Fall/WInter weather in the PNW talk.

[Trustandi]

Around 58-59 F today.  It is so nice to get a break from the crazy rain. 

How do you guys have tree frogs? I don't think i have ever found/heard one in my area.  The mason bees are active though, i feel bad for them, most of my fruit trees flowers haven't bloomed yet. 

[Hutch]

This is it....relentless right now..

[Hutch]

Terrible should have not rotated ...my bad..

[Chester B]

18 hours ago, Trustandi said:

Around 58-59 F today.  It is so nice to get a break from the crazy rain. 

How do you guys have tree frogs? I don't think i have ever found/heard one in my area.  The mason bees are active though, i feel bad for them, most of my fruit trees flowers haven't bloomed yet. 

I'm surprised, you don't have any.

We only have two frog species locally and no toads.  The other frog is the red-legged frog which are silent.

Pacific tree frog.  They are tiny little things but they are loud.  You get the odd one croaking all winter, but this is the time they start to congregate and breed.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

I'm surprised, you don't have any.

We only have two frog species locally and no toads.  The other frog is the red-legged frog which are silent.

Pacific tree frog.  They are tiny little things but they are loud.  You get the odd one croaking all winter, but this is the time they start to congregate and breed.

Think they're loud outside?  try keeping a dozen of them in an Aquarium, inside the house   " ..Come get your frogs out of the Bathtub / Sink / from behind the Toilet " was a common phrase spoken often when i had them, haha.  Used to collect and raise these from tadpoles every April / May when i was a kid.. Pretty much a right of passage. 

There have supposedly been sightings of the Baja sub species ( Species itself was chopped into sub / regional species awhile back ) along parts of the Salt River near downtown Phoenix.

[Chester B]

3 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Think they're loud outside?  try keeping a dozen of them in an Aquarium, inside the house   " ..Come get your frogs out of the Bathtub / Sink / from behind the Toilet " was a common phrase spoken often when i had them, haha.  Used to collect and raise these from tadpoles every April / May when i was a kid.. Pretty much a right of passage. 

There have supposedly been sightings of the Baja sub species ( Species itself was chopped into sub / regional species awhile back ) along parts of the Salt River near downtown Phoenix.

I love the little buggers but definitely not an inside pet.  My wife doesn't want me to put a small pond in because they'll keep her up at night with them just outside the house.

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, Chester B said:

I love the little buggers but definitely not an inside pet.  My wife doesn't want me to put a small pond in because they'll keep her up at night with them just outside the house.

Definitely good to have them around, then not for sure..

I'll tell ya.. One of the things i miss the most about living in FL. was being able to sit out in the screened in porch we had, or falling asleep w/ my window open  to the sounds of all the frogs that came out after summer storms.. Same thing in Kansas.. 

Depending where you're at, we have at least 3 sp. of true Toads, a couple Spadefoot species, and ..at least two Treefrogs you could hear after good Monsoon storm. More so in Tucson then in most of the well developed areas around Phoenix, unless you live near one of the man made neighborhood lakes, or one of the bigger washes closer to less developed desert areas.

Another thing about Pacific Tree / Chorus Frogs is their call is the most well known " background sound " used in movies, television, music / music videos..  Very rare i have seen a show supposedly made in say Georgia where they use the sounds of their native frogs / toads rather than the Treefrogs from the west coast.

 

[Chester B]

2 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Another thing about Pacific Tree / Chorus Frogs is their call is the most well known " background sound " used in movies, television, music / music videos..  Very rare i have seen a show supposedly made in say Georgia where they use the sounds of their native frogs / toads rather than the Treefrogs from the west coast.

So true.  Until I moved here I always thought that was some fake frog sound they always used in TV kind of like phone numbers always being 555-XXXX.

[Silas_Sancona]

9 minutes ago, Chester B said:

So true.  Until I moved here I always thought that was some fake frog sound they always used in TV kind of like phone numbers always being 555-XXXX.

Phone number example is debatable, even if true more often than not ( Had a land line that started with 999-,  haha )

Think the funniest thing i remember hearing in some show was the sound of these frogs, alongside the sounds of Monkeys and Kookabura ..Monkeys were the only " on target " sound for a jungle setting. Would figure the production end of ..a production.. would have someone that would go out and record authentic sounds, rather then the opposite, lol.. 

Maybe this is why many people have a skewed idea of what a jungle - in X area- must really sound like.

[Chester B]

The other one they use all the time is the sound of loons.  Any sort of forest scene, or anything that's supposed to be creepy.

Back to the original topic.  Still running cold this year at least 5-10F colder on any given day, temps should be 58-60F not low 50s.  Not too many average temp days, I would love to get a week of them.

[Paradise Found]

Here are my few plants that did not do good this winter.  Problem was to much rain and 5 days below freezing with only a low of 19F.  Could it have been colder than I think it did? or was it just the combo punch of rain and freezing. 

All the colorful  cordyline have die back or have spear pull,  two pots full of dyckia have 75% damage leaves, the worst in 6 years. 

Most of the green cordyline are ok including all the large ones.  none of the dyckia or cordyline is the unheated greenhouse has any serious damage. 

Agave parryi x truncata will recover,  One out of four z9a agave did not make it.  Others ok. 

anyone else have any bad news. 

All my palms did really good except for one unknown hybrid mule seedling died. 

Still seeing all the early plants leafing out, lots of great smelling plant in bloom. 

[Chester B]

My Beschorneria albiflora is mush, supposedly root hardy though.  Lady palms (Rhapis excelsa) look bad, unknown if they will recover.  Aloiampelos striatula had spear pull from half the shoots, but should recover.  Everything else ok.  No damage to colored cordylines.

[Trustandi]

My aloe striatulas look bad too. One of my Brahea clara's and BxPJC exposed fronds got a little burnt.

Eucalyptus pulverulenta 'baby blue' 1 gal sizes got severely toasted around 80-90%, hope it will sprout back.

One of the Livistona nítidas has some burnt on its exposed fronds around 70-80%. The spear is still green and firm. 

Washingtonia Filibustas' fronds are toasted, the spears are still firm and green. I think they will be ok. 

The rest are ok. I hope we get our normal spring weather temperature soon. 

 

[Paradise Found]

Well my walk around the yard today was a big eye opener with more damage showing up on thing that look great month ago. Did not get down to 19F.  Have to much damage on the most ender stuff  so it must of been more like 16 - 17F.  I will make a short but full report on the palm board in the next few days. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Paradise Found

[Chester B]

Yeah that’s a reaL pain. I noticed damage to my big sharkskin agave In the newer growth area. I think it will live but it’s the first time I’ve seen damage like that. I guess I should’ve given it some protection. Aside from that just a few more tender plants are hurting but it wasn’t unexpected. Good news is Sabal causiarum and T latisectus did just fine  

I’m pretty close to the last average frost date and nothing close in the forecast so that’s great news  

Plus we have some temps this week that will be starting with a 7. Can’t wait. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Chester B

[nick206]

I've been seeing the landscaping companies tear out the Cordylines and some Flax too. Its a shame we can't get a stretch of winters where they can reach their full potential away from the water, and after such a good summer. We have a string of enough years for them to get around 6' but never long enough to grow into the small trees like on the coast. Annoying....

The outlook for spring is cooler and wetter than average. Please let this la nina end.

[Paradise Found]

4 hours ago, nick206 said:

I've been seeing the landscaping companies tear out the Cordylines and some Flax too. Its a shame we can't get a stretch of winters where they can reach their full potential away from the water, and after such a good summer. We have a string of enough years for them to get around 6' but never long enough to grow into the small trees like on the coast. Annoying....

The outlook for spring is cooler and wetter than average. Please let this la nina end.

NIck, all the large NZ Flax are ok here and the tall cordylines is a hit or miss in town, my yard just happen to be in the way of some colder air, so it got hit pretty hard but have seen worst.  Spring is pretty much here and soon everything will be in full bloom. 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Paradise Found

[Chester B]

On 3/19/2022 at 4:32 PM, Paradise Found said:

NIck, all the large NZ Flax are ok here and the tall cordylines is a hit or miss in town, my yard just happen to be in the way of some colder air, so it got hit pretty hard but have seen worst.  Spring is pretty much here and soon everything will be in full bloom. 

We didn't get as cold so the flaxes all look great and the Cordylines are unphased.  My flaxes are getting so big now (and flowering) I'm contemplating removal, they take up a lot of real estate.

Same down here 5-10F cooler on any given day.  Our average this time of year is 60F and we barely have a day at 55F.  I think rainfall is about average, but it's been coming in spurts.

Cherry trees are at maximum bloom right now and many of the fruit trees are as well.  Some plants and trees already have their leaves.  Another 4 weeks and everything will be fully out for the year.  Late May/early June is when I think things look their best.  Lots of sunshine, the ground is still moist and we get some rain.