Friday, December 4, 2009

OH, NO! IT'S SNOWING!

It is SNOWING at my house! For those of you who live in the frozen tundra north of I10, this probably seems like no big deal. But for US, who live in South Texas, where the banana trees are unfurling new foliage, and hibiscus are blooming with abandon, and it will be 65 degrees tomorrow at 11:00am, this is a BIG DEAL! BIG flakes are falling, it is sticking to the roads, I am in the house for the duration; I HATE SNOW! Look at my poor plants, all bent over, drooping from the cold! All these other peoples are just tickled that they can play in snow, and all I can think of is -60F and 7' of snow!
It is even sticking in my neighbors yard, and their yard was flooded yesterday! And it wasn't supposed to start this until this afternoon. We will have to tunnel out, if this keeps up. Quit snickering, I can hear you.....Rosey, quit that!

Update to follow! Probably more whining too. Sorry, I need to cover the beautiful blooms of the bromiliads. Bummer.This is my fairy duster, laying down because it is cold. Yesterday it was just beautiful, and lots of buds on it. I wonder what this will do to it.

41 comments:

Amy said...

Wow! Look at that snow. We don't have any yet. It is getting colder and is suppose to start later. Our boys thought they would wake up to snow and miss school....:/

Noelle Johnson said...

Oh Janie,

I have to admit I am kind of jealous. I would love some snow....

Jean Campbell said...

That was me, not Rosey. Sorry, I only laughed until I reached the pics of the tropicals. I don't think they were ready for this. What is really scary is the cold to follow the snow. Hovering around freezing is one thing, 25F is another.

Thank Goodness for the imaginary barricade that stops that snow before it reaches me, moving from the northwest. Montgomery, AL is predicted to get snow, but not Dothan and points east, which includes me. We do expect a freeze by Sunday. Snow stopped being a novelty for me about 25 years ago.

Anonymous said...

Record-setting heat yesterday in Maine and snow today in south Texas. This really is strange weather! Janie, I hope all your plants recover without too much damage. Remember, cold with snow is usually better for plants (unless they break under the weight) than cold without snow. -Jean

Anonymous said...

We still don’t have any snow, but I’m hoping for some before Christmas!

Unknown said...

I feel the same way you do Janie! I've been out in the snow all morning covering plants here at the nursery, and I'm not in the least bit excited about it! I'm cold, wet, and oh did I mention I was cold? I live in Texas because I like it nice and hot, thank you very much! ;o)

Jim Groble said...

! The world's turned upside down. We're the ones that should have snow. I'm mowing my grass.

jim

gld said...

Our predicted snow this week failed to arrive but the cold did. It was 15° this morning at daybreak and is supposed to be down to 14° tonight.
That may set a record low for this time of year.

You have to admit, it looks pretty!

D said...

Janie, sorry for the snow. We too are experiencing a most unusual and extremely cold December: temps are freezing and below and to continue into next week... not PNW weather.

Last winter we also had unusually cold temps whereby we lost a number of plants... in 16 years we never lost any due to temperature.

East coast, it's headed your way.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

What a big change in weather between snow today and the 60's tomorrow. My girls are dreaming of snow, I showed my oldest daughter your pictures and she said how lucky you are :)

sanddune said...

Janie,
Looks like them OMENS extend all the way to Texas. Hope your plants make it ok.

Cindy said...

Oh, Janie, I'm sorry you got our snow. Been telling us in New Braunfels and San Antonio area for days that it was going to snow here. I was ready for it too.

Darla said...

Okay, I'm a first time visitor here BUT I am so laughing...it never made it out of the 40's here in North Florida today with misty rain and we were hoping for a dusting of snow. I know, I know then I would be so sad about my gardens. You know your Bromeliad, looks like my Queen's Tears, which I posted today is not that common. I have a huge container that's about 20years old and my husband had me put some pups in a hanging container and I love it!!

Katherine Janquart said...

Please send some my way, by now in Idaho we should have a good start on the snow season, but atlas non has come.

Thomas said...

Wow, I can't believe you got snow before we did! The weather this year has been so unpredictable. Hopefully next year will be different.

Unknown said...

Hi Janie, I hope you don't lose any plants because of the cold weather. I'm fascinated to read about people's gardens and the strange weather, too warm in the northeast, snow in south Texas. This is why some people are calling our current climate change "global weirding."

Unknown said...

Aw, rats, I'm using someone else's computer and my last comment came through as from "Diane." This is really Lou at http://greenlifeinsocal.wordpress.com

janie said...

Thanks, everybody, I appreciate all your kind words. I think it has stopped snowing, but that is bad. Now it will clear and get real cold- they are calling for 24F. I just hope it doesn't last long. If the temps dip close to dawn, then shoot back up, we can probably get by o.k. If it goes down around midnight and stays there for 6 hours or so, it is going to be bad. It got down to 17F once, and stayed there for 12 hours. Killed just about everything in my garden, even things that I didn't think would be hurt.
The only positive thing is that I know where they all came from. I bet I can go back and get another. These plant nurseries are going to make a fortune. The shared plants are what hurt the most to lose.

LeSan said...

You're darn tooting it's a big deal for you to get snow. We got it once in a blue moon down in Phoenix and it was a big deal. I always found it exciting and magical. I didn't have a garden full of warm weather plants though. hehe
Enjoy it while you can. It'll be gone soon enough.

Anonymous said...

I am amazed, you have snow and I still do not. The weather is really strange anymore. As a Canadian, it is my civic duty to ask you to gather up that snow and send it up to the Great White North where it belongs! lol

Lorilee said...

We only had a dusting in Victoria and it melted when it changed to rain. I didn't have plant damage until the hard freeze last night!
Blessings,
Lorilee

Anonymous said...

It's the Blue Norther pushing the cold air much farther south than normal. [I learned this from years of fixating on weather reports, total weather wuss that I am.] We don't have snow here in the PNW but it's colder than normal.

I hope you get a reprieve soon. I'm sure your poor plants are hoping too.

Wendy said...

Hope you all stocked up on milk and bread! just kidding. I know this is a big deal for you! It really must stink that all your tender plants are going to be affected (or killed?!).

D said...

Janie, me again. I happened to see a comment you posted on another blog regarding climate change, and wondered if you had read this article http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/understanding_climategates_hid.html

janie said...

Thanks for that information, Di. It makes it easier to understand what they did. I would urge everybody to read it.

I promise to share all the snow we get! Y'all can have it all! I don't want any for myself!

I have a big pot of homemade vegetable/beef soup and my biggest cast iron skillet full of cornbread for lunch. This will help to insulate me so that I cannot be cold.

Anonymous said...

Oh your poor plants, Janie! We saw the snow on the weather, and we got some too from the same system here in TN. But it must have been much more annoying where you live, people not used to it and the temps just too cold, especially for the broms! Yikes!

Frances

Ginger said...

I felt the same way Friday night, and it officially wiped out my veggie garden (as well as some flowers). Oh well!

Unknown said...

Hi Janie, what a shame - do you get snow there once in a while or ever? We got it yesterday and I'm not excited either. Christmas day would be ok.
Thanks for stopping by and telling me about the Vista and Windows 7. I think what I hate about 7 is their dang library. I just want to stick things under my docs and not have to wonder where the heck everything is. I think they keep putting it where they see fit. LOL And it has no Outlook Express.
So glad you stopped by with encouragement!

Pat said...

Snow in Texas ? !!!!
Now that's wild. We just had a dusting yesterday,usualy don't get much here near the coast.
Thanks for the visit.

Lona said...

Nasty old white stuff. I heard it was snowing there and in the southern states. This weather is sure messed up. I like it for Christmas but have no use for it after that.

James David said...

I can't image snow in my place, not with all of tropical around - they will surely die on the spot.

Hope you can revive that fairy duster & Bromeliad.

Rebecca @ In The Garden said...

Oh my goodness, hard to believe!! Great pictures. :)

Anonymous said...

Janie,
I hope the snow has melted and everything popped back up for you. It would be terrible for sure to lose all those beautiful plants.
vickie

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

You are ahead of us! No snow. Cold. Last year, snow was falling on my beautiful fuchsia flowers. This year, cold came before the snow and killed all blooms...

Lona said...

Oh Janie, your poor plants. Nasty old snow. I hope it doesn't stick around long enough to hurt anything.

Moonstone Gardens said...

My sympathies on the snow. Here in Oregon we expect a little every year, but I cringed when I saw what it was doing to your tropicals. Hang in there.

Anonymous said...

This is SO funny. It's my first time here too but I'm guessing you must originally be from somewhere cold?? I hate snow too and I keep saying I'm going to retire somewhere there is NO snow!!! If I do move and it snows anyway, I'd feel like you!
Hope everything recovers and thanks for your comment on my blog today.

Hank Moorlag said...

Quite unbelievable, and I understand your shock. Northern gardeners, like myself, prepare for the winter snow and actually rely on it to provide deep frost protection for perennials and shrubs. But to see all those gorgeous tender plants frozen off is very bad, indeed. Hope things recover and that there isn't lasting damage.

Hank Moorlag said...

Quite unbelievable! We saw this freak storm on TV. For northern gardeners, like myself, we prepare for winter snow and actually rely on it to protect perennials and shrubs from deep winter frosts. But to see all those tender plants frozen is very bad, indeed. Hopefully there isn't lasting damage and the garden will recover.

Hank Moorlag said...

Quite unbelievable! We saw this freak snowstorm on TV. For northern gardeners, like myself, we prepare for winter and actually rely on a good snow cover to protect perennials and shrubs. But to see those tender plants frozen off, it's very bad indeed. Hopefully, there won't be lasting damage.

Hank Moorlag said...

Janie, apologies for leaving three identical comments. I expected them to appear at the top of the comments list, when they actually showed up at the bottom out of view. I thought they hadn't gone through. Best regards, Hank.