Stephen,
Saw it on last night's news...trucks and cars abandoned on highways, people receiving text messages from employers to stay at home, schools closed.
The feature started with "in a nation almost completely devoid of winter tires and snow-clearing equipment...." 🙄

How are the palms faring?

Barb

How are the palms faring?

Barb

Thats what I want know. Why don't they ever show whats important on the news. 😆

Well for snow my plant collection is ok, CIDP is fine for now, there are some largeish specimens in our peninsula though so theyve seen off some of the lesser cold weve seen in the past.

Trachy well no point in talking about that - if I lost a Trachy I think I'd pack this in.

Musa basjoo is actually still good, I just threw a fleece over it and its dont the job.

The two more tender plants Yucca elephantipes/guatamalensis and Schefflera arboricola showing some small damage but they will probably get through.

We'll see, but its meant to last for a while yet, I just hope we get the frost-free spring we got last year.

I see Floridas getting a pummelling as well?

Sounds like a shoe in stephenprudence for most of what you've mentioned. Frost in the UK causes wide spread panic, but these -5ºC (23ºF) or so temps are little to worry about. You'll be boasting about how well all your plants did this spring.

Cheers, Barrie.

Agree with Barrie.
You're nowhere near as cold as half of North America.

You'll have great snow-on-plant pics for your album!
Barb

On the flip side, we're headed for 12ºC (54ºF) in the next day or so locally.

Cheers, Barrie.

Amazing what a night and continued cold can do.. thing aren't looking so rosy now!

I just examined my Musa basjoo pseudostem (well I didn't really have to examine it too hard), and it's frozen solid and the ice has split it right open through the centre, having very little experience of these I'm not sure what it means for the plants, apparently the roots are seriously hardy but being a small plant I imagine it could die outright?

Yucca has quickly developed dark green and yellow patches on its leaves, which usually mean necrosis in leaves? From what I read that's a killer in plants so I do think my Yucca may have had it.

My Trachy has actually got these dark green patches too, but doesn't look ill as such.

There are a few plants that are fine at the moment, like Pink Jasmine and Passionflower, Cordylines are fine.

The bottom line is that these plants cannot take much more, even though some are okay, they'll be damaged next.

Bring on Spring!

Thanks for the report. How cold was it there that did this?
Not to be a pessimist, but my Passionflower looked great for a few days after our first real cold, but then all the leaves turned brown a few days later.
----------------------------
As an update about Oklahoma, the low last night was merely 6 oF (-14 oC), when winds picked up at 4:30 am and it warmed a few degrees. The forecast was for several degrees colder, so I'm grateful. The air in my Butia hut dropped to 12 oF, so I guess I'm only getting ~5 oF protection to the fronds. The trunk and spear should be safe with the heat tape and burlap.
As for my long-suffering wife, all but one pipe is frozen, and that one is broken. Her back is in pain from hauling water around.

Here in Belize, one of those arctic fronts is hitting now. We're getting rain showers and winds from the north. By Monday morning, it will be 55 oF on the coast, which is very rare.

I'll be back late that night and will let you all know how things look.

Not to be a pessimist,

Growing palms where we do makes us optimists 😆 but reality sucks.

Glad your farm only got to 6F.
The next time we renovate, we're attaching blow dryers to pipes in exterior walls!

The highlands above Mexico city got snow, and Florida's expecting ice pellets by Monday a.m.

Quite the winter for North America...
Safe trip home, Erik.

Barb

Barb,
your post got me wondering how widespread the cold air is. I found this nifty animation on the NOAA website:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/map/images/fnl/sfctmpmer_01a.fnl.anim.html
The first thing I notice, the cold air seems concentrated over areas where people on this forum live!
Second, is anyone trying palms in Greenland? It is unusually warm there right now.
--Erik

Thanks for that cool--rather warm--animation, Erik.
Greenland palms would have to grow really really quickly -- narrow "window" 😆

Strange to see mild weather returning...from the north.
Temps aloft (ski hills) are 5 degrees warmer than valley, darn inversions.

Barb

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jk5yI3rLdORbY-6aXsm6g9U7MBdg

I read a post from a guy on another forum who lives just south of Miami. He had 30ºF (-1ºC) this morning 😯

Cheers, Barrie.

Bizarre weather patterns at the moment hitting places you'd least expect.

A warm up here on the way.. actually in these current conditions I would suggest whatever eastern USA gets, the UK usually does get after - so we're getting the milder weather now, how long will it last though, we'll I guess long enough to unfreeze the ground. Good times.

Could've been a lot worse after a very rare day of rain on frozen ground.
Presto...instant lake in middle of picture on ranch field, hundreds--if not thousands--of ducks appeared out of nowhere.
Traffic cone marks water line break on road last week.

Let this be spring...
Barb