No kidding. Buffalo and Fort Erie got lambasted by a winter blizzard last night. The videos were horrible! I've never seen this kind of stupid weather in October before.

Sucks.

We'll be completely closing up the GH this weekend (maybe even today).

I don't know if I should say this, Bihai, but here in West Palm Beach it's about 88F right now and slightly breezy.

Nightime lows are expected to be in the mid 70s ;-) !

Marcelo

Oh I know, Marcello...its 83 here right now, it will actually be in the 80's probably until Thanksgiving...but I am just getting ready. Putting the heater through its paces, ya know, in case of a front later on... our lowest low this week may be about 51. There's not a whole lot of difference between North FL and South FL until after Thanksgiving.

Actually its a relief to be getting something less than 90-95 degrees every day. I can wake up in the morning and actually go run 10-12 miles and not melt into a little puddle on the sidewalk at the 6 mile mark.

Bihai-

Bundle up tonight!

{{gwi:1168412}}

{{gwi:1168413}}

{{gwi:1168415}}

{{gwi:1168416}}

{{gwi:1168418}}

Its only supposed to hit 51 here tonite. Have the GH heater set for 55.

Alright florida people, stop. your killing us! we all have frost up here.

nucci,
you have no idea how many human sacrifices to the sun god it takes to keep these temperatures down here

I know life is hard. I told you before that i am in ft. laud. about 5-6 mos. a year. I live in a condo ( that won't sell) andsee all the great stuff like the coconuts, but can't grow anything there myself, so i pester the landscape commitee. You can grow so many palms and exotics there, but everyone plants the same thing. I would like to see a howea or one of those nice red stem areca (dypsis?) grown there. No imagination, I guess

Nucci, I totally agree with you. In South FL when we are there I am always struck by the cookie cutter landscaping. The only time I ever see really cool stuff is in older neighborhoods without deed restrictions where the homeowners are able to plant what they want. I think the builders and landscapers go with what's cheap and what they can get a deal on.

Here in North FL people are guilty of the same thing. They want stuff that stays up all year long, so they plant azaleas, crape myrtles, giant mondo grass, and viburnims all over the place.

I don;t care if half my stuff goes down in winter, as long as it comes back in Spring, so in addition to my cold hardy plantings I have tons of gingers, brugmansias, aroids and vines that come and go every year. I cultivate that "messy jungle type look" in my yard. Nothings manicured, I do try to keep the leaves raked, the sticks picked up etc, but we have very little grass and I let everything I plant run and spread to its hearts content.

don't you get sick of looking at those leggy half dead crotons too? I do

"You can grow so many palms and exotics there, but everyone plants the same thing. "

Thats because much of the state is subject to periodic cold fronts which can wipe most exotics out.

So, what is usually seen are the plants/palms that can make it long term. Perhaps a tad boring, but most people dont want to have to worry about covering things up, etc.

And...most of us certainly dont have massive geenhouses like Bihai! That is one impressive structure!

FL is also alot more varied than many folks think.

Take a look at this NWS temperature map for 5AM this morning.

It becomes obvious how drastic the differences are, north to south and inland to away from the coasts.

While I was struggling to stay above 60F,the folks down in SE FL were at nearly 80F! (Low in my yard was 61F this AM..my weather station data is at the link below).

{{gwi:1168419}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Weather at Harbor Oaks - Alternate US 19, Tarpon Springs, Florida

cough cough :)

monsonal rain for about 2 days here, lowest temp of the year 62 (and everyone was wearing there jackets!!! )

we should stay just above 70 for at least the next 10 days... give it another 2 months and then we'll be talking winter! btw larry, whered you get that last image? I wish our nws would make good images!!!

hello
Was hoping we'd get just a tad of the cold front or at least drop a bit at night . I have to redo the roof on the shadehouse and I have a bunch of stuff that don't like the blazing sun.. I was going to wait until winter but one section actually let go.. Thank the Lord we had no severe weather this year!!
Bihai After much pondering on the choices I decided to go with open lattice. i think it is the best choice for this location.i can keep the pond and aquarium warm with ease so i'll have a frost proof zone for sure.
I got sloppy the last several years and allowed the plants to grow on the roof. I suspect i'm going to lose a lot of orchids but i have to get it secured.
Wilma took out the small shadehouse,shed and two trees state took my orange trees so i have no shade at all!!
I moved all i could but have no where to put them.
Maybe the wife is right?? I said I needed a greenhouse
and she said "What you need is a lot less plants"lol
I know that can't be right !! gary

Galveston1602, I used to live on Galveston Island in the early 1980's. My (then husband to be) and I went to UTMB. I later worked there in the Burn ICU for several years. I remember the weather there being some of the best except one winter when I was living down on Market Street in a big old Victorian house with 5-6 other students with no central heat (only a space heater) and we got a record freeze to about 23 or 24F. I had this little chihuahua dog at that time and I remember being scared she was gong to actually freeze to death while I was at the hospital!

We are actually back to our regular...of course the brief flash in the pan 50's lasted all of 2 nights. This Saturday my hub and I are running the Micanopy Half Marathon (that's 13 miles) and its supposed to be a balmy 87 that day...would have been so much better to have been 78! Oh well I won't complain, at least I know my heater is functioning properly before it really gets cooler.

Gary, you can just send those orchids this way if you are fearing for their safety! I have made the prime mistake myself of letting a Pyrostegia venusta and a Thunbergia myesorensis grow onto the roof of my greenhouse, they got out thru cracks between the roof and 12 ft sidewall...I will have to severely prune back the Pyro after it blooms in NOvember. I am tempted to let the Thunbergia alone unless it starts to crawl over the roof, its so pretty!