I'm so tired of hot weather! The colder weather is rather refreshing.

Me too! My family is whining like little babies though, "turn on the heat, it's cold in here!" Wimps! Put some clothes on and enjoy it! I don't think they realize shorts and flip flops were never meant to be year-round attire ;)

Shorts w/longjohns.

It got down to 48° where I live this morning, but not cold enough to do any damage. Still, I had to dress more warmly than usual. I have several tomatoes on plants that did not get eaten by caterpillars (which I only recently discovered) and quite a few baby basil sprouts that I hope will make it - I may have to bring those inside at night for extra warmth.

The bay area bottomed out at 35f. At least what I call the bay area. Yes,nothing like last year when it was 70 and 50's in Nov-Dec. Jan was 66f I remember seeing corn still green in early winter.

but,we can't drink sunlight!

Not too cold in my bay area (Santa Monica Bay) for these to bloom in my back yard

I see my Cymbidiums have sent up flower stalks. They -today at least- are doing it in the rain. Days nothing to brag about,but nights are well into the 40's. Safe for what I like to grow.

What ARE those Lars? Freesia? So far fava beans and sugar snaps have managed to sprout, in spite of our 30'site at night and 50'she during the day. And thanks to the rain.

Nanelle, they are Cymbidiums, like what Stan has. Here's another one from last January

My basil sprouts are doing well, so far, and I've left them outside.

Ah! Very nice! I have some of those, but they have not bloomed the last several years. And the color is not nearly as nice.

There is a huge difference between show Cyms and Trader Joe's 15$ plants..that I have-lol. A friend has a neighbor friend who grew those mega flowering show Cymbidiums. When she put a stalk in a vase? It was like 5 stalks from the common store bought types.

Do folks grow "show Cyms" in the ground, outside?

No, mine are in pots. I like to bring them in while they bloom. The soil here would probably not be proper for cymbidium roots, and then I also would not be able to controlling the irrigation and light conditions throughout the year by moving them around. I grow bletilla orchids in the ground though--they thrive and spread so quickly. The only bletillas I grow in pots anymore are the variegated types and my tiny B. yokohama 'Kate', and those are potted only because there are fewer of them and to keep them separate.

Well,if you are in a frost free zone they can be planted out with extra care. I had one person tell me he dug out the native dirt in a filtered light part of his yard and then planted those Cymbidiums in shredded bark. He said they grew very fast. He also said though that when the blooms ended those orchid's couldn't be hidden and you had the tired plant look. Other then that ,they were much easier to keep robust and evenly watered.

I haven't tried it. I move mine around too from "behind" to on the porch when in bloom. In 5 gallons,too big to bring indoors.

I grow mine in pots because I have bad soil, but the pots stay outside all year. If you put them in the ground, they are much more susceptible to snails and slugs, which love to eat them. Even in pots I have to put out snail bait. I also like to raise the pots a bit and generally have them on a shelf outdoors or on some sort of raised platform to make them easier to see. If I get too many of one of them, I may try planting them in the ground, but I still think they will get eaten by snail/slugs.

Freezes don't happen often here, and it's usually hours, not days, but they do happen. Mine are in a pot I've kept in the same spot, under some redwoods outside year round for more than ten years. They got no care. One year I realized they hadn't bloomed in awhile, and when I checked the container, it wouldn't move! I assumed the roots from the orchid had grown out of the pot, and into the ground, but it was the redwoods that had grown into the pot. I repotted them, and moved them about three years ago, and they haven't bloomed since.

Too much cool shade nan. If I keep mine in the shade of my backyard- even if getting an hour or so of sun they hardly bloom. If I'm growing them where the winter sun warms up that area from the dawn of the day..and then in warmish shade after that? they bloom as well as they can.

Okay, thanks.

It get that the timing of the sun and shade makes a difference, perhaps varying by season. Not sure if it would be temps or daylength. Any thoughts about that? My sister in NC had her orchids "dormed" with something like that in mind, and they got to come home when they bloomed. I don't have much patience for that during "peak season", but I do now.

They are no longer under the redwoods, but that was where they bloomed for years. I think less sun there then on the "deck", but maybe not.

Last winter, and this summer, when there is no such thing as "cool" shade (we are usually in the 90's to 100's from May to Halloween ) they were in "dappled shade", and leaf color was a yellow-green. I read that is about right, vs too green. Right now they are in "full sun", if that means anything in December.