Andy wrote:

So far in the Northeastern American colonies, we really haven't had
winter, but predictions are for something resembling it to come in as a Canadian
import in the next few days.

Neither have we in the Westcountry of England, record overnight temperatures
of 12.3 C last night in Devon ( we're verboten to know what that is in
Fahrenheit ).

Ah, well that is 54F give or take an inch Winter hasn't arrived
here on the south Devon coast either. The average temperatures for
December were 11.9C (52F) by day and 8.06 (46F) by night. So far, Jan
has given days averaging 12.89C (55F) and nights of 9.33 (49F) with
nothing below 6C (43F). Ignoring last winter (which for us was
unusually cold), temperatures are some 2C up on previous recent years.


A flower stem on a Crinum (Crinum moorei) that appeared very late in
the year has developed yet more buds. These are opening, but the
ravages of hailstorms, heavy rain and a fair amount of wind are taking
their toll. Even a climbing Bauhinia has refused to shed its leaves
and is still opening a few dishevilled flowers.