Thursday, January 21, 2021

Yes I really did put socks on my edgeworthia buds...

As I write it's the latter half of January and I still have non-hardy begonias looking good in my garden...

There are canna leaves that aren't completely fried—ditto for the hardy banana, Musa Basjoo—and the passiflora are even holding on to a couple of buds. 


It's a La Nina winter and with that we are told to expect higher than average rainfall and cooler than average temperatures. Several of our really nasty winters were La Nina winters, but that's not always the case, it can be bad (or good) regardless. The rainfall has—at times—been intense, however there have been so many dry and/or 50+ degree days—31 since December 1st, to be exact, a new record—that I still have flip-flops by the back door.

Heading into this winter I was leery. My personal winter warning device takes the form of the huge phormium I'm seeing around town. Once they get large I start to worry, and many are car-sized, several bloomed this last year, it takes several warm winters in a row for that to happen. Cordylines are also reaching epic proportions once again, and my tender plant loving heart breaks a little every time I see one with a tall trunk, or hear someone talking about these plants as thought they're bulletproof here in Portland, becasue they're not. Oh are they not. Experience says the cold will come eventually.

As you know, plants are at their most vulnerable when they're young and not yet established, we had a few winter doozies when my garden was newly planted. In fact as I took photos for last week's Garden Blogger's Bloomday I was reflecting upon the year I put socks on the buds of my Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold'. Yes, I really did...
That was in December of 2013, read the whole—ugly—blog post here. I'd been stung by horrendous winter conditions during the winters of 2008/09 and 2009/10, and I was not going to lose those golden edgeworthia flowers, dammit. Turns out I didn't need to worry—at least about that plant and it's flowers, I did lose other plants. Here's what it looked like just a few months later, March of 2014.

That was back when I looked down on my edgeworthia, these days I look up...

There's talk of cooler weather showing up before we're completely out of the woods this winter, good thing I know I don't need to put socks on my edgeworthia buds though, because I can't reach them anymore...

Weather Diary, Jan 20: Hi 47, Low 30/ Precip trace 

All material © 2009-2021 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

19 comments:

  1. Just ordered one of those Nanjing golds. Going to be right by the front door. Mmm...can’t wait! Won’t try the socks, as most of mine (shrug) are thin or have holes. $for plants>$for feet. Jim N Tabor

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    1. This is such a good plant! Believe it or not I bought it for the foliage... the leaves are so large.

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  2. And I have been foolishly throwing old socks away!

    Seriously, this is one beautiful flower!

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  3. The socks are hilarious but hey, you do what you have to do! La Nina generally means low rain for SoCal but, as you noted, results may vary. This year's currently on target to be the worst yet (the prior "winner" being the year we got a total of 3.84 inches here). We're told rain is on the way this weekend and again early next week. It's not expected to be much but every little bit helps...

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    1. Fingers crossed for you! I know things are shifting, which is why we're facing the coldest weather of the season so far. Maybe that shift means rain for you?

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  4. Pretty begonia.

    As for the socks...what a great idea. Bet it worked much better than a frost cloth.

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    1. I'm still surprised I came up with that many, as I am not a sock wearer.

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  5. Oh, that is SO funny. I volunteer at a local food bank connected to a thrift store, and we just got a ga-zoodle of colorful socks in today. Because of this post, I'll now look at them differently. (We've had a huge amount of rain in east Texas this winter, but the weather is always schizophrenic here--45" of rain for 9 months, then 3 months with no rain. Ugh.)

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    1. I've experienced that schizophrenic Texas weather!

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  6. I think the socks were brilliantly innovative! Fingers crossed for the rest of your winter.

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    1. Thanks Eliza. There's a "wintery mix" in the forecast so we shall see...

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  7. I love that you did this. I have never thought to protect the buds on mine. Mine aren't close to opening yet, really late this year.

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  8. Many of these "non hardy" begonias will surprise you, especially in the rex group. I find that by burying the rhizomes deeply (which would horrify members of the American Begonia Society!) and mulching, many will make it through the winter.

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    1. These were like $2.50 at the "everything" store and some of them lived through last winter...such a deal!

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  9. I'm blown away that your fancy begonia is looking so good. I have a couple of borderline-hardy sedum that looks worse. Those Edgeworthia blooms are so sunny and cheerful... it's a shame you can look them in the eye, although I'm sure you can sill enjoy the fragrance.

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    1. Actually I can, they are right in front of our kitchen window as I type. Excellent for hummingbird watching.

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  10. I employed the sock gambit one year after losing Mahonia 'Arthur Menzies' blooms to frost several years in a row. I AM a sock person so if you run out, give me a call.
    rickii

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