We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The grass was very
white this morning at the front of the house and at the time of writing
which is 1250, it still. Brrrrrrr!
How's everyone else doing - no damage done, I hope?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

"sacha" wrote in message ...
We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The grass was
very
white this morning at the front of the house and at the time of writing
which is 1250, it still. Brrrrrrr!
How's everyone else doing - no damage done, I hope?
--

Yes, frost last night has finally done for the summer Fuchsias etc,
G.palmatum looks sad, Arum lilies look a lot worse, mush.

More worrying for us are the floods that are creeping ever nearer. Lots of
roads closed all round here and they have started evacuating some people.
R.Thames is still rising (Sun 5th Noon) and it's already the highest I've
ever seen, and I've just noticed the water is coming up through the road
drains in the road next to ours.
Friend in Staines, quite far from the river, says it's coming up through a
neighbours lawn (underground stream?) and a local ditch, and has flooded
their road, the council are issuing sandbags to them all.

I suppose the human excrement in the water will improve the soil eventually.
:-(
Fingers crossed we remain dry.
--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

"Sue & Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"sacha" wrote in message ...
We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The grass was
very
white this morning at the front of the house and at the time of writing
which is 1250, it still. Brrrrrrr!
How's everyone else doing - no damage done, I hope?
--

Yes, frost last night has finally done for the summer Fuchsias etc,
G.palmatum looks sad, Arum lilies look a lot worse, mush.

More worrying for us are the floods that are creeping ever nearer. Lots of
roads closed all round here and they have started evacuating some people.
R.Thames is still rising (Sun 5th Noon) and it's already the highest I've
ever seen, and I've just noticed the water is coming up through the road
drains in the road next to ours.
Friend in Staines, quite far from the river, says it's coming up through a
neighbours lawn (underground stream?) and a local ditch, and has flooded
their road, the council are issuing sandbags to them all.

I suppose the human excrement in the water will improve the soil
eventually.
:-(
Fingers crossed we remain dry.
--
Bob

Chilly here in Cornwall too, -1 I think, made the last of the cannas give
up! still at least it was dry and I could get up on the roof and repair a
small leak that appeared during the heavy rain. Thought living on a slope we
were immune to flooding!
Been able to get out and do some gardening as well, with the days getting
longer spring is almost here :~)

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)

In message , sacha
writes
We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The grass was very
white this morning at the front of the house and at the time of writing
which is 1250, it still. Brrrrrrr!
How's everyone else doing - no damage done, I hope?

Yes, the bacopa in the containers and hanging baskets has stopped
flowering and some of its foliage looks a bit sad - I was hoping we
could have over wintered it to save buying any more in the Spring :-)))

--
Robert

sacha wrote:

Hello sacha

s We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The
s grass was very white this morning at the front of the house
s and at the time of writing which is 1250, it still.
s Brrrrrrr!

Yes. Pretty, but horrid. I'm about half-way through my clone of your
stone circle thing at the mo and apart from yesterday this is the
first dry day for weeks. Quite frustrating to find all the stones
welded to the floor and the earth one big inseperable mass - even the
pick bounced off.

My outside hi-lo thermometer hit -10c overnight, and we've been stuck
here until mid afternoon before we dared risk driving down the hill.

Damage - tricky to tell. I know our cherry's looking distinctly droopy
this morning, had a lovely crop of blossom yesterday.

Will send some photos of the circly thing when it's done. Based on
yours, but I've also plonked a bench at the far end.

(For the benefit of other readers, Sasha's got a nice circle built
into a slope faced with stone - veritable suntrap.)

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK Ý http://www.digdilem.org/

In article , Sue & Bob Hobden
writes

More worrying for us are the floods that are creeping ever nearer. Lots of
roads closed all round here and they have started evacuating some people.
R.Thames is still rising (Sun 5th Noon) and it's already the highest I've
ever seen, and I've just noticed the water is coming up through the road
drains in the road next to ours.
Friend in Staines, quite far from the river, says it's coming up through a
neighbours lawn (underground stream?) and a local ditch, and has flooded
their road, the council are issuing sandbags to them all.


We have about 2cm. of settled snow and temperature is hovering around or
just below O C. Rain, snow and cold winds have eased off today (Sun)
giving way to some welcome sunshine. We have escaped flooding, though a
lot of surface water has collected on the roads and in fields and
gardens (our holding is only 5m above sea level). It remains to be seen
now how many early new shoots and buds will be damaged by the cold snap,
but in past years most of them have either survived intact or have begun
to grow again later on.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Xref: 127.0.0.1 uk.rec.gardening:164153

Here on Arran the coldest night temperature we've had so far was -4.5C
and yesterday the daytime temperature never got above freezing. Luckily
we're still in a rented house, with no garden as such to worry about.
However, I think that there may be some damage to plants in pots, even
though they're tucked up under fleece. The red squirrels are busily
raiding the peanuts on the birdbath and the pheasants tucking into the
grain we throw onto the lawn. We've had no snow down at this level, but
Goatfell and the mountains in the north are covered in snow.
--
Susie Thompson, Isle of Arran
SPAM BLOCK IN OPERATION! Replace "deadspam.com" with "arrandragons.co.uk" to
reply by e-mail.

in article , Robert at wrote on
5/1/03 3:39 pm:

In message , sacha
writes
We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The grass was very
white this morning at the front of the house and at the time of writing
which is 1250, it still. Brrrrrrr!
How's everyone else doing - no damage done, I hope?

Yes, the bacopa in the containers and hanging baskets has stopped
flowering and some of its foliage looks a bit sad - I was hoping we
could have over wintered it to save buying any more in the Spring :-)))

NOT what a nurseryman's wife likes to hear, Robert! ;-) However, have you
nowhere to put the baskets now to save them from more frost?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

We had a very hard frost last night (nr Grantham, Lincs), temperature down
to -4.5. The night before we had a thin covering of snow. Today has been
very sunny but cold. We have the river Witham running through our land and
although it's down at the moment it has been up a lot. Consequently we have
a lot of surface water. In one of the paddocks we have a large temporary
pond about 8" deep and frozen solid. Our house stands at 17m ODN and I'd
say the river has been up to about 15.5, so still a way to go before we
start to panic!! It looks like the rain has gone for a while though, thank
goodness. One plus point for us about the hard frost is that we can get the
tractor into the fields without sinking into the clay mud )

Jaqy


sacha wrote:
We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The grass
was very white this morning at the front of the house and at the time
of writing which is 1250, it still. Brrrrrrr!
How's everyone else doing - no damage done, I hope?

in article , Simon Avery at
wrote on 5/1/03 4:10 pm:

sacha wrote:

Hello sacha

s We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The
s grass was very white this morning at the front of the house
s and at the time of writing which is 1250, it still.
s Brrrrrrr!

Yes. Pretty, but horrid. I'm about half-way through my clone of your
stone circle thing at the mo and apart from yesterday this is the
first dry day for weeks. Quite frustrating to find all the stones
welded to the floor and the earth one big inseperable mass - even the
pick bounced off.

My outside hi-lo thermometer hit -10c overnight, and we've been stuck
here until mid afternoon before we dared risk driving down the hill.

I'll check with Matt what our temp went down to but -10 would be very low
here - and I do mean VERY! Amazing when you think how close we are to you
but that's the British climate for you.

Damage - tricky to tell. I know our cherry's looking distinctly droopy
this morning, had a lovely crop of blossom yesterday.

Will send some photos of the circly thing when it's done. Based on
yours, but I've also plonked a bench at the far end.

(For the benefit of other readers, Sasha's got a nice circle built
into a slope faced with stone - veritable suntrap.)

I should step in here and say this is entirely Ray's idea and creation. I'm
just the mouthy one on the internet so my name gets put in when it comes to
meets etc. (at which Simon saw the sunny semi-circle!) When Ray first came
here there was simply a rolling grassed bank from the house front down onto
the lawn. Quite a roll at that! Eventually, he got teed off with falling
down it every night when he took the dogs out for the last pees and poos, so
he created a semicircular flight of steps down to a paved area on which our
tea room customers (those that nab it first) enjoy being snugly out of any
wind and looking down the garden. This flight of steps is at foot level when
you walk off the gravel path outside the house, so caution is still needed!
Some natural hazards can't be overcome entirely but it is a success and a
popular spot.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

in article , sacha at
wrote on 5/1/03 7:39 pm:

in article , Simon Avery at
wrote on 5/1/03 4:10 pm:
snip
pick bounced off.

My outside hi-lo thermometer hit -10c overnight, and we've been stuck
here until mid afternoon before we dared risk driving down the hill.

I'll check with Matt what our temp went down to but -10 would be very low
here - and I do mean VERY! Amazing when you think how close we are to you
but that's the British climate for you.

snip
-4 was our temp, last night, apparently.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

sacha wrote:

Hello sacha

yesterday this is the first dry day for weeks. Quite
frustrating to find all the stones welded to the floor and
the earth one big inseperable mass - even the pick bounced
off. My outside hi-lo thermometer hit -10c overnight, and
we've been stuck here until mid afternoon before we dared
risk driving down the hill.
s I'll check with Matt what our temp went down to but -10
s would be very low here - and I do mean VERY! Amazing when
s you think how close we are to you but that's the British
s climate for you.

I've just come up from Chudleigh. It's cold there, but it's at least
two coats colder here. Sun's nice and warm, but during winter we only
get about an hours' worth on about half the garden during the day on
our NE-facing hill. We're going to try acers this year, but I've got a
feeling they won't last a cold snap like this one.

Get a bit envious seeing the other side of the valley smothered in
light while we're still in shadow.

[Circle]

s I should step in here and say this is entirely Ray's idea
s and creation.

Then thank him from me, please.

s was simply a rolling grassed bank from the house front down
s onto the lawn. Quite a roll at that! Eventually, he got
s teed off with falling down it every night when he took the
s dogs out for the last pees and poos, so he created a
s semicircular flight of steps down to a paved area on which
s our tea room customers (those that nab it first) enjoy being
s snugly out of any wind and looking down the garden. This

Yes, what we want eventually too. Apart from when the wind's in the NE
like it is now, it should be nicely sheltered with a nice view of the
valley and also of one side of my monster ponds/stream system. (Liner
ordered today, 550 quid!)

s flight of steps is at foot level when you walk off the
s gravel path outside the house, so caution is still
s needed! Some natural hazards can't be overcome entirely but
s it is a success and a popular spot.

The maturity of that corner appeals to me too. Cottagey, sort of
thing. Unfortunately we don't have such a nice lawn nor big trees in
front of it. Maybe in time that big pile of topsoil (6' high by 30'
long) will turn into flowers and plants, but that's the wife's
department.

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK Ý http://www.digdilem.org/

"sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The grass
was very
white this morning at the front of the house and at the time of
writing
which is 1250, it still. Brrrrrrr!
How's everyone else doing - no damage done, I hope?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk


After a -5 frost last night I've just taken a turn round to look for
any damage. Was amazed to find that Helleborus foetidus "Wester
Flisk" is completely black and has keeled over. Yesterday it was
flowering and looking beautiful. This has never happened to it before
and I always considered it to be very hardy. All the other hellebores
look fine. What a shock! I'll have to wait and see whether it comes
again later.

Regards
Iris (McCanna)

"Barry & Iris McCanna" wrote in
:


"sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The grass
was very
white this morning at the front of the house and at the time of
writing
which is 1250, it still. Brrrrrrr!
How's everyone else doing - no damage done, I hope?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk


After a -5 frost last night I've just taken a turn round to look for
any damage. Was amazed to find that Helleborus foetidus "Wester
Flisk" is completely black and has keeled over. Yesterday it was
flowering and looking beautiful. This has never happened to it before
and I always considered it to be very hardy. All the other hellebores
look fine. What a shock! I'll have to wait and see whether it comes
again later.

Alas!

Whereas my pratia pedunculata, sold to me as 'hardy in a warm spot' and
therefore with a backup pot saved safely in the greenhouse, is currently
florishing on the pond edge, encased in about 2 inches of solid ice.

It's been frozen solid several times now, so I think I can safely ignore
the 'may be tender' description...

Victoria

"sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
We had quite a bit of frost last night (Sat/Sun 4/5 Jan) The grass was
very
white this morning at the front of the house and at the time of
writing
which is 1250, it still. Brrrrrrr!
How's everyone else doing - no damage done, I hope?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk


I was told some moons ago that there hadn't been a frost in that garden
for 25yrs.

Art