling fans off or on as needed all year round.

Sometimes when it is really "cold" like 70 F or below, I do close the window shutters just to my bedroom at night...

So much better than VA where the average winter low was 20 F and I recall it hitting 0 F one winter. Plus hotter there in the summer.

Plants like the temps here too!

Now that is a perfect winter!

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2016‎ ‎8‎:‎20‎:‎33‎, pRoeZa* said:

I'll use the station from the beach as the official station from the city only records the last 7 days and only makes data for professional use:

Gandia, Spain. Located about 38º 58'N in the Mediterranean Sea. We are at zone 10b/11a, but this year appears like 11a/11b:

                       Highest        Lowest      Avg. High        Avg. Low      Avg. Temperature      Precipitation (mm)   

December:  23.8ºC/74.85F    8.0ºC/46.4F    18.2ºC/64.76F   10.4ºC/50.54F   14.3ºC/57.74F   0.0mm              

January:      24.6ºC /76.28F   5.1ºC/41.18F  18.4ºC/65.12F   11.8ºC/53.24F   15.1ºC/59.18F   1.5mm/0.06in             

February:    24.7ºC/76.46F    4.4ºC/39.93F  18.7ºC/65.67F   11.4ºC/52.52F   15.05ºC/59.09F  6.4mm/0.25in

March (3 days): 25.6ºC/78.1F  9.5ºC/49.1F  21.3ºC/70.34F  12.1ºC/53.78F  16.7ºC/62.06F  0.0mm

Proeza,

With normal winter time temps like that you could probably try growing a Jamaican Tall (Atlantic Tall) Coconut Palm in a protected area on the south side of a house or building, especially a two story house, where it could get some protection from winter winds and some good winter time sunshine to help heat it up.

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Proeza,

With normal winter time temps like that you could probably try growing a Jamaican Tall (Atlantic Tall) Coconut Palm in a protected area on the south side of a house or building, especially a two story house, where it could get some protection from winter winds and some good winter time sunshine to help heat it up.

John

I hope to find one in a nursery this Spring or this Summer!

I live in Altea, Spain 38°34'N 0º03'O. USDA zone 11a. Coastal microclimate sheltered by mountains. 
The coconuts shown in my avatar are from the Canary Islands, Spain ! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, pRoeZa* said:

I hope to find one in a nursery this Spring or this Summer!

Proeza,

What are the normal highs and lows in F in areas like Cartagena and Malaga in the winter time?  I Would think that a Jamaican Tall (Atlantic Tall) Coconut Palm would do fairly well there in a good south facing microclimate.

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/3/2016, 1:06:30, Opal92 said:

Wow I can't believe how much warmer it was in Southern Louisiana than the FL Panhandle!

We are generally warmer than the Panhandle for 3-5 degrees, but this was an exceptional year.  Houston is generally 2-4 degrees warmer than here, but not this year.   As I said before, in any give winter it is where the tip of the dip on any given front lands.

In my post I sometimes express "my" opinion. Warning, it may differ from "your" opinion. If so, please do not feel insulted, just state your own if you wish. Any data in this post is provided 'as is' and in no event shall I be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, damages resulting from accuracy or lack thereof, insult, or any other damages

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here in Orange County, CA November was summer like.  December got COLD.  There was no transition between summer and winter and many plants never had time to adjust to cooling temps.

December was rough. Had about 10 days in a row with frost or the threat of frost. Definitely saw damage to Musa, Heliconia and Ensete. Ficus dammaropsis got hit but is growing out pretty fast. Even a Kentiopsis got dinged. 

After December the night temps bounced back up into the upper 40s and low 50s again.  Then suddenly slammed back down again into the 30s for a couple nights that yielded the most frost damage to date.  I was really unprepared for this round 2.

Wind was problem too.  Ensete were heat damaged in summer, then shredded by wind, then frost damaged. They are STARTING to recover now.

After that, lows have been steady at night in the upper 40s and low 50s.  

Many signs the garden is back and winter is done.  Many spears pushing and cracking already.

All in all, a fairly normal winter but with some harsh spikes in cold and wind.  With one cold spike that lasted about 2x longer than normal.

A solid reminder that my microclimate is 10a and this winter lived up to that reality. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2016‎ ‎11‎:‎24‎:‎14‎, Alicehunter2000 said:

Hooray for 10a here on the northwest coast of Florida ............ I am thrilled. This will be the first time since moving into my beach home that we have had a mild winter....we barely touched freezing on a couple  of occasions. Still have banana trees and elephant ears! ..... gonna be some crazy growth this year!

Good for you David, just the year you needed to get some good growth and show the potential of your area. Right now, I'm clinging onto a 9A winter. Very mild. January was pretty much consistently cold. February not so bad and here we are into a mild March.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Nick.....this black stem banana lost its leaves this winter but managed to do this! ...... going to fruit for sure unless we get some freaky freeze this spring.

2016-03-07 18.01.33.jpg

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...