The Big Chill

On the night I left Milan for the Christmas holidays, the temperature was forecast to drop to -14°C (7°F). That's unheard of here. Sometimes in January we might get -6°C (21°F), but that's about the limit.

There wasn't much I could do. The plants on the balcony were already covered in fleece and tucked up against the walls of the house. And quite honestly, I was too busy packing to worry.

But all through the holidays, it was at the back of my mind. What would I find when I got back? Would anything survive?

When I got back, pulling off the fleece to check was not a happy experience. In particular, the succulents had been decimated. The sedum seems to have pulled through, but my lovely, lovely money plant (Crassula ovata) has been frozen to death ...

as has the prickly pear ...

and the mesembrantheum. But at least that saves me having to decide whether to throw it out as I'd been thinking of.

I'm worried to about the aloe. The outer leaves have gone but the centre doesn't look too bad. Will it make it?

I've lost other plants too - the spider plants have been massacred ...

All these are plants which, with due protection, have always overwintered outside without problems. Yet, amazingly, the plants I was most worried about - the annuals that were hardly more than at seedling stage, and the more delicate perennials like my plumbago - all seem to have come through unscathed. I've lost a couple of hollyhocks, but the rest are all there. Even my chrysanthemums - in full bloom when I left. At first sight I thought I'd lost them ...

But look what's happening around the back...


In theory, the coldest period of the year is yet to come - in the next week or so. But fingers crossed that nothing will exceed the pre-Christmas period.

PS : Apologies for the time lapse since the last post. I have been swamped with work. But from now on, things will be back to normal - promise.

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So who won ?

I got the plants on the balcony covered up with fleece just in time. A couple of days later, temperatures had dropped to freezing and there was a sprinkling of snow. By yesterday there was considerably more than a sprinkling, and by nine in the evening it was -10 degrees centigrade outside. That´s 14 fahrenheit. I don´t remember temperatures like that in Milan ever. Despite the fleece, I wonder how much is going to survive.

Temperatures are similar all over Europe. I don´t know how low it finally dropped overnight in Milan, because we then left for Germany, where we´re spending Christmas. And arrived at -14C (7F). Today is better - it´s been snowing again, and there´s a bitterly cold wind, but temperatures are up to -2C. The plants on my sister-in-law´s balcony seem to be holding up. We´ll see ...

A plea - while weather conditions are like this, don´t forget the birds. It´s tough enough for themout there without going hungry too.



To cheerier things ... who won the mystery bulb competition?The forst person to get it was Dreamybee . It´s Dracunculus vulgaris - an arum lily. When I saw the photo of the flowers they reminded me of the giant Titan arum that I´d heard of at Kew Gardens. But I was sure it couldn´t be that - firstly because it´s huge- over 10 foot high - and secondly because it stinks to high heaven. It puts out a smell like a rotting corpse to attract flies and other pollinating insects. Not a flower that anyone would want on the balcony.

So when I saw it, I just assumed it would be something different. But no -this may not be the titan arum, but it is a smaller cousin, and it has the same revolting smell. So I don´t think it´s going to be around for very long. Providing it survives, you´ll be seeing one photo - and then I´m afraid it will be down the waste chute with it. And next year, if I see any strange bulbs that I think might be fun to try, I think I´ll ask about them before I buy them ...

Anyway, as soon as I get home in the New Year, I shall get the cards off to Dreamybee as promised. And thanks to all of the rest of you who left comments too.

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Death of a Tree

It started with the sound of a chainsaw. Tuesday is a day when I don't have to work early, but a high, whiny buzz coming from the front garden woke me at 8am. What was going on? Were they lopping the trees in the garden? They come and do it about every three years, but it shouldn't have been this year.

I peer over the balcony wrapped against the -3° temperature in an old dressing gown inherited from my mother - I am too ashamed to say how long ago. And looking undoubtedly like the mad woman of Milan. And see two men attacking the laurel tree in front of the appartment. Whaaat? It's perfectly healthy, and at only about 15 ft created no problems. So why?

I wake up husband and pounce - he's one of the tenant representatives for the condominium and is supposed to know what's going on. Why are they killing my tree?

One groggy eye opens and says (I've deleted the expletives) I've been in bed with the 'flu for a week, don't know and the way I'm feeling don't care, go ask the caretaker.

But first I grab my camera to record the crime. And go to the end of the balcony where I have a clearer view. And see the tree is down ...

Not cut down. Fallen down. Brought down by the weight of the snow heaped on the broad, flat leaves. Remember the last post and the photo of the tree covered in snow and forming a white hump outside the balcony? That was the laurel.

But the weight was too much. And the tree had simply toppled over, uprooting itself. I hadn't noticed the first time I looked, because the view from that end of the balcony is obscured by the hedge. And the tree had fallen against a lamp-post, propping itself up as if nothing was the matter.

The men worked for about half an hour. At the end, they loaded up the branches on a lorry and left. My lovely laurel is gone. Killed by the snow.

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Heat zones and hardiness zones

This was the week that temperatures on the balcony dropped to -3°C (26°F) and we had 40 cms (about 16 inches) of snow within 36 hours. That's more than I've seen in Milan for about 20 years - and the first time I've ever seen snow heaped up on the balcony. It is however well within the limits of our hardiness zone.

It seems that every US gardener knows what hardiness zone they're in. Yet the idea is much less common in Europe. It is possible to find out though, and backyardgardener.com links to maps showing not only the US, but also Europe ( this one from gardenweb.com is particularly good - click on the different countries to get an enlarged view of wherever you are in Europe, Australia, China and the States.

Knowing your hardiness zone isn't always much help though. First of all, because the categories seem to me to be extremely wide. We're in zone 8, which means that temperatures might go as low as -12°C. Well, yes I suppose they might. But they almost never do. If we have a week below freezing with a couple of days at -5 or -6, that's an exceptionally cold winter. Most years we never see temperatures drop far below freezing at all. Even this week we've mostly been around 0-2°.

One reason for that however is that we're in the middle of a city - where temperatures are always 2-3°C higher than the surrounding countryside. And that's another problem with hardiness zones - you need to take into account the individual factors of your garden : how exposed is it? If you're south facing, if you have nice sheltering walls, or if like me you garden on a balcony that receives warmth from the house, the official temperatures and those which your plants experience may be quite different. I've said before that I can get so-called annuals like petunias to survive the winter on the balcony just by covering them and placing them against the walls of the house. The conditions in the micro-climate of your own garden may be quite different from the "official" conditions of your zone.

However, the other problem is that hardiness zones only take into consideration the low, winter temperatures. I've said we're in zone 8 here - but so is much of Britain, and the type of plants that grow well here and in Britain are often quite different. We may have similar winter conditions, but the summer heat is another story.

In the US, it's also possible to find out your heat zone. The zones are based on how many days the temperature rises above 30°C / 86°F, and you can see how the zones are labelled at the site of the American Horticultural Society. But I can find nothing for any other part of the world. And as I lose far more plants to heat than cold, I'd like to know.

But for now, we're still coping with the snow.

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Gardeners' Bloom Day : Antirrhinums

It's Gardeners' Bloom Day again, and what have I got on the balcony? Bloomin' antirrhinums. Well, what else were you expecting in December?

I've written before about how, though usually considered as annuals, antirrhinums are actually perennials and will put up with a lot. This plant is about four years old by now, and has been snowed on regularly. The microclimate on the balcony protects it from long periods below freezing, but they're tougher than the gardening books sometimes make out. They're usually classed as "half-hardy", but in my experience it's nearer three-quarters.

What I didn't mention before though was the fact not only will it survive the winter, but you'll also get flowers. It's a bit like with winter flowering pansies - although their "real" flowering period is the spring, they'll also put out a few blooms around Christmas. Well, mine do anyway. Last year I thought it was just a freak occurrence, but now it's happening again with the same plant. It's got four or five flower spikes in bud at the moment.

OK, it's nothing compared to May. But at this time of year I reckon you have to be grateful for what you can get. So thank you little plant, and may you bloom on happily all through the cold months to come.

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Well, the north wind did blow, and then we had snow ..

And when the north wind blows, we know about it. It sweeps down from Siberia, picks up the cold air of the Alps and then blasts down on us, usually bringing snow.

So we woke up on Wednesday morning to this, the second time this year.

It didn't last long - by mid morning it had turned to rain, and then it just teemed down for the rest of the week. A nuisance, but we escaped the problems that other areas have had. In the mountains people have been blocked in ski resorts because roads have been closed for fear of avalanches. Just outside Rome, 75,000 acres of farmland has been flooded while in the city the Tiber was at record levels and very close to bursting its banks - click on the link for a photo.

It's not unknown for the Tiber to flood - one article I read estimates that it happens every 50-100 years. But it's ironic that it happened just as EU leaders were meeting in Brussels to discuss measures aimed at reducing climate change.

Was it a success? It depends who you read. Yes, in the sense that it retained the threatened 20/20/20 policy : countries still agree to a target of cutting CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020, to reaching 20% use of renewable energy, and to a 20% improvement in energy efficiency. No, because of the concessions made to some of the countries with the biggest pollution problems.

With the economic crisis biting hard, industry is clearly lobbying harder than ever to protect itself against any measures which are going to cost it money. Under the original plan, all power plants were going to have to start buying "carbon allowances" from 2013, thus encouraging energy saving and a turn to cleaner sources. But for many plants this has now been reduced to paying for only 30% of their allowances at the beginning, the 100% target not being reached until 2020.

This mostly affects the poorer countries from the ex-"eastern bloc", many of which are still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Yet these are exactly the countries which are the worst polluters.

It wasn't only the poorer countries though. Germany pushed for and obtained concessions, while Italy was at one point threatening to use its veto and block the whole process, objecting to the idea that it should be "only" Europe which was acting, while new economies like China and India continued undermining any effects that the European initiatives might have. Yet if the EU can't even get its own countries to agree to change, it's not clear why they expect others should happily climb on board.

So we have the same targets as before - but much weaker mechanisms for achieving them. That seems like a contradiction in terms to me, rather than the great victory that the Italians were proclaiming. The only attempt I've found at explaining how it might still happen was the BBC's cheery little comment that "CO2 emissions are likely to fall anyway if a prolonged recession brings significant plant closures". Erm ...

At the same time as the EU summit, there was a two-week a UN conference in Poznan in Poland - ironically, one of Europe's worst polluters. At first it seemed more positive. Al Gore was confident that the Obama government will have a far more active policy on preventing climate change than did the Bush government. Well, it certainly won't be less active, but apparently he's not going to think about it until at least the summer. Now, this certainly isn't something to be decided overnight - it's too important. but if you've known for a while that you might end up as president of the US, isn't it something that's important enough that you would already have thought about it? Especially when you know your predeccessor has already been dragging his feet for so long. Gore also pointed to the fact that some of the developing countries - like Brazil, Mexica and China - were coming on board, with pledges on restraining the rise in greenhouse gas emissions already in place.

But what has come out of both meetings is that the developing countries need money - money which the richer nations could provide but are often reluctant to do so. Some progress has been made - for example, Britain is providing £100m to help countries such as Indonesia reduce deforestation (see this article in The Independent). In addition, some funds have been provided to compensate poorer countries which have recently suffered from extreme weather conditions, such as flooding, for the impacts of climate change. But it's not enough - currently no more than $80m. And anyway, it's a different issue. It doesn't solve the problem.

Poznan is the half way stage in a two year process which will end with a conference in Copenhagen next year, and which is intended to be the "next Kyoto". Whether Poznan has been a positive step in this direction depends, again, on who you read. Hopefully, by then the States, unlike in Kyoto, will "on board". But will they be any more willing to go against the business lobby than Europe has been? And without strong commitment from the US and the EU, will the developing countries be interested?

Meanwhile, back to the weather. We had a short truce this morning. The torrential rain finally stopped - thank goodness as my son had a football match (US readers read "soccer") and would have been soaked as well as freezing to death. One is enough. But the forecast is for more heavy rain and snow, starting in the north and spreading south. I think we might just be heading for a white Christmas ...

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Snow on the antirrhinums

We have had snow this week. Not a lot, and it sooned turned back to rain, but for a few hours the world turned white.

It wasn't unexpected. The first two weeks of January are usually the coldest of the year here, although tradition has it that it should be the last three days of the month which have the bitterest weather. They even have a name - i giorni della merla, or the days of the blackbird. The legend goes that the blackbird was once white, and feared the cold of January so much that one year he decided to lay in a stock of food and spend the whole month holed up in the shelter of an empty tree. At the time, January had only twenty eight days, and on the twenty eighth, after a month of unusually mild temperatures, he decided it was safe to come out. Big mistake. January, angry at the way the bird had tried to trick him, asked February for a loan of three days, and for those days unleashed the worst weather he could find - snow, wind, freezing temperatures and so on. The bird, scared out of his wits, took shelter in an old, unused chimney and waited it out. But when he finally came out, his feathers, coated with soot from the chimney, had become black. And so they have been ever since.

But if the snow wasn't unexpected, the antirrhinums were. Antirrhinums in January ??? And though covered with fleece, the marigolds which I blogged about last month are still going strong. Funny things, plants.

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Garden Bloggers' Carnival - Day Three

Welcome to Day Three of the Garden Bloggers' Retro Carnival. If you've been following the Carnival you'll know that people have been sending in links to posts on their blogs which they want to revive, and that every day I'm publishing a lists divided (very roughly!) by theme. Today's theme is gardening in winter.

We're starting with a Hallowe'en post. Hallowe'en was originally a Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced sow-in), marking the Celtic New Year - which started on November 1st. The festival of Samhain on October 31st marked the end of the old year and the beginning of winter — the “season of cold and darkness.”

If like me your idea of carving a Hallowe'en pumpkin is a gash for a mouth, three holes for the eyes and nose and a left hand covered in sticking plasters, then see what they produced over at An eclectic garden

I don't know about where you are, but here we're still having bright sunny days and it doesn't seem like winter at all yet. But if you’re in the northern hemisphere and the ever-shorter days and dropping temperatures are starting to depress you, check out this post on Gardening for winter interest by Jessica at Garden Detective

And if like me you don’t have a greenhouse but still start getting itchy to plant just after Christmas, you’ll love Angie’s post at Gardens-n-Junk.

Winter is the ideal time to rethink your garden design for the following year. What colours predominate in your garden? Do you go for subtle pastels? Cool blues and whites? Bright reds and yellows happily clashing away ? Kris at Blithewold won’t mind if you break the rules.



And while you're at it, why not get some inspiration from some historic landscaped gardens. Cave Hill Gardens has some suggestions as to where you might look.

You might also want to revamp your gardening wardrobe - throw out some off the stuff that's just too far gone and downgrade those tatty jeans and that old jumper that you're starting to feel conspicuous in at the supermarket. Deciding what to put on your feet when you’re gardening can be a delicate choice too. Here’s a review from Ellis Hollow on the ideal footwear for use when shovelling, mowing – and as a rodent repellent. It’s the smell you see...)

But don't get too depressed by the winter. At least most of us know the long sunny days of summer will soon be back. Anne of the Tundra Garden has no such luck - she even has snow in July, but she still manages to grow things. Check out how at her blog on the northernmost garden of the North American continent.

That's it for today, but the Carnival will be back midweek with more links. And this time the theme will be - well, buy one, get ten free.

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Cover Up

A couple of weeks ago I was talking about how we were having temperatures of 18°C. Well, within a couple of days they were warning that a big freeze was on it's way, and forecasting snow and sub zero temperatures. So I immediately rushed out, tucked everything next to the walls of the house and covered it all with fleece.

We did have cold weather one day - I think it dropped to -1° and for about three minutes a sort of sleety snow came down before it turned back into rain. But then the temperature went back up to about 6 or 7° and has stayed there ever since. I'm in two minds whether to uncover everything again or not. This is, of course what the balcony usually looks like in the winter. It's usually covered up from about mid December until mid or late February, or even later. It's not impossible that we have snow in March. I think I'll wait a bit and see. When I put the fleece on I noticed that the flower buds were already well formed on my stock - I hope I won't lose them all.

If you thought you were in the wrong place when you came into the blog, you're not - in a desperate attempt to avoid work one day, I changed the template. I lost my What flower are you? button, which I got from Hanna's site, and had to go back and do it again (click on the button if you want to try the quiz yourself). And lo and behold, I'm no longer a daisy - I've turned into an echinea. Not sure why. I had a second look at the questions, tweaked a bit just in case I'd been flattering myself before, but no - I always came out as an echinacea. A pity, as I rather identified with my daisy, but the colour fits quite nicely into the sidebar ...

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! First of all, here are the answers to the Christmas quiz (because I know you can’t wait) : 1b (my Christmas sprouts had obviously been well frosted, because they were delicious), 2c (don't try this at home), 3a, 4c, and 5 mistletoe.

I hope you had a good Christmas holiday. One person who certainly did was Trillium, who won the BBC Gardener of the Year award. Well, she really won it in the autumn, but couldn’t tell anyone until the programme was shown last Saturday. Luckily she had the sense to keep a secret blog describing what happened during the days of the competition and it’s now on-line. As it’s in blog format, you have to go back to the earliest posts and read it in date order, but it’s well worth the scrolling. You can also find out about it on the BBC website. And just in case anyone is wondering, Joe Swift - the presenter of the programme - is not, as far as I know, any relation. But he does seem to have the Swift chin, not to mention a very similar hairline to other males of the family. In fact he bears a decided resemblance to my brother .... perhaps I should do some research.



My Christmas was great. As usual we went to Aachen in Germany where my sister-in-law lives. We usually spend half the time tobogganing, but this year it was so mild, there was no chance. Except for Christmas Day when it suddenly, and temporarily, dropped to minus 3°. As it had been plus 8° the day before, the condensation just covered all the trees and plants with ice. These photos were taken on Christmas morning, when we went out for a walk after we’d opened our presents.

But not the next one. Before I went away, I decided to move all my plants next to the walls of the house, and cover the most delicate with fleece, just in case the temperature dropped while we were gone. And look what I found – a petunia in bloom on December 21st. If that’s not evidence for climate change, I’m not sure what is.



I had two gardening related presents this year. Firstly, a calendar focusing on a different plant each month and the herbal remedies associated with it. It’s in German so I’ll have to get my dictionary out, but I’ll let you know month by month what it says. And the second one was from some friends who gave me this lovely set of cards and envelopes, homemade with photos of flowers from their own garden. A super idea and one I shall copy next year.

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Christmas Quiz

Do you like our Christmas tree? We started our own family tradition when my son was small - there was no point getting another one when we already had a seven foot monster dominating our (very small) sitting room and we were going away for Christmas anyway. But now, even when we stay at home, it doesn't seem necessary - this is "our" Christmas tree.

Christmas is a time for quizzes, so here's one for you about some common Christmas plants. I'll put the answers up after the holidays, but if you can't wait, you'll find all the answers on the net (I did!).

1. For me Christmas dinner isn't Christmas dinner without brussel sprouts. It's well known that they taste better after the frost has got to them - but why?
a. The frost kills the plant, which is then preserved because frozen, but becomes tenderer as it slowly decays.
b. Sugar replaces water in the cells to protect them from the cold, and so they become sweeter.
c. The frost breaks up the ground and allows more oxygen to get to the roots.
d. Actually, this is an old wives tale - it makes no difference at all. The important thing is that they've had longer to grow.

2. What was the sap of the Poinsettia used for in the 14th-16th centuries ?
a. as a poison b. to flavour soups c. as a cure for fever d. as a cure for nausea

3. According to Pliny the Elder, holly flowers had the ability to :
a. turn water to ice b. turn iron to gold c. protect against evil spirits d. revive the dead

4. Fir trees were used as a symbol of Christianity from the 7th century, and by the 12th century were Christmas symbols. But what was different about the way they were used?
a. They were burnt as a ritual sacrifice b. They were eaten on Christmas Day c. They were hung upside down from the ceiling d. They were worshipped

5. Only one native British plant has white berries. What is it?
a-d. Oh come on, you don't need clues for this one :)

Doubt if I'll have time to post again till after Christmas, so ....

Happy Christmas to everyone!

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The Beginning of Winter

I suppose you know that winter is coming when you suddenly can't think of anything to blog about. I can't believe how long it is since the last post. I seem to have been working on the balcony as much as ever, but it's all clearing up work and settling things down for the winter. The excitement of the summer now seems long gone.

The weather has changed this week and it's got noticeably colder - down to about 8° at night. So I've started to bring in the plants that won't survive outside when the cold really hits. I could probably have hung on a bit longer, but the heating is now starting to come on, and I wanted to get them in before the difference in inside/outside temperature got too great. The tree is back in its winter position in the sitting room and I've taken several houseplants into the office. My flat is fairly dark with no window-sills - while my office has a big window with a large wide sill, and plants do very well there.

I had to prune the tree back, despite really wanting to wait till spring. But it was way too big for the room. So I've cut it back to a manageable 7ft in height and about half what it was in width, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It generally goes into shock when it first comes in, and sheds quite a lot of leaves, but then calms down. I'm hoping I've not created too much extra trauma.

At the moment the only things which are really flowering are the Cyclamen, though as you can see from the photos a couple of marigold bushes and a few other things are hanging on in there heroically amongst the dying remains. I don't think they'll last much longer though. Even the Zinnia have finally given up. The Chrysanthemums (or whatever we're supposed to call them now) are full of buds but won't be ready to flower for another two or three weeks.

As I've cleared out the summer stuff, I've also been planting the biennials (bellis, forget-me-nots, wallflowers, stock, hollyhocks and a few others) into their flowering positions for next spring. None of my pansy seeds germinated this year - I don't know why because I've never had problems before - so sooner or later I shall have to go out and buy some. A pity, because I love the weird and wonderful colour combinations that you get after they've cross-pollinated for a couple of years.

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