Oh well.

I had a hard frost in the lower elevations of the yard this morning. Gauge close to that area shows we dipped to 34. Gauge under the shadecloth and over the concrete pad on the back porch shows a low of 43.

randy

G.M.,

It almost makes me want to cry....and you and I are in one of the warmer parts of the state!

I noticed that KXII only has us going down into the low 40s in our county but weather.com shows 36 degrees. The low 40s don't bother me, but the possibility of patchy frost which can occur in the mid to upper 30s makes me a little crazy. Many times I have ignored weather predictions of cold in the upper 30s with no frost expected only to wake up with patchy frost on everything. (Must be my low-lying microclimate here by the river.)

The lovely new leaves and about-to-open blooms on my bean plants must be wondering what in the world is going on. I was gearing up to plant pumpkins, summer and winter squash and my many, many varieties of melons this weekend, and a succession planting of beans as well. Now I am hesitating to go ahead with that plan. Our ground still hasn't gotten back to the warm soil temps it was experiencing before last week's cold snap, and this will set it back even more.

I really feel for eveyone in northern Oklahoma who may find snow in their forecast again.

Having had May weather for most of March, I guess now we are having March weather in April. Who knows what we will get in May.

Dawn

This weather is so bizarre I would just rant and rave if it would do any good....LOL.

Gosh almost 7 months of cool or cold weather is just way too much for me!!!

At times I think I am living in the wrong part of the country. I need to live in the deep south. But the humidity over there is hard to take.
Then I think I should live in Arizona but the thought of living in a desert and not being able to have any lush growing things sort of slows that train of thought down.

I have a cousin in Phoenix...perhaps I should go visit her until this mess straightens out? But if I did sure as the world they would get some kind of weird weather there too....LOL.

Guess I will just have to endure like everyone else.

I think I will go see my sis today...if she is at home? She lives in the country and I can sit in her sunroom. look at all of her lush houseplants and pretend it is warm and balmy outside. hahaha.

Surely some day I will be able to stand to get outside and plant or putz around. Do you suppose?

Oh my..this is hard to take. I agree with you Dawn. I would cry too if it would help any. I am so sorry for you with all the planting you need to be doing. This is just terrible. Only a gardener or want-to-be gardener could possibly understand how this weather impacts our lives. ugh. Besides with my health issues it just plain HURTS!

Let's just Rant a little all together and try to get it out of our systems what else can we do? Lol.

Ya'll hang in there!
G.M.

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones". Proverbs 17:22

Last year we had snow in April and it was record highs in the 90's in march. I came across the pictures of the of the snow a few weeks ago........but I vididly remember when we reached record highs in March - we take an annual trip to Eureka Springs in April - and i said to my husband "If its 90's in March imagine what this summer will be like"

Sure enough we had 30+ straight days of 100+ temps

My sister & I were talking about our granny & how she used to talk about the Easter/blackberry freeze........she say "oh honey don't put your tender plants out til after the Easter freeze"

I saw Sat nights low looks like 32. I knew we weren't done with just yet w/cold temps. I have to resist the urge to go buy annuals.........I'll wait another week or two before i pick any up.

Hi Gypsichic!

You know, that reminds me of a phrase I haven't heard in ages and had almost forgotten...blackberry spring.

From what I remember, the blackberry spring was the early warm period when premature warmth made it possble to plant earlier than one should. Often, just like many overly eager gardeners, the wild blackberries would jump the gun and bloom early. Then the cold weather returned. Sounds like this year, doesn't it?

I, too, had a granny who cautioned us to wait for the Easter freeze. I don't always wait for that freeze to come and go, though! I will say that many years we do get an Easter freeze, and sometimes Easter snow, and have for as long as I can remember.

And, no matter what the weather is like, I never really feel "safe" from cool nights until May arrives. That doesn't mean I don't plant early....just that I don't feel like I can stop worrying and watching for late freezes until May gets here.

Like you, I have been eager to plant some warm-season annuals and the weather is not cooperating at all.

Dawn

I know it! and i've been a good girl so far this year and everything!.............lol

I'm trying to be patient and not drool on the plants when i go in somewhere to just look...............lol

I just hope it hurries and warms up. I've had my peonies, portaluca and rose moss sitting in my living room floor by the window for the second week now waiting to plant them. I was thinking of planting them Sunday or Monday but I'm kinda scared to even do that now.

Gypsichic,

I'm glad you have been a good girl so far this year and everything...and what has it gotten you??? Remember that the great Mae West said "Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere else!" LOL

I haven't been as good a you. I have lots of warm season veggies in the ground, but so far I have been able to keep them covered up during the cold spells and they are fine. I do have flats of ornamental peppers as well as edible peppers on the light shelf inside and they are within a week or two of outgrowing that shelf. Hopefully the cold spells will have gone away (far, far away) by then.

I am a little worried that the stores will sell all the good warm-season annuals before I buy mine. I keep checking to make sure they still have the things I want to buy when the weather warms up (as if I could do anything about it if they didn't have any left when I look 'to check'). I guess at that point I could whine and pout and say I knew I should have bought them already and kept them warm inside.

Tmelrose, Are they getting genough sun? Poor things. They are probably pretty eager to get outside and get into the ground too, aren't they. I hate having to keep plants inside when the weather right now is fairly decent but we know bad stuff is looming on the horizon.

Dawn

lol..........its too expensive to be bad and i'm too old!

I don't do veggies just flowers........well sometimes i may do some gp's or ban. peppers in containers but thats about it.

I too am afraid that if i wait i won't get the annuals i want........but i'll risk it i think. I can't imagine that 1-2 weeks will make that much difference.

Merry heart,

I forgot to tell you this morning that we had totally unexpected patchy frost on the grass this morning! I believe we were significantly colder here (in our little microclimate by the river) than y'all were....about 10 degrees colder. Stuff like this is giving me gray hairs.....but you'll never see them, thanks to Miss Clairol.
LOL

Randy,

Don't feel alone. We were also 34 degrees and had a tiny bit of patchy frost. We were forecast to be about 42, so I was not a happy camper. Of course, I had just finally uncovered everything from the cold spell and wouldn't have covered it back up, but still....one plant was damaged. It was a golden wax bean plant and it looks terminally ill now. I guess I will be able to survive losing it, since I have at least 60 more just like it. lol

Our TV forecast for Sat. morning has now dropped from 40 to 38, and our weather.com forecast has dropped from 36 to 35. I need a vacation somewhere sunny and warm.

I hope the rest of y'all are watching the weather closely FRIDAY. Down here in the southern end of the state we have a high probability of severe weather again. I'm hoping we don't have a repeat of the weather some areas had a couple of days ago....funnel clouds which did not touch down and 90 m.p.h. winds.

Dawn

Hello everyone!
I just had a thought for all of you who are concerned about getting the plants you want from the garden centers. I was at Lowes yesterday and they had lots of damaged plants....shelves and shelves of them. Most of the other centers will also have damaged plants as well...so it would seem they will have to get more shipped in. Not everyone went ahead and planted surely? So as long as the stores are able to get more plants I would think/hope they would get more in soon. But be ready when all this weather dies down at last...by then one of two things will happen.....people will by that time be going totally NUTS to get plants and will almost fight over them...or they will all have gotten so disgusted they won't even bother with plants this year...just put out some plastic ones and forget it.....hahaha. I hope the day you all go to get yours it will be the later and you all will have your pick.

Dawn, Gosh I didn't go out to check my outside temps this morning or other mornings either actually.Nor did I go out to see if there was any frost and it may be colder or warmer in my actual yard than the temps they are giving on TV or internet of course. I should put a thermometer out in the yard...in my garden really. I do have one on my patio but it is sheltered and would not be accurate for the temp in my yard.

Yes it sounds like depending on where those two fronts meet tomorrow that will tell us who is to get the action as far as storms. Alan Mitchell said he thinks it may stay further south...like south of the Red River. I am praying already that it just doesn't happen at all. I want it to stay away from here but I don't want it to go to anyone else either. And it is hard to tell just what may happen at all...the forecast on KTEN seemed somewhat vague to me. But he did say it depends on where the two fronts meet up at.

I just want it to all go away and let us all enjoy a warm lovely spring and let spring last a good long time before the intense HEAT comes. I just keep dreaming......hey it is okay to DREAM....hahaha.

I left home today and went to visit my sister. We had lunch and sat in her sun room and I just left my laundry and everything behind. It was good. I should do that more often.

I was going to get a cutting or two from some of her plants and I forgot...so now I will go back soon...hahaha.

Okay you all have a good evening and whatever this weather does please stay SAFE.

Good night.
G.M.

Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah...............

I got out today and moved my pots back under the trees and shrubs for protection, and covered the remaining 2 spindly 4 o'clocks. I need to cover my milkweed seedlings and will do that in the a.m.

I am tired already of moving things around, and the plants are mourning sun and warmth, as am I.

Gypsichic - we need to visit one anothers places in the future since we live so close by, and you and I both do primarily ornamentals. You're probably like me - not enough sun, huh? I have front yard sun, but it goes to my butterfly plants.

Merryheart - someone mentioned on another thread that there are a lot of places having "freeze sales" on their plants. Might find a bargain on something there that just needs a little TLC.

Dawn,

my plants seem to be getting enough sun by the patio door as they're not wilting just yet. I've got them on a little tv table, guess I could start sitting them out back to enjoy the sun during the day and move them back in for the night. I guess I jumped the gun. Thought I'd be planting them by last weekend, now they're becoming houseplants, ha ha.

G.M.

We have had thunder and lightning here for about an hour and now it has begun to rain quite hard. For a few minutes it really sounded like small hail was hitting the window screen, but it is too dark to tell and I didn't run outside to check.

I did notice that the lightning was coming straight at us from the direction of Montague County in Texas and that's the route most of our bad weather follows.

I have a tornado shelter, three weather radios, flashlights, etc. so I am prepared for whatever Mother Nature sends our way. We always need the rain, so I am not going to complain. At least the plant roots will be well-watered before this weekend's cold snap hits.

Hi Susan! I suppose y'all will be a bit colder than us this weekend, since Marietta usually is not the coldest city in the state. The cold fronts are rather tiresome, aren't they.

Tmelrose, it is probably just as well that you didn't get the flowers planted last week, since this weekend's weather is not looking too favorable. I have plants in the ground that are probably wishing they were houseplants on some of these cold nights!

Dawn

morning all

Susan we do indeed need to hookup! You are correct - I have way more shade than sun. The beds on the east side get morning sun and thats about it. The backyard gets filtered sunlight thru the trees.

I'm not complaining about the rain either Dawn - we have desperately needed it for so long! Its just a hassle w/the dogs......although we are working to train the youngest to stand still while mom wipes her feet.

I saw Gary England talking about the upper third of the state was expecting 2" of snow.........of course we're right on that line as usual. We may get snow or only rain - we'll see.

Not to slam the professional weather guessers too much, but you can check mesonet and other services on the web and probably be just as accurate yourself. Television in my opinion is only good for tornadic coverage.

They have consistently missed every big storm that's come through all winter.

Saying all that, I do feel sorry for them. You have to be short a few cards in the deck to want to stand in front of a camera and speculate on what might happen.

With all the technology at their disposal today, you can only be sure when spotters are on location showing us what's really going on.

randy

Hi everyone.

Well, it is cold and rainy here and I guess that's how it will be for the next few days....only maybe even colder and with more rain.

Gypsichic,

I hate to hear that snow is in anyone's forecast again! Usually by mid-April we are pretty safe here, but there's always that slim chance of a freak snowstorm.

One of my 'old rancher' neighbors, who is now 95 years old, insists he has seen snow here in southern Oklahoma in May several times, but I haven't found any published data to back that up. No one else around here remembers that snow, but then no one else is quite his age either. :)

Randy,

I never take what the professional guessers say too seriously. I just use it as a jumping off point to figure out what I think is going to happen. The weather at our location is usually 'worse' than what they are forecasting, so I consider their forecasts to be the 'best possible weather scenario' and then I prepare myself for the 'worst possible weather scenario'.

I am a mesonet maniac. I am constantly on it researching weather and climate data. I just love the mesonet. Our mesonet station is only a few miles from our house, as the crow flies, and our NWS cooperative observer is just a mile or so away. Their actual numbers tend to be very close to mine most of the time, but I have 4 outdoor thermometers, 2 barometers and 2 rain gauges, and I track our weather myself so I will know exactly what happens here.

I love my weather radios too. I have one set for the Ardmore station and one set for the Gainesville, TX station. About 80% of the time our weather is more like Gainesville's than Ardmore's.

I do use our TV station's pan evaporation rate numbers in the hot months to help me keep track of how much moisture we're 'losing' daily. I can't do pan evaporation rates here, because the frogs, birds, cats and dogs think any pan of water set out is for them and that skews the rates. Oh, and the racoons think the pan of water is for them to wash their food in (you can tell this by the debris they leave behind).

All the member of our volunteer fire department get on those radios and track storm movement and conditions, rotation, etc. So, there I am sitting in the tornado shelter alone at those times, and DH and DS are out stormspotting.

Hoping the weather is kind to us these next few days!

Dawn

those weather guys maybe wrong alot but i'd take their salary to be wrong in front of cameras!

lol

Me too. I've always wondered, though, if they are ever embarassed and feel like they owe us apologies for the forecasts.

I realize they are looking at various computer models and are trying to guess which model is giving the results that are most likely to occur, but still.....

I am thinking we may get rain here, but don't think we'll get violent weather like the local guys have been saying. Usually, for violent weather we need a certain amount of daytime heating to stir up some instability and we aren't getting any daytime heating here to speak of. Maybe the cold front got here earlier than they expected.

We have been having light drizzly rain all day. No sunshine for us.

My DH says the skies in Dallas have looked ugly all day and hail figures big in their forecast down there. I hope all that hail and stuff stays in Texas.

I don't know what time it started raining but its been pouring down here in the city off & on since about 7:30 am.

veryyyyyyyyy cool out

I have to appologize to all of you... it's probably my fault... when we moved to San Diego, we had the heaviest rainfalls in history the 1st two years we were there. We lived just north of the city, in the desert, one month after we moved in we had the first snowfall in 20 years.... I'm afraid I may have brought it with me... I'm sorry :))

Bizydiggin

We were in the worst drought since the dust bowl. Guess your timing was just right. :-)

Bizydiggin,

Well, then, could you move to southern Oklahoma and bring some rain with you in about mid- to late-July when our annual summer drought is becoming truly unbearable?

And, just in case no one warned you, Oklahoma weather (at least in my part of the state) is really just one long drought that is only occasionally interrupted by a flash flood or freak snowstorm.

At least it is never dull here.

Dawn

I can say for certain, we haven't had, nor do we usually have this much rain ever in a year's time!

I remember weather forecasts from when I was a young gal living in Kansas, and with all the advanced technology and the NOWA in Norman, they still are unable to be any more accurate in the forecasts to this day! Just goes to show you that Mother Nature will NEVER be predictable.

I'm certain I can give you some starts of things if you need any, Gypsichic! Is there anything in particular you have been lusting after?

Dawn, my old boss in Norman hailed from Marietta. His name was David Rambo. Hee Hee. I know - I worked for him a long time before the movie ever came out, and when it did, he caught a lot of flack!

I have to divulge something about Randy - he is secretly harboring Monarch caterpillars! Yeah, Randy!

Susan

Susan

That was our little secret. :-)

{{gwi:459588}}

randy

Well, now you know - it's hard for me to keep secrets! LOL! BTW, Amber is going to be amazed at how fast these little guys grow.

Brrrr - cold here this morning at 36*! Darn, darn, darn. When am I going to be able to get out again? Sunday, maybe, depending on the accuracy of the forecast once again.

Ah, well, I'll just read some gardening books today.

Susan

Hi Y'all! Was 37 degrees here this morning and it is almost noon and it has only made it up to 39 degrees! I worry about the hummers I see at the feeder....how much cold can they take? Oh, well, warm weather is just around the corner once we get through this cold weekend. (That is precisely what I said last weekend, and I believed it at the time that I said it!)

Randy, Those cats are growing fast. Amber is going to enjoy that project so much!!!!

For what it is worth, the weather here is much more cold than forecast, but that has been true at our place all this week, so it isn't a big surprise. The forecast is for 36 degrees tonight, so I am expecting it to go down to at least 32 to 34 degrees.

I want our nice weather back!

Dawn

Dawn

It was 34 here at daylight.

Low here will be about 33 in the morning they say. Winds are supposed to lay down with clear skies, so it will really be more like 24-26 degrees.

May collect some more monarch eggs this afternoon.

I'm ready for a decent gradual warm up.

randy

let me tell you that north wind blowing is not groovy!

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

ran to the grocery store earlier and that wind cuts thru quick

Susan - sure i'll take some starts! I'm lusting after anything shade and obviously drought tolerant ..........lol
I have lots of space to fill in a couple of my beds.

right now i've got
jack and firecracker clematis' growing well
autumn sedum
several columbines
several hostas
2 hydrangeas - 2nd yr for both
a few lillies scattered here and there
astilbes
mums
maybe some elephant ears........we'll see if they come back again
toad lillies
jap. painted fern

I have one bed thats about oh 15-20' long and 2-3' wide running down my fence that has nothing it in yet. Its part of the pathway between the houses so it doesn't get a great of sun at all from the 2 story next door.

Hi All
Well it is another bad day for a gardener and his or her plants huh? They are saying 37 here tonight but I am not feeling trusting of that so as a precaution the plants are getting covered AGAIN...this is getting ridiculous.

At least we didn't get the storms last night. That is great.

Do you all think this will be the last of the cold now? Will it now get to be spring or will it suddenly turn summer? Or will it keep going back and forth? hahaha. My poor plants are so ready to go in the ground and I am so ready for them to go there too.

But for right now I am sipping some of the best hot chocolate and taking some time to just relax and enjoy myself. Hey it will get busy enough soon.
Have a good evening.
G.M.

Gypsichic, I can share a division of Hosta 'Blue Angel', and Hosta 'Sum & Substance' if you can help me dig it up.

I have some lysimachia, creeping jenny, groundcover (the lime green color) also.

I also have some begonia grandis evansiana tubers I can dig up (not hard) for you that is a beautiful shade plant. Has green angel wings with red undersides, and blooms pink panicles of blossoms in late summer.

I also have some sucker growth on my Itea virginica 'Little Henry' which is a good shade shrub. It is about to bloom - blooms in spring, and turns red in the fall.

I have some Hedera helix 'Goldheart", which is not invasive, but looks pretty in the shade. Can give you a start of that.

Also have: Adenophora (Lady Bells), campanula 'Elizabeth', eupatorium coelistinum (Greg's mistflower) (will grow in sun or shade, and has purplish blue mistflower-type blooms in fall). Butterflies love it, too.

Have Joe Pye Weed (eupatorium maculata 'Gateway') - gets pretty tall - about 5-6'. Will bloom in part shade, but needs staking.

Do you have room for a plant that gets huge?? Let me know.

Oh, also have some petasites japonica variegata - very pretty shade plant. Gets kind of sad looking when it's hot here, but looks so gorgeous in spring and fall.

Have another lime green hosta - may be 'June', but not sure.

I have some ginger mint if you want to grow some in a pot. It is variegated yellow/green.

Also, garlic chives if you want a start of them, too.

Monarda - it's either fistulosa or didyma, but it blooms with hot pink blossoms that the hummingbirds and butterflies love. It will be okay in part shade, too.

I also can give you a start of Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue'. It will bloom in part shade also. Very pretty spiky blooms that are a purplish-blue.

Another Monarda that is red.

We can just dig and gab. And I have tons of seeds if you would like some. Some are Japanese Morning GLories that I just don't have anywhere to plant right now. They take more shade than other MGs.

Susan

how wide does the joe pye weed get? 5-6' tall wouldn't a problem

oh and same for the monardas ........ how tall/wide

the rest would be ok.........and yes i can help you dig

I'm in the midst of trip planning right now, how about i det with you the week we get home so we can set up a definite plan - and dare i say see how the weather is
shoot by then we could be in a blizzard...........lol

Well, the way it grows is it sends up shoots from the base of the plant each year. After 4 years, my shoots encompass about a 24" area. However, as they grow, the stems get bigger and the foliage gets bigger, and the flower heads are definitely good-sized, so it looks like you have a really broad spreading plant - maybe about 5'.

One of my monardas (didyma) gets about 2-3' tall. It does spread as well, by runners. You might want to confine it to a pot, but when I grew it in a pot it never flowered, so I put it in the ground. Spread depends on how much the plant has spread - you can see when you come over. My other monarda is supposed to get about 18-20" tall, and seems a bit better behaved.

Sounds like a good plan and hope you have a nice trip!

Susan

Just thought I would let you guys know, I just got back from Kansas and there was two inches of snow Friday night. My daughter is a beginner and she is very upset cause her newly established shade garden froze to the ground. I spent today trying to help her and tell her everything was okay. She has quite a few blooming trees and they look awful.

So I am not saying a bad word about the weather here, it could be worse. She had been living in Southern Ca. for quite a few years and of course had beautiful easy care gardens so now she is going through a period of adjustment.

But when I got home everything here was just fine so I really dont know how cold it got here but snow on April 14th is a bit of a shock even for us old timers.

Well, traveled all evening and now I am going to take a quick shower and head for my own bed. Chat later.

Steffie

Hi Steffie,

Your poor daughter! What a shock.....going from gardening in southern California to gardening in Kansas. I'm guessing the period of adjustment will be painful.

We've already had our 'worst' April weather I hope, and I'm expecting it to only get better for us from this point on.
Maybe this time we are really and truly through with the cold weather. My 10-day forecast looks really good after tonight is over. I hope yours does too.

Dawn