Topic: WIPED OUT

[ACE]

As most of you know, I live in the deep south on the I.W. My garden is relatively frost free, so apart from really expensive plants, which are taken in, the garden has to take pot luck with the weather.

I had designed the main garden to be slightly mediteranian and all has gone well for the last 6 years. All achieved with little micro climates built in. If it did not grow outside all year, I did not want it.

Last night I think I have been wiped out, most of my radio thermometers show a low of -7 sometime in the night. Everything looks a bit sad. I shall venture out later, (lurgy's still got me) and have a look. Meanwhile I had better design a garden for the British weather.

It has been a good experiment, what with the threat of climate change and all that, also I have been lucky with the costs as nearly all my plants are leftovers from garden shows. Otherwise I would be looking at at least £8,000 down the pan.

Oh well! back to herbatious borders. 

[shirlton]

Oh Ace what a disaster. I remember the pics of your garden, The weather at the moment is so cold. I had a bucket of compost freeze inside the GH. Hasnt done that for years. I do hope you find the plants to replace them

[manicscousers]

hope it's not as bad as you fear, Ace..we had the water freeze, inside the chicken shed on monday night, unknown so before  ???

[betula]

How sad.That would break my heart  :(

[Paulines7]

Sorry to hear about your plants Ace and here's hoping you haven't lost them all.

[flowerofshona2007]

Your not far from Me Ace ! and this is the first year in over 10 years the fish have not been fed and we turned the the filter off and the water froze in 20 mins !!!!!

[Robert_Brenchley]

You never know until spring. It's winters like this that really test a plant's hardiness or otherwise. But you may be in for some surprises. Tender gardens in Cornwall came through every harsh winter of the 20th century, and are still thriving.

[Barnowl]

Fingers crossed for you Ace.

If my Californian allspice makes it through this winter would you like some seed?

[ACE]

Sounds like a good plan Barnowl. I think your allspice might be a lot hardier than some of mine. I did have a good look this afternoon. I might be lucky on some as they were not hit by sunlight afterwards. The kumquat was looking sad this morning but has picked up a bit this afternoon. I have tied the palms up with straw so it could be just next years growth that will be missing, all the echiums look as if they have had it. I leave cannas in the ground, but I did cut them all off last month so as long as the ground does not freeze to deep. Brugsmania and bananas look bad but I took the red ones in ages ago along with the strelitzia and oleanders.

The grapes will come through but I bet the bougainvillia has had it, I will wait until spring like Robert has said, then we will see if I still have a garden to rescue.

I know you will all be saying it's my fault for not fleecing. But the idea of the garden was to see if I could do it in England, and I had done for five years.

[flossy]

   Ace, so sorry you may have lost so many plants in your garden,  a bit soul destroying -
   but each year brings new hope and the promise of trying something new,

   Hope you're feeling better soon  --  in the next few weeks we will be spotting new buds,
   on the road to Spring,

   floss x

   

[tonybloke]

I can send you some brugmansia cuttings in the spring, if yer need 'em??
Chin up!! ;)

[Baaaaaaaa]

Sad, but think of all those bugs that also were getting used to mild winters.

Here's to a bug free 2009.

[Garden Manager]

Oh bad luck ACE. :( :( :(

I think this is the trouble with our climate at the moment. it has lured us into a false sense of security  with recent mild winters. We change our gardens and garden habits accordingly then BANG along comes a cold snap like the one we have just had/having and kicks us in the teeth (or perhaps something else if you are a male! lol). I havent got any real exotics in my garden and although i am in the south of england (dorset), my garden is not a particularly warm one. (got down to -8c 2 nights ago).

The recent milder winters have allowed me to become a bit lazy in terms of winter preparations. I dont mulch things for winter protection, nor do i insulate or protect plants in containers as the books and magazine experts suggest. I just havent needed to! Of course these areas/parts of the garden have been the first to suffer the recent freeze up, and in many cases it will not be until the spring and plants start growing again that i will know what has survived and what i need to replace.

I think it is difficult if not impossible to plan and plant our gardens with every climatic eventuality in mind, after all even the mildest and best protected gardens, that have not had a sharp frost for years or decades can fall victim to one freak event that wipes it out. Instead we should try to prevent total disaster by not having all our eggs in one basket so to speak. If you want an exotic garden fine but have a mixture of reliably hardy plants that fit the look alongside those thay might be killed in a bad winter. Likewise plant drought tollerant plants in raised beds to withstand wet, or prepare and plant a bog garden to withstand drought but thrive in the wet.

One final bit of advice, be patient and have hope. The garden migh look bad, as if everything has died, but maybe, just maybe some plants will come back and recover. i have found in the right conditions many tender/borderline hardey plants will cope with more frost that you think. the fact that we havent had much rain recently is encouraging as they do say its cold and wet that kills more than just cold.

On the other hand if it is as bad as it looks (and you have to start over) then see it as an opprtunity to try out new ideas and plants.

Hope this helps

[saddad]

My Echium is still alive... but I'm not holding out much hope...  ::)

[telboy]

Bougainvillia,
My dream plant - in my dreams?
 8)

[saddad]

Bougainvilla... the real reason we don't have a conservatory on the house!!
 :)

[ACE]

Bougainvillia,
My dream plant - in my dreams?
 8)

It only really showed once in five years, but the plant was still growing outside. I 'found' a little plant on a trip to Barcelona, kept it in a pot for a couple of years then took the gamble outside as it was not the most spectacular of colours (rust). My conservatory plant is the magenta colour but it is a filthy plant for indoors, and I would not mind if it died. OH stands guard if I go near it.

[Peasticks]

So sorry ACE  :( Echiums are sods at the best of times! Hopefully some things will bounce back ok - if its the first real cold you have had its worth fleecing as some plants can cope with one or two cold spells but not if it keeps going for too long so you may be able to salvage some things now, its worth a try anyway

I don't blame you for not fleecing in the first place - I don't think any of us expected this cold weather and you ARE in a very good spot I think lots of us will have been caught out (I have lost two bananas)

I used to have a beautiful sub tropical garden in central Bristol, It contained over 10K worth of plants lovingly tended, the lady who bought my house knew nothing about plants - I left her with pages of care notes but I still can't think too hard about what it must look like now  :(

[littlebabybird]

Ace, just found this thread, so sorry,
i was feeling upset about our garden (ryde) but the stuff i have lost is nothing compared to yours
i hope some of it pulls through
lbb

[star]

What a complete bummer ACE :(, lets hope some/most of them pull through. This winter has caught us all on the hop, and it sure is a bad 'un for the IoW to be so cold :-\