Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: johnstephen29 on March 29, 2015, 12:28:22 PM
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For the first day of british summer time it's a rubbish start, it's windy and very wet here. The rain is really hammering it down, here's a pic of the back garden from the conservatory.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8744/16758155047_7a7135cd5b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rwRVDH)image (https://flic.kr/p/rwRVDH) by johnstephen29 (https://www.flickr.com/people/126223196@N05/), on Flickr
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I beg to differ, we got 15cm of snow last night.
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Hi john maybe in light of what your getting over there maybe I shouldn't complain to much. Stay safe mate.
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March going out like a lion here, and it came in that way too.
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Same here David, unfortunately, I had a load of jobs to do before I go back to work.
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My climbing roses took a battering yesterday John & David.........lots of promising young shoots broken off >:(
I haven't seen snow all winter this year,not even a flake.
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Hi mavers hopefully fully it should resprout.
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It's good to get the barrels filled. Perfect weather for the time of year. ;D
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I put my shade paint on the greenhouse today. You know what to expect now!
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We do indeed, David - in fact we had hail earlier this afternoon- now we know why ::)
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Sorreeeee ;D
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I put my shade paint on the greenhouse today. You know what to expect now!
OH NO, :'(
Angie :)
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OH NO, :'(
Angie :)
27C in the greenhouse this afternoon. All vents fully open, door open, if it would have helped I'd have bought ice cream for all my Primulas.
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27C in the greenhouse this afternoon. All vents fully open, door open, if it would have helped I'd have bought ice cream for all my Primulas.
Think I will move into your greenhouse, 27c and ice-cream sounds good to me ;D
Angie :)
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8 degrees and raining here in Argyll.
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8 degrees and raining here in Argyll.
That's the west coast for you....... much warmer here in the East - sun's out - raining at the minute tho'!! :P
April! ::)
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8oC - same here including the rain.
Forecast says sun from tomorrow and during the weekend! I don't believe it till I see it though ;)
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Yesterday in the greenhouse i got my 2015's hit with 42°c around 16PM.
Today we had a sweet 29°c, some Dianthus in the garden are dessicated and dead by the sun!!
Do i need to fear the summer?
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I think so, Yann - be afraid!
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In some areas of my region, calcareous grasslands are dry like in August, orchids are in a 3 weeks advance
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What a day - 25th April and the cold wind has worsened and brought hail
Yuck >:( :P
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My barrels need a refill :P
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Cold and rainy but fortunately no hail. A sunny but cold week has passed and some of the birches have almost leaved out completely.
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Some welcome rain here today too and, so the soothsayers say, more to come throughout next week and cooler. My Primulas will be pleased.
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I've never seen such a dry April, my primula are also in a sad state, most of my Tulipa in the greenhouse aborted their buds due the Arizona temperature :-X
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Pity about the tulips, Yann!
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Yep :-[, i was travelling during the heat period and i think ventilation+ shading system where not enough.
Even in the garden lot's of Tulips aborted, does my belgium and kentish neighbours had the same problem in the garden?
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Mine are OK outdoors. I don't grow any inside.
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Snowing here now! It's fairly wet so I do not think it will lie long. The flakes are enormous :o
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Crikey! And I thought it was a miserable day in the city! I'm looking on the sleety rain more kindly now.
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All that I can say about 2015 to date is cold - damned cold! The best we've had here is a few days at a paltry 17/18°c :(
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The best we've had here is a few days at a paltry 17/18°c :(
But that's our peak summer temperature. ;)
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But that's our peak summer temperature. ;)
I'd emigrate ;D
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Roma it's the same here. Read on the news that it was going to be cold but didn't expect this.
Angie :)
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Minus 6c forecast for central Scotland tonight. ::)
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My barrels still need filling :(
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Did I say it would melt soon? Lovely picture of your garden Angie.
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Flippin' snow - what a pest. :( Might freeze a few slugs though, I suppose.
Tough on the nesting birds. :'(
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Here in the gentile Kingdom of Fife it was a clear sunny blue sky when I left for work. It all changed three hours ago with "hailstanes the size o' dug biscuits" .....and now it's snowing!
8) -> :'( -all in the space of a few hours.
Welcome to Scotland!
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Yes, four seasons per half hour - that's Scotland for you!
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At Dumfries House I heard a man say that Bob Hope said of the Scottish weather "You get three seasons in your backswing"
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At Dumfries House I heard a man say that Bob Hope said of the Scottish weather "You get three seasons in your backswing"
I think that's especially true of the Scottish Links courses. Never seems to stop golfers playing though!
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My barrels still need filling :(
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Finally it rains ;D. Now I get wet moving water from catching barrels to storage barrels. Life is good! ;)
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Almost time to start complaining about the weather again. Now the snowdrops are standing properly.
Closest Halifax weather station at 19:45 GMT / 3:45pm Atlantic.
johnw
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Blowing a real gale here after drizzle and heavy mist for most of the day.
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David, I bet you do play like Clapton. It just doesn't sound the same.
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On the grounds that I pick it up when I start and I put it down when I end I agree Fred. It's the bit in the middle that's the problem ???
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Johnw, I do complain! Still cool and wet. Picked 100s of slugs from all kind of plants today. The plants develop very slowly in this weather and the slugs remove all signs of growth as soon as it appears.
Crossed the mountains last weekend and up there they still have lots of snow. (Not my picture)
(http://images.webcams.travel/original/1308217830-V%C3%A6ret-E134%3A-Haukelifjell-%28Retning-mot-vest%29-Haukelifjell.jpg)
http://www.yr.no/sted/Norge/Telemark/Vinje/Haukeliseter_Fjellstue/ (http://www.yr.no/sted/Norge/Telemark/Vinje/Haukeliseter_Fjellstue/)
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Trond - I sympathize but at least it's up in the mountains. 20c here today and sun so warm I had to turn on the car air-conditioning. Glorious but too warm.
johnw
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Darn it,I ran out of barrels. :P
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Darn it,I ran out of barrels. :P
Got a bath?
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I think I've sussed it. June happened in April, now it's March. Wonder what'll happen when the (callander) says June?
B***dy automatic spell checkers (I wrote that post on my iPad c-a-l-e-n-d-e-r
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Trond - I sympathize but at least it's up in the mountains. 20c here today and sun so warm I had to turn on the car air-conditioning. Glorious but too warm.
johnw
You have gotten the weather they had in eastern Norway in April. New April record 24.8C and about a week with 20+.
Today we hit 14C here but now it is down again and the storm they had in Scotland is approaching.
I don't need barrels. I have just one small bucket and it is never empty.
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.......Today we hit 14C here but now it is down again and the storm they had in Scotland is approaching........
It gave (and still is for that matter) Devon a real battering too.
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It gave (and still is for that matter) Devon a real battering too.
Sorry David :-[
Should have said all GB ;)
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;) ;D
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Well if this rain continues at its current rate, it will be " Harrogate On Sea" and I will be growing bog plants not alpines ;D
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Well if this rain continues at its current rate, it will be " Harrogate On Sea" and I will be growing bog plants not alpines ;D
I fail to see the problem ;D
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I fail to see the problem ;D
Now that is funny!
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Is it just me or has the weather this spring been really rubbish, this time last year I had the spring bedding out. The greenhouse is full to bursting point.
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Yes John I agree, it's been bitterly cold here in Harrogate today and most things seem a few weeks behind my collection of Hostas especially are really struggling to come into leaf
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John the weather here has been rubbish as well. I have quite a lot of damage from frost and the wind. Sometimes I feel that why do I put all this work into garden and nature spoils it. I suppose we have had nice springs but I hate when we get a warm spell followed my cold weather. Thats gardening I suppose. Roll on June.
Angie :)
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It seems that pollen fragments can seed rain (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL064060/abstract) (e.g. see comment here (http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2015/05/07/pollen-grains-have-newfound-role-seeding-rain-clouds/)); another example of how plants condition their environment 8)
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One day freezing , blowing a gale and the next shirt sleeve weather. At Arduaine gardens yesterday, wall-to-wall sunshine and 17°C. Looked like the Mediterranean with the sea a deep blue colour.
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Still very changeable here too, Tom - but with fab photos like that the Visit Scotland folks will be hiring you!
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Hi angie & Lawrence on Wednesday they were talking frost, can you believe it this close to midsummers day. Great pictures T C.
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I forgot to mention that in the first picture, close to the shore, there were two otters playing about. In my full size version,of the picture,you can make out the "ring of bright water" to quote Gavin Maxwell. I have attached a blow- up of this, although the otters were diving at this point. All this with a cuckoo calling in the background.
First real day of Spring. Since then gales and rain. Why should I be surprised !
On the 1st of May I took this picture after another fall of snow when we were up looking at an Ospreys nest. The Temp was 1°C. This only 12 miles inland from where I live.
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Am I allowed to mention my barrels again?
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It's hard to believe just a few weeks ago we were still battling the last of the snowbanks from plows. We have gone straight into late spring with not a hint of frost, magnolias in full flower everywhere and because the weather has not been hot - though it's been to 23c a few times - everything is lasting admirably.
johnw
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Am I allowed to mention my barrels again?
Of course Fred - we're biting our nails as we wait for news - how are your barrels?
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They need refilling Maggi
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You go must use some water Fred if your barrels need filling again. Another day in Lincolnshire, another gale blowing, when it is going to end?
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Am I allowed to mention my barrels again?
Do you have whisky in them? If so I could unserstand why you constantly need refilling ;)
I need glowes and (http://forum.kvinneguiden.no/uploads//profile/photo-33634.png?_r=1358709503).
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Do you have whisky in them? If so I could unserstand why you constantly need refilling ;)
We call that squishing the barrel here.
john
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Fred - thanks for the update!
We've had a fair bit of rain here but always there is wind so a lot is getting blown away before it does any good. Even so, I'm quite surprised to see some rhodos looking so badly dry. :'(
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Considering the cooler weather I've been surprised how fast the water was evaporating from the trays. They're promising rain tonight and tomorrow morning so here's hoping.
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With us Fred it's the wind coming off the North Sea that dries out the soil, it's that flat around here so there's no protection, it can get pretty wild.
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Rainy and cold here. A few hours with sun a couple of times during the week. No summer weather in sight.
They manage to open this road from west to east tomorrow. It is always closed during winter. Not because of the weather but the reindeer wouldn't stand a chance to cross the road during winter!
(http://gfx.nrk.no//njwXUFKjSTofAx6Zj6hllgYMFoC3ZLoQZJCrp40V8suw)
Still 9m of snow here!
Forgot to tell the source: http://www.nrk.no/rogaland/brokke-suleskard-apner-pa-lordag-1.12373123 (http://www.nrk.no/rogaland/brokke-suleskard-apner-pa-lordag-1.12373123)
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Glad it's there with you Trond and not here with me :)
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Glad it's there with you Trond and not here with me :)
Well, I am glad it's not my garden ;)
But it is always interesting to drive such roads ;)
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Oh I don't know, I absolutely hate driving in snow.
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Wow I will never complain about the amount of snow that we have here, amazing to see.
I am with you John I hate driving in snow, got rid of my 4x4 this year so I have even less chance of driving in the snow now ;D
Angie :)
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Should I assume you both switch to snow tires for the winter? If you're trying to drive in snow with All Season tires they're useless.
johnw
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To be honest with you john the winters here in the UK aren't what they used to be, the last two winters you could really call them that, no snow and a bit of light frost, really wet though in 2014 2015 a bit of snow, a bit more frost, rain and really windy, this was the situation in my part of UK, I'm not sure what it was like further north in Aberdeen where Angie lives. Snow tyres would be a waste of money here to be honest, having said that I don't know of anybody who uses them. Is it a North American thing to use these?
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Over here the snow tyres are obligatory from the beginning of December until the end of March. :)
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Most people here use snow tyres with studs. I use snow tyres without as it is usually no or little snow where I live in winther but I always have snow socks in my car.
(http://blog.motoringassist.com/motoring-advice/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/snow-300x200.jpg)
They are easier than snow chains.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Snow_Chain_Honda.jpg/220px-Snow_Chain_Honda.jpg)
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Snow tyres or chains can only be used if the road never gets cleared "to the black" for your whole journey. That doesn't happen in the UK with the amount of salt used.
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That explains it, thanks Anthony.
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Snow tyres or chains can only be used if the road never gets cleared "to the black" for your whole journey. That doesn't happen in the UK with the amount of salt used.
If you have to use chains you just use them on snow for a short while and low speed. But snow tyres with studs are used all winter both on "black" and "white" roads. Studs are better on ice, chains are better on snow. Snow tyres without studs can be used all year but are inferior on "black" roads when the temperature is above freezing but quite OK on snow and also ice in cold weather. It depends very much on the design of the tyre. Snow socks are for snow and nothing else.
Where I live most drivers use studs all winter although we have few days with snow or ice but they are prepared for bad weather or a trip to higher elevation. I use snow tyres without studs from December till Easter and have never been stuck. I also bring snow socks which I have used a couple of times but just for a few kilometres and I drive 25,000km/year.
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Most people here use snow tyres with studs. I use snow tyres without as it is usually no or little snow where I live in winther but I always have snow socks in my car.
(http://blog.motoringassist.com/motoring-advice/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/snow-300x200.jpg)
They are easier than snow chains.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Snow_Chain_Honda.jpg/220px-Snow_Chain_Honda.jpg)
I have never heard of tyre socks. Might get them for my car to keep it cosy.
John I get quite a lot of snow where I am. I can look across two fields and there is no snow lying but up here on top of the hill I get lots, nothing like like that picture. Thank god.
Angie :)
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We don't get anything like that nowadays down here thanks goodness, we did have those two bad winters a few years back didn't we, they were really mild for years before that and since. I remember when I was growing up you always had frost and snow for ages in the winter.
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Never heard of tire socks and I haven't seen tire chains around here since I was a child in the 50's! Winter tires make a big difference and I had them before I retired but I stay home until the pavement's bare. Well I had to make exceptions this winter past, just city trips.
johnw
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And another nice night at 5C after a nice afternoon of hailstones here in the NE .... :'(
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We had those today here in Lincolnshire, can you believe it this close to mid summers day.
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Friday: Hail sleet and rain mixed. Weekend: Reasonabely good weather , sun, but not too warm. Dinner outside for the first time in 6 weeks!
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Woke up last morning to a real gale. Had to go out to save plants. Only one pot but many plants damaged. The worst gale at this time of the year for more than 60 years!
Mountain roads closed, no spring in sight!
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Blowing a screaming gale here just now with bucketing rain and it is supposed to get worse this evening. The heads of two Meconopsis plants have been snapped off halfway down the stem. Temperature 8°C !
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.... and here.
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We've already had hail here today and now the wind is getting much worse and it's raining.
Flaming June, indeed!
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Today started so good, warm sunshine, then about 9am all hell broke loose, its been wet and windy since. >:(
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Today started so good, warm sunshine, then about 9am all hell broke loose, its been wet and windy since. >:(
Pretty much the same here. It's now heading for Trond in Norway.
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Aquilegias and Lupins flattened; Acers shredded; Paeonias blatted. Even some of the low growing cushions are scattered around the garden thanks to the fleet (not sure if that's the right collective noun) of Jackdaws and their search for ants. Makes you wonder if it's all worth it sometimes!
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And I'm afraid more is on the way to you courtesy of us.
We snapped from summer to 7c and torrents of rain for the past 48 or more hours. Back to summer tomorrow they say.
johnw
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... Makes you wonder if it's all worth it sometimes!
Sorry to hear of your damage. We are eternal optimists and thrive on the challenge. ;)
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Pretty much the same here. It's now heading for Trond in Norway.
Got it! Thank you >:(
It's southerly wind so my garden is spared compared to yesterday when rhododendron flowers were strewn all over the place.
The roads crossing from west to east are more or less closed. Cars have been dug out of the snow there.
(http://gfx.nrk.no//C2xzEaswPvF6_IwouTfhWQW5fhNwPz7HX-XU710w8jfw)
http://www.nrk.no/sognogfjordane/har-broyta-sognefjellet-i-25-ar---aldri-opplevd-liknande-kaos-1.12389379 (http://www.nrk.no/sognogfjordane/har-broyta-sognefjellet-i-25-ar---aldri-opplevd-liknande-kaos-1.12389379)
It is the wettest May since 1922 around here (that means snow in the mountains).
Aquilegias and Lupins flattened; Acers shredded; Paeonias blatted. Even some of the low growing cushions are scattered around the garden thanks to the fleet (not sure if that's the right collective noun) of Jackdaws and their search for ants. Makes you wonder if it's all worth it sometimes!
David,
Sorry to hear that. Don't need any jackdaws to damage the plants :( The weather is enough!
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And the gales continue, it would be a lovely warm sunny day here in my part of Lincolnshire, but for the gale force wind. David, yes it is worth it, I know this spring hasn't been much kop (eg rubbish), but hopefully it will get nice and warm from Wednesday onwards, if the weathermen are to believed. I have had a standard rose uprooted, but I'll get it replanted when the weather allows, you just take what Mother Nature chucks at you and carry on.
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Just arrived back from a trip north to Dunedin . The place is saturated after 140mm of rain (2 months worth ) today and a further 100mm forecast for tonight .
In one hour there was as much rain as there had been in total for the previous month .
No state of emergency yet but I think they are evacuating a rest home
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Just arrived back from a trip north to Dunedin . The place is saturated after 140mm of rain (2 months worth ) today and a further 100mm forecast for tonight .
In one hour there was as much rain as there had been in total for the previous month .
Don't be greedy, Steve,
Send some of it over here! Only 4mm so far today!
cheers
fermi
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Some great warm sunshine at long last, at the moment I am sat on the bench we have on the patio, soaking up the Rays and having a corneto. Bliss
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Started the morning gardening with my fleece on then sun popped out and yes t.shirt :) by afternoon fleece on and raining. I give up >:(
Angie :)
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Daft weather, isn't it, Angela ? Ian and I are both coughing and sneezing. :P Too much cold wind and rain for June.
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Maggi just want a few nice days to enjoy the garden would be nice. It was so windy up here the other day that I thought a tree might come down. Hope you both feel better soon.
Angie :)
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Is it ever going to stop being windy? Not a raging gale but a sneaky, gusty cold breeze and it blows empty buckets all over the place, and I can't be doing with that ;D
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So fill them!
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I'd only just emptied 'em ;D
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Is summer EVER going to come ? Today in the greenhouse 15°C with the windows and door shut-outside 10°C with a NW wind and horizontal drizzle.
I blame the BBC weather people. Every time I look at their maps they have a blue patch of rain over Ayr bay and usually the lowest temperature in Scotland !
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Beautiful day here Tom, sorry ;D
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Is summer EVER going to come ? Today in the greenhouse 15°C with the windows and door shut-outside 10°C with a NW wind and horizontal drizzle.
I blame the BBC weather people. Every time I look at their maps they have a blue patch of rain over Ayr bay and usually the lowest temperature in Scotland !
I thought summer had arrived yesterday but no, it's a miserable day today. I blame David and his shading of his greenhouse ;)
Angie :)
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Is summer EVER going to come ? Today in the greenhouse 15°C with the windows and door shut-outside 10°C with a NW wind and horizontal drizzle.
I blame the BBC weather people. Every time I look at their maps they have a blue patch of rain over Ayr bay and usually the lowest temperature in Scotland !
Beautiful day here .... if you are a grumpy penguin who loves cold, windy, dark November days .... grrrrrrr!
Corrado
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I thought summer had arrived yesterday but no, it's a miserable day today. I blame David and his shading of his greenhouse ;)
....... and another beautiful morning ;D
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Dull here again and not very warm. Some rain last night but not enough to really wet the ground which is very dry.
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....... and another beautiful morning ;D
Not here :'( :'( :'( no wind so I suppose thats something.
Angie :)
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75F (in old money) this afternoon, I'm blathered!
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Don't boast, David! I also have 75F - inside my greenhouse ;)
Outside the air is cold although we have some sun these days. 25% of southern Norway is still snow covered (usually only 5% is (the highest mountains)). No roses has opened yet and the rhododendrons last for ages.
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And here in sunny California its, well, sunny and warm.
The high today was 95 F (35 C). Around here, 35 C is considered "warm". "Hot" is 38 C or more. The temperatures will remain in the 90's F to over 100 F until mid September. We will not expect any rainfall until mid - October.
"Resort" weather is 26 C. We do not get much, if any, of that during the summer.
At one time I detested gardening with the dry and heat. The flowers did not last and generally looked faded. The foliage on many plants looked tired by mid August. Now I enjoy gardening with the dry and heat. I enjoy having the garden look fantastic (highly subjective!), and with the least amount of irrigation as possible. It is a great challenge - lots of fun. :)
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I go with that Robert - our lawn is gradually turning brown and we have had very little rain over the past month, but this is common in N. Kent where we are and the garden has been planted with drought tolerant species since the 1980's after getting inspiration from visiting Beth Chatto's garden in Essex. The garden gains its own character by tuning in to the long term local climate and the ability of many plants to tolerate and thrive in such conditions is enlightening.
Here are just a few examples:
A mixed planting of cistus, euphorbias and callistemon under a eucalyptus.
A variegated wallflower (which has been flowering for weeks on end) with Glaucium grandiflorum.
Rhodanthemum 'African Eyes' and Lithodora oleifolia in the sand bed.
The amazing S.W.European umbel Thapsia maxima.
And in a friend's garden tucked up in a warm and protected spot next to her house, the Californian sage S. apiana.
So much scope to grow plants that suit these conditions!
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Very nice, Tim. It just shows what can be achieved when you grow according to local conditions.
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Tim,
I enjoyed the photographs. Nice to see some "old friends" in your garden too. Arctostaphylos, Cistus, Genista, Phlomis, Salvia, Thymus, Origanum, etc. make up some of our old plantings - still thriving after 30 or more years.
Even so, we have only touched the tip of the many plants to try in the garden.
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and here after 4 weeks without a water drop, it's finally raining.
It was really dry and warm, even the Achillea x huteri i bought to you Tim died under the sun.
In the greenhouse, i also had to cover Crocus pots with a roof insulation to reduce temperature in the substrat.
Some onco and tulips that need to be baked are certainly happy with such regime.