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Category: Succulents, Stapelia, Sans and ?: In ground succulent gardening: Information
Status: Unknown
Initial Notes:
Watching the succulent bed through the winter. In November, we saw two nights that dropped to 29°.
Weather Stats for November, 2011:
Highest Temp was 84 degrees on 11-20-11
Highest on Record was 91 degrees on 11-11-44
Lowest Temp was 29 degrees on 11-28-11
Lowest on Record was 12 degrees on 11-30-76
Rainfall recorded was 3.61 inches
Average Monthly Rainfall is 4.68 inches
Below Average by l.07 inches
Highest Recorded Rainfall for this month was 12.47 inches in 2000
Lowest Recorded Rainfall for this month was 0.46 inches in 1999
This years Total Rainfall is 25.00 inches
Below Average by 22.96 inches
We still need rain!!!
There is no visible change in the bedded succulents.
I did uproot the A. brevifolia and I didn't want to lose it. Everything else remains in place.
Entries and Updates
Dec 7, 2011
Currently the temp dipped to 30.0° at 6:00a.m..
It is 46.9° in the GH this morning. That is using the electric heater on high overnight. I also left it running (half way) all day yesterday as the high was in the low 40°s. I haven't used the wood heater yet. I need to sort some smaller firewood for the box heater and move it to the GH.
Waiting to see the outcome of the succulent bed and the tomatoes. We had a 3 1/2 inch soaking rain prior to this freeze so the tomatoes were well watered and covered with frostcloth. One half of the succulent bed remained dry from the overhang. The other half received water from the rain barrel overflow splashing.
Projected to be mid 20°s tonight and then hovering at freezing for the next three nights with summer right around the corner.
Dec 8, 2011
The temp is resting at 27° at 6 am but went below freezing prior to 10 pm. Am sure much will bite the dust as things are wilting this morning.
The cold end of the GH is 44°. That took supplementing the electric heater on full blast and the wood stove cooking when I turned in last night. Just went out and stoked it up again this a.m. but GH plants will be fine.
A flashlight survey of plants shows wilting: Cannas, Brugs, Comfrey, Basil. Will look closer at daylight.
Dec 9, 2011
Wednesday night dropped to freezing early and stayed there all night. I kept the GH 10 - 15° above the outside temp using the wood heater and electric.
Outside, the tomato foliage is toast. So are the cannas and comfrey. The little fig and the fig leaves are done for this season. Basils are done also. I am leaving the flea market basil alone in hopes that it will return from roots.
Observing the succulent bed ~ the last rain caused 1/2 of the bed to be saturated from overflow from the rain barrel. The other half of the bed was dry. The dry end has a smaller red COT with smaller leaves. It appears fine and still in bloom. The larger leafed yellow COT is a larger plant and its' leaves appeared wilted yesterday morning. Aloes are on the wet end and show no damage from freezing temps. The sedum is all right of course, as are the hesperaloe plants.
