{"id":1660,"date":"2010-11-24T20:06:33","date_gmt":"2010-11-25T01:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.1.5\/gardens\/gardenlog\/?p=1660"},"modified":"2017-07-21T13:03:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-21T18:03:31","slug":"week-47-1119-1125","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/garden-book-reviews\/week-47-1119-1125\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 47: 11\/19 – 11\/25"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dateline: 2007<\/strong>
\nWhen I lived in Japan, the weather was pretty consistent. When summer started cooling off, it just colder and colder each day through winter and then it started warming up until it was spring. Once winter arrived, there was no relief from the cold. I much prefer Austin’s weather pattern. For example, Wednesday (11\/21) temperatures hit a record high of 89F ahead of a cold front that dropped temperatures overnight to near freezing. The entire Thanksgiving holiday was gray and cold and windy–perfect for baking and feasting but not much fun for the boys who wanted to spend their time off hiking and biking. Saturday we got our first good rain since October 22nd. You northerners will laugh, but after four days of cold, I’m tired of winter. Luckily next week the sun and temperatures in the 70s return.<\/p>\n

Even Austin’s idyllic approach to winter has some drawbacks. I spend a lot of time covering plants up if a freeze threatens only to uncover them the next day when temperatures soar. The potted plants get trotted into the house and then trotted back out again. I watch the roses anxiously wondering if this latest flush of new growth will freeze before it can flower. (‘Ducher’ and ‘Blush Noisette’ are blooming this week; ‘Heritage’ and ‘Prosperity’ have buds.) Our plants don’t go dormant, so they are very vulnerable to the half-dozen or so hard freezes we get each winter. But this is a small price to pay to enjoy a string of warm, sunny days between winter storms.<\/p>\n

Looking over the notes from previous years I’m happy to see that I finally DID get my mulching mower–it took almost a year but I finally followed through.<\/p>\n

First flower: Helianthus annuus ‘Moulin Rouge’ (11\/20).
\n
\nDateline: 2006<\/strong>
\n\"photo:
\n2006-11-24. My serendipitous tree. Even my ginkgo doesn’t turn this yellow. An answer to Susan Harris’s accusation of ignorance and laziness<\/a>.<\/i>
\nI feel like a pregnant woman about to go into labor–my nesting instinct hit hard this weekend and I’ve been acting pretty squirrely in the garden, racing around from one spot to another digging, mulching, transplanting, pulling things up and putting things in the ground. The sunny weather continues and the temperatures are topping out near 80 but come next Thursday\/Friday a hard freeze (28F) is forecast. All my reading about winter storms past got me spooked. There’s too much to do before the seasons turn.<\/p>\n

Annie<\/a> and Pam<\/a> both reported signs of a light frost. My basil thermometer (pun intended) is confused. No sign of frost. The cosmos and the Ascelpias, both frost tender, seem okay. But the chili pequin, pink four o’clocks (red four o’clocks fine), and some banana leaves all turned yellow (not black) during the week. The crape myrtle went a stunning orange red overnight. Even the oak leaves are tinged with red.<\/p>\n

\"photo:
The crape myrtles add some reddish orange to our meagre autumn palette.<\/i><\/p>\n

Fall arrived overnight. The Mexican plum trees turned color and began dropping leaves–I can see my neighbor’s house now. And the cedar elms are having their second leaf drop. (They dropped half their leaves in September). The downtown skyline is now visible. And the messy pecans are being messy. I better get my new mulching mower soon or…oh, wait. I live in South Austin. No one cares if I mow my lawn or rake my leaves.<\/p>\n

My one remaining crocus<\/a> bloomed (11\/22). It’s either ‘Conqueror’ or ‘Cassiope’ Three years ago, I said I’d buy more but I still haven’t.<\/p>\n

First flower: Rose ‘Penelope<\/a>‘ (11\/20); Crocus (11\/22); Lavender (11\/22); Fatsia japonica (11\/24)<\/p>\n

Something else has been digging in the yard like crazy. I don’t think it’s the squirrels because it looks more as if it was rooting in the mulched paths. Could it be the armadillo<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Dateline: 2003<\/strong>
\nIn my old garden book, this week begins the winter section. Forget the fact that it was 80 last week; forecast is for lows in the 20s this week.<\/p>\n

The vegetable garden was just beginning to produce after a long dry summer. So I had to pick the basil, tomatoes, and eggplant. The pink eggplant is ‘Neon’ and has a sweet, creamy white flesh–nothing like those bitter purple eggplant you buy at the grocer’s. I also grow a Japanese type (long and thin) called ‘Ichiban’–which is Japanese for number 1.<\/p>\n

\"photo:
\n2003-11-23. Picking the summer veggies before the first big freeze.<\/i><\/p>\n

The larger tomatoes are ‘Carmello’ (one of my favorites). The taste described elsewhere as acidic or citrus–that’s the flavor I like since I use them in salsa. The cherry tomatoes are a mix of ‘Red Currant’ and ‘Sweet Million’. This is the first year I’ve tried either of them, but next year I’ll be back to growing ‘Sungold’–my hands down favorite, so far. I also tried the heirloom tomato ‘Constoluto Genovese<\/a>‘. Jefferson is said to have grown it at Monticello, but I have had very little luck with it in Austin, Texas. Maybe it prefers cooler climes.<\/p>\n

Update: 2003-11-25.
\nThe same conditions (parking lots and high-rises) that keep my neighborhood several degrees warmer than the official highs in the summer provide the same benefit in the winter. I don’t think it froze in my yard at all. At least the basil came through unscathed. It’s usually the first to go. There was a thin sheet of ice in the bird bath, but the south side of the yard where the tropicals are planted came through with no damage.<\/p>\n

Six roses have very tender new growth this week: ‘Ducher’, ‘New Dawn’, ‘Buff Beauty’, ‘Souvenir del Malmaison’, ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’, Madame Joseph Schwartz’. This is a tricky time for the roses. They love it when the highs are in the 70s as they will be again starting tomorrow. But then you get one or two nights of subfreezing weather which threaten to do them in just as they are budding.<\/p>\n

\"photo:
\n2003-11-29. This cooler weather seems to favor Souvenir de St Anne. This is probably the most perfect flower she’s produced so far.<\/p>\n

First flower: paperwhite narcissus (11\/20).<\/p>\n

Dateline: 2002<\/strong>
\nContinued perfect weather with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s. The pecans and cedar elms have dropped all their leaves. The red oaks are just beginning to change color.<\/p>\n

The Dolichos lablab are in full flower, although the leaves are somewhat bug-eaten and ratty. The cooler weather brings out the purplish cast to the leaves. The Pandorea ricasoliana are covered in pink trumpet-shaped flowers. You can see why some local nurseries call the “desert willow vines”, although they are not related.<\/p>\n

The luffa vines also are getting a second wind and flowering. It’s probably too late for any of these flowers to bear fruit though.<\/p>\n

The Crocus speciosus ‘Cassiope’ are blooming well. The Brugmansia now has four flowers, each more beautiful than the last.<\/p>\n

I’m holding my breath concerning the roses. Our first frost date is officially today, November 20th. But this has been a somewhat warm and very wet fall. All the roses are forming buds. ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ looks very promising. Will they bloom before a frost?<\/p>\n

All the paperwhite narcissus are up and one is forming a flower spathe already. Yikes! I have bulbs that still need to be planted. Maybe tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Dateline: 2001<\/strong>
\nFriday November 23, 2001
\nThe cold front evaporates and it is dry, sunny, and reaches 80. A lone larkspur, 12 inches tall, is blooming in the meadow. The early paperwhites continue to bloom here and there.<\/p>\n

Dateline: 2000<\/strong>
\nSunday November 19, 2000
\nYesterday it rained all day and was colder and drearier than in Manchester, UK (according to yahoo.com). Today is clear with our second threat of our first freeze. It’s a beautiful day. AJM chops wood. We go to get hay but the hay place is closed on Sundays. I don’t really feel like getting ready for the freeze. I cover what I can with floating row covers but I leave much undone.<\/p>\n

Dateline: 1999<\/strong>
\nSaturday November 20, 1999
\nContinue our record-breaking heat wave: I think it is now 17 days in a row of temperatures in the 80s.<\/p>\n

Dateline: 1998<\/strong>
\nFirst flower: crocus (11\/24).<\/p>\n

Dateline: 1996<\/strong>
\nSunday November 24, 1996
\nThe cold front they promised yesterday blew in the early hours of morning with lightning and thunder. We had a good steady rain all morning, perhaps an inch or more. By 11:00 it was still drizzling and becoming colder. The wind has an unpleasant bite. The rain beat down the crocuses and they look withered and pathetic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"acorns\"
2010-11-24. Ground acorns.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1660"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5139,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions\/5139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}