RC must have left the gate down again.
;-)
J.D.

Marlingardener: You didn't move far enough south :) I've had snow a couple times already in the last ten years. Being south of Austin still doesn't help. Looks like this Friday both of us may see some of the white stuff and I am headed to the Wildflower Center that day to set up for a show with my wife this weekend. Wildflower Art is her specialty and they bloom through night, snow, heat or drought. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Yee Haw could get a little slippery and nippy ta boot. At least it doesn't last long. Stay warm... turn up the heat... and stay of the street!!:) Happy Growing David

That is what I said, too, JD......... I think it is ALL Richard's fault for not building a better fence than a barbed wire one .... one that would keep this stuff up there.

Pam, beautiful pics

Our heater went out and we have been doing research for a new one. Yesterday, I got pics from a cousin and Carrie from up there with snow. It made me colder just looking at them, lol

Jolana...that's not your HOUSE heat, is it? We had our first freeze of the season...30.4°. Unfortunately, it is going lower than the NWS forecast for our area every night lately. So the 25° they're forcasting for Friday night/Saturday a.m. here may go lower also! Ouch!

Linda, Tammy just sent me a link predicting an inch of snow for San Antonio! Yikes ...

Here is a link that might be useful: 25 degrees and snow for S.A.

LOL, yes Linda our house heat.
Roselee, the computer forecast is showing you will get it, even if we don't. According to a couple of stations, it might dissipate before hitting us (here).
Not too many flowers after tomorrow night snow or not,

Jolana, do y'all at least have a fireplace? We finally turned our heater on Thanksgiving night and I'm glad we did! My son works in HVAC, want me to send him down? ;-)

Pam

HAHAHA, yeah we have a FP we have 3 contractors lined up. We start getting their bids tonight
I was laughing with someone about how the hotflashes never show up when you are cold, LOL
We'll be fine. It is just going to be maybe one day that is going to be chilly. It will be an adventure

I actually miss the hot flashes now that it's cold ;-)

Maybe if I stop taking my premarin.....
We just have one space heater right now. The gas jets all melted in the fire and are capped off. So the plumber has to come and replace pipes that rusted in Ike and things that melted. The bathrooms are warm-electric space heaters and the bed had electric blanket AND electric mattress pad. The plumber is in detox this week!
Tally HO!

*Giggle ~ snort ~ guffaw!* Y'all are too funny with your talk of "personal summers". I'm still looking forward to that.

And to snow! I was all excited earlier this morning when they were talking about an inch or two! I couldn't wait to see the animals running around in the pastures, full of vim and vinegar, racing through the snow. What a letdown when I heard on the five o'clock news that there'll only be half an inch after all. No snow day for me. :(!!!

Aww Knittlin, what do those weathermen know, lol
I hope you get your snow!!!!

Speaking of personal summer.... I was at the store today in the checkout line enjoying my "beach moment" waiting to go outdoors while DREADING putting on my coat!

I got all my plants in tonight which took no less than three hours. :(

They're predicting 25° here tonight in the land of no frosts. My husband and I spent the better part of Wednesday and part of yesterday bringing plants in to the hoop house. Tomorrow I'll start the process of wrapping in sheets the hibiscus, brug, clerodendrum and bougainvilleas that are planted in the ground.
The inside of my hoop house
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E->W
N side
E->W
S side
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W->E
N side
W->E
S side

I got things covered up in my vegetable garden. I will see how things work out. I had so much food ready for eating. I even brought in my Epiphyllum. This spring I put her into a smaller pot and cuther down so I would be able to put her up on that cabinet.. She was just way too big. I still keep thinking that plant is going to break out in song or something. The "kitchen" is a alcove off our unheated woodshop. We are still "camping out"

It's been snowing here all morning. They are predicting the temp. to drop to 26 deg. tonight. If it does, that will be the coldest it's been since I started my garden in '05. Oh well, they are only plants, not puppies.
Jim

Flurries off and on since 8 AM this morning here in Cypress, just starting to look more steady now.

I had thought I'd leave everything to chance, but broke down and covered the edible Passion Fruit and 3 of my orange trees we just got into the ground last weekend! I pulled a few pots up closer to the house. Noticed my Mexican Flame Vine I started from a cutting last spring has its first bloom today and the one BossJim gave me at the Mercer Swap is budding out...

Now I'm just hoping tonight's swim meet up at Magnolia gets cancelled soon, so I don't have to think about getting back out in this!

Bobbi

Jim, that is a degree colder than what we are supposed to get
DD texted and told me about the snow down there.
I had just come in from finishing up outside. Trying to thaw my toes and as I ma typing I see DH trekking the Christmas tree in. I guess he doesn't like me resting, lol
Y'all take care out there

It's a winder wonderland in Pearland (if you squint). Somebody has built a four-foot high snow person next to the mailbox. It was snowing early at Texas Medical Center on a forteenth floor where I work. Three people were already snowed in and decided not to come. I needed to come home at 11 because my vanpool was leaving early. A lot of slush on sides of the roads and it looks like it will be very slick tonight and tomorrow morning.

If temperature does go down tonight to below 28 degrees it will be the coldest temperature since I've moved to Texas 11 years ago. Citrus are hardy down to 25, but winter squash is toast. I guess its winter squash gratin for dinner tomorrow.

Snowflakes in Hollywood Park (SA)! They came down a few minutes ago and by the time we got the camera they were gone. We have been working for two days to get ready for this freeze and I see it's going to warm up next week.

It has been snowing on and off for a few hours now (1:30PM) We have a nice ground cover and the children in the area are out playing as they got to come home from school. We picked all our satsumas last night as I didn't want to try it in this mess. So now I have pictures from both snows in this area since 1980. I was near San Antonio when they got their 18 inches many years ago. The Then Mayor wanted to buy a couple hundred dump trucks with snow plows. They were having 100 accidents per hour for a while during their rush hour.
We Brought in some plants to protect from this evening freeze. Had to prune my Confederate Rose just in case as the snow alone could break some branches off just by all that extra weight.
Paul

It snowed here and it is done with. I got pictures and that is about it.

Well, Jolana, we got a little bit. For a while there it was almost a blizzard ~ too cool! But it didn't last long. :*( I was able to get a little video of it though, looking into the chicken house and the chooks all tucked in for the cold.

And the garden tucked as well (roommate Helen went a little wild with the row cover ;).
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Shirley, I didn't even see one flake and I was watching! The sun is shining now. I think the weather men trump up the snow possibilities to boost viewership and ratings!!!

Anyway my greenhouse is crammed and I covered up a few things outside for the expected freeze tonight. Had to take apart and clean wasp nests out of the GH heater since we hadn't used it in two years.

Loved seeing ALL the pictures starting with PK's and the comfy chicken video! :-) ! But there will be no snow pictures from here ...

The Chalice vine has dozens and dozens of buds. I hope that they don't ALL get nipped.
Jim

Linda, cute chickens. Looks like you got more than we did here. I was so looking forward to it. I made bread and everything! That smell is so nice on a wintery day.

:-( boohoo

Jim I know what you mean, ours are all covered with blooms, so are the brugs, the hibiscus, etc.
It's not snowing here but is on the causeway. I've never driven in snow and am not looking forward to it today! At least I don't have far to go. The other Jim called me around 0900, it was snowing heavily at his work on Dixie Farm Road. Last night drug in the hoyas and a few other things. BLECH!
Tally HO!

rock_oak_deer wrote:

I see it's going to warm up next week

That's the bad thing about getting ready for 'winter' here, it only lasts for hours at a time and then you have to unwrap/uncover everything so it doesn't suffocate or cook.

I got jipped!!! Jipped, I tell you!!! Here I was, all ready and settled in for a snow day ~ freezer full (it usually is), dip bucket ready by the well (in case the pipes froze), garden covered (and how), chickens tucked in (I fluffed up an entire bale of hale in there for them to burrow in), one in the soup pot boiling on the stove (not one of the ones in the pic, I swear), buffet in the barn for the horses (spent a few hours on that and the chickens day before yesterday), camera batteries charged (fully) and a six pack of Beck's in the fridge. All ready. And ... and ... and ... NOTHING! I'm not real happy with my local weathermen and women right now ~ am sitting here putting the six pack to good use, plotting their comeuppance...

They let my snow get away and go to Houston!!!

Glad y'all liked the video, though. :) I should have taken a longer one I see now. It was longer originally, but somehow it got shortened when I uploaded it. Ach ~ I'm a newbie.

OK

Great pics y'all and Knittlin, I love the video.
You didn't get as much as Houston but lots more than the nada we got, lol
It's a good thing you addressed the one in the pot, because that was the first thing I thought, hehehe
Winter hasn't even officially started yet, hang in there, lol
Use at least one of the Beck's for calming not comeuppance, lol Because the weather people seem to do real well with tornado info, LOL

Ach! I'm freezing already from running to the green house and back to check on the heater. Those pictures just make me colder. Just as well it didn't snow ... I guess. But thanks for the pictures just downwind (shivering) from Knittlin! Gonna' go drink some hot chocolate now. LOL

Richard and a bunch of others are probably laughing at us making so much over of a few snow flakes. I know my brother in law in Vermont would be. Oh well ... snow is a rare and unusual occurrence for most of us so we make the most of it. Hahaha!

Neat pictures! Knittlin's chickens look cozy for sure (so does the garden) ! Wow, it was a blizzard at Wantonamara's! Good to have a video record of such a rare event!

Stay snuggly all!

Pam

It snowed about 8 hours yesterday in West Columbia but it wouldn't stick it was not cold enough but had a beautiful white frost this morning.

I was totally prepared, or at least I thought I was. Most of my plants froze! Good thing I watered real good.
I am just sick about it, I have never had plants freeze on me before.
I feel sure they will all come back in the spring, but the begonias, hibiscus and others were just blooming thier leaves off! Now thier leaves are off.
My baby brugs are snug and warm in the living room.

texasfern wrote:

Most of my plants froze!

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Fourteen degrees!!! That's how cold it was on my porch this morning at 7am, can you believe it?! Bet the *$&%^#% fleas I've been battling for the last couple months didn't like that one bit. Bwahahahaha!!!

The kale and cabbage didn't mind it, though. They're all sparkly and everything. :)

"I made bread and everything!" That's why the snow missed me! I wasn't ready! I forgot to bake bread! So, Tammy, was it good? Stupid question ~ it's homemade bread ~ of course it's good. I haven't baked bread in so long, atleast a couple months. I need to do that soon.

Hey, Wanton, that's exactly what my pastures looked like. I was an idgit and didn't get pics of that ~ just the little flurries beforehand.

"Winter hasn't even officially started yet, hang in there, lol " You're right, Jolana! Thanks for giving me my snow-hope back. The weather's been crazy enough this year that we just might have another snow coming. Atleast that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Texasfern, are you new to zone 8? Your begonias are likely toast, along with the hibiscus if it was the tropical variety. Brugs come back for me, so those might not be completely gone yet.

:-) Yeah Linda, it was good. I have this great cook book for bread.

At least all that effort you went to was not a waste of time. It was needed, after all. You just didn't get your snow reward. :-( It was really frosty here this a.m. Looked like a winter wonderland for a bit.

A couple of my salvias froze. I sure hope they come back!!

Wow, you all got colder than up here...our low yesterday was only 25 degrees!

Texasfern, good that you saved the brug babies. My begonias are mush and my tropical hibiscus is right here next to the desk, where I brought it when we started getting cold a few weeks ago.

Knittlin, those brassicas look beautiful with their sparkles!

trsinc, which salvias? I have several that go dormant and return in the spring.

Pam

Pam, the two that froze were S. Mexicana and S. Involucrata (Rosebud Salvia) - my favorite. Do you have those?

I have several others, Indigo Spires, Greggi, Watermelon, Mexican S., and probably a few I'm forgetting. They all did ok.

The lettuce, arugula, broccoli rabe, snow peas and cilantro all made it too. I was expecting some loss there... I didn't cover them. Supposedly it got down to 19 just 3 miles from here. So said the news.

Hey Tammy, those will come back. Rosebud even comes back in Abilene. That is one of my faves also

Thanks, Jolana. Good to know.

The snow stopped at the Causeway! Yeah! 36 for low but the windchill was 27. There was some ice on the back upstairs deck. High was only 47 on Saturday but at least the sun was out.
Fog today, heat tomorrow.
Tally Ho!

My S. Mexicana 'Tula' has come back from the past 4 winters, so I bet yours will be back also!

Pam

I agree with everyone else ~ I think all of those will come back, Tammy. All you listed are herbaceous perennials, so will die down but sprout back again come spring. I know we sell all of them as hardy at work, and most of them I've had personal experience with. Though not the rosebud ~ that's one I'll be getting next year, if we can get more in (didn't this past year). A coworker brought a bloom in to ID about a month ago and I fell in love with it. Gorgeous, that one!

And Texasfern, I read the part about your brugs wrong. Ooof! If they're inside, of course they'll be fine. ;) If I were you, I'd try to plant just one out in the spring, maybe after rooting some cuttings just in case. I drug my nine in half-wine-barrel pots in and out of the greenhouse for years before finally seeing one at work that was in the ground and doing fine. Most of them got planted this past year and talk about extra room in the greenhouse! I think I can hear an echo in there now. And man did the brugs like being in the flowerbeds ~ I actually got blooms on one without doing much of anything to it!

I have brugs both inground and in containers (about 60 of them last count), and the reason for the few container ones is in order to get blooms earlier in the Spring. The ones inground have to resprout for me here in North Texas, and they don't bloom until June usually. I do, however, fertilize mine at least twice a week for maximum blooms.

It's still foggy and rainy here. It was raining when I got off so all the plants still are in the house. Hopefully tonight I can get them all out.
I hope it's not an omen of things to come. Maybe the rest of winter will be nice and warm.
Tally HO!

From your lips to God's ears, Tally...... I hope so.