Yesterday morning when I left for work it was 28 degrees . It was very unsettling walking passed frozen tulips. When I got home the first thing I noticed was that all of the magnolia blossoms had turned into ugly brown blobs. Hmnn...
When I went out back to check the potager I was able to breathe again. The only thing that had slight damage was the arugula. I find this odd since I've had arugula over winter with no damage at all. I guess it's growth stage determines winter hardiness.
I was hoping that the forest of volunteer tomatoes and morning glories would be history. Of course not, they all looked hale and hearty and if they had tongues they would have been sticking them out a me! I may save a volunteer tomato or two, but the morning glories will be gone this weekend. Even one or two strays will take over like last year.
I'll concede this one to Mother Nature...
The tomatoes survived? Wow. My self seeding issue this year is my lemon balm. I've got to put it someplace else where it won't self seed all over my asparagus bed. I'm hoping I get a few morning glories that self seed from last year. I've never planted them in my life. But the leaves I collected in the fall a year and a half ago had some in there. They self seeded over my compost pile. It made the pile really pretty.
ReplyDeleteYes, the tomatoes survived. More damage was apparent today in hardier things- roses, daylilies. bleeding heart and lilies all suffered major damage.
DeleteEven the fancy japanese morning glories volunteer for me. Always in the wrong locations!
Good news! I lost some tall basil, they were covered but may be not good enough or may be they're touching the cover.. Poor magnolia....
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about your basil. It is so frost sensative that touching the cover could kill the leaves.
DeleteI never tried planting morning glory - it seems like it likes alot of space which i really don't have. And if the volunteer tomato was a good variety why not keep them? if they're out of the way see what they do in "wild" form :) And it's good that nothing else got frozen.
ReplyDeleteThe volunteer tomatoes are probably 'Snowberry' one of my favorite cherries. It volunteers every year for the passed six years.
DeleteIf you have an out of the way spot morning glories can be stunning, despite being space hogs!
Pity about the Magnolia and the tulips. It is so disappointing when that happens. I'm glad your potager is in good shape though. I always keep big sheets of row cover handy for tossing over things in the spring. I really push the limits of my zone and it helps contain any potential damage.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't worried about the vegetables as they all should be able to stand some frost. I'm just shocked at the damage to the ornamentals!
DeleteSo sorry to hear about the damage to the flowers!
ReplyDeleteI've only had two successes with volunteer tomatoes...Minigold and Clear Pink Early. Unfortunately, CPE was so late ripening I had to pick them green and take them to AZ with me. I didn't get to save any seeds, and it was a variety I especially liked.
I'm positive the volunteers are 'Snowberry' or 'Victor'. I am going to save one or two. If they can survive the freeze, I may be on to something :)
DeleteFor some reason flowers are just not happy with me this year. I'm having terrible luck getting flower seed to sprout while every vegetable, no matter how old the seed sprouts! Now this from the freeze. Gardening is never boring!
Sorry to hear about the freeze and loss of flowers! Unfortunately for all of us, Mother Nature does have the upper hand on that! Best of luck in the days to come!
ReplyDeleteHappy Gardening!
Mindy
Thanks Mindy! I'll get one over on her eventually, LOL!
ReplyDelete