Polar Vortex To Plunge US Temperatures to -50C

[Dave Brown]

The extremes were pretty insane here! It was about 18C here one morning and lower than -14C the next...

Hi John, hope all is well with you, heard you were not so good a year or 2 back.

We have been largely getting the opposite, but your cold spell is due to hit Scotland over the next couple of days, although it will have warmed by quite a lot over the Atlantic.

[turtile]

The extremes were pretty insane here! It was about 18C here one morning and lower than -14C the next...

Hi John, hope all is well with you, heard you were not so good a year or 2 back.

We have been largely getting the opposite, but your cold spell is due to hit Scotland over the next couple of days, although it will have warmed by quite a lot over the Atlantic.

Thanks, I'm doing well now!

At least will find the hardiest specimens after all of the cold!

[miketropic]

after -32c only days ago its 12c at 3 am with a bit of rain..came in crazy and left just as fast

[Dave Brown]

Thanks, I'm doing well now!

At least will find the hardiest specimens after all of the cold!

Glad to hear it

We had virtually no real cold from 1992 to 2008, then things went down hill in 2008/9, 2009/10 and particularly Dec 2010.
Cordyline australis had grown to 20ft in the time, then in many areas they were wiped out, at least back to ground level.

It's not only about selecting the hardiest plants, but also selecting/creating the best micro-climates

after -32c only days ago its 12c at 3 am with a bit of rain..came in crazy and left just as fast

At least you have your latitude on your side to keep the Arctic out most of the time

[Alexander]

Thats the golden rule of growing exotics in colder climates, combinationn of hardiest plants combined with the best microclimate!

Thats why I always look first for the hardiest varieties of a particulair plant. For example Magnolia grandiflora 'Brackens Brown Beauty' instead of just a regulair less hardy M. grandiflora variaty.

Alexander

[Dave Brown]

Thats why I always look first for the hardiest varieties of a particulair plant. For example Magnolia grandiflora 'Brackens Brown Beauty' instead of just a regulair less hardy M. grandiflora variaty.

Alexander

I thought they were hardy, here at least. The reason they are grown against a wall is so the huge flowers face outward rather than upward. I had a tall free standing one and you could just about see the flowers pointing up to the heavens

[Conifers]

Thats why I always look first for the hardiest varieties of a particulair plant. For example Magnolia grandiflora 'Brackens Brown Beauty' instead of just a regulair less hardy M. grandiflora variaty.

Alexander

I thought they were hardy, here at least. The reason they are grown against a wall is so the huge flowers face outward rather than upward. I had a tall free standing one and you could just about see the flowers pointing up to the heavens

The main reason for growing them against a wall is to increase the summer heat effect, which increases the flowering. Magnolia grandiflora is one of those continental climate plants that's not worried about UK winter cold, but does need a baking hot summer to thrive and flower well.

[Alexander]

Thats why I always look first for the hardiest varieties of a particulair plant. For example Magnolia grandiflora 'Brackens Brown Beauty' instead of just a regulair less hardy M. grandiflora variaty.

Alexander

I thought they were hardy, here at least. The reason they are grown against a wall is so the huge flowers face outward rather than upward. I had a tall free standing one and you could just about see the flowers pointing up to the heavens

The main reason for growing them against a wall is to increase the summer heat effect, which increases the flowering. Magnolia grandiflora is one of those continental climate plants that's not worried about UK winter cold, but does need a baking hot summer to thrive and flower well.

Well the Brackens Brown Beauty do not need a wall to flower well here. Nor those Edith Bogue. Both are very winterhardy but do also flower well in my usely chilly Dutch summer. Well 22 C is the average maximum for the warmest month here wich is July. Well similair to the southern part of the UK I guess.

And M. grandiflora Exmouth is the one you see often trained along walls of old country houses in England.
It does however also flower in my area without training. But is is supposed to be more sensitive for strong winds.

Maybe also that training dates back to the time of introduction a couple of hundreds of years ago. Winters where colder then. And poeple might have regarded it as frost tender.

Well M. grandiflora Exmouth has survived minus 20 C and more in Steenwijkerwold at the nursery of ''De Groene Prins''.
Well here a list of his coldhardy M. grandiflora. Again at his nursery M. g. Brackens Brown Beauty is the winner. Best flowering one, best leaves and best coldhardiness in the chilly Dutch climate.



www.degroeneprins.nl

Alexander

[Alexander]

Thats why I always look first for the hardiest varieties of a particulair plant. For example Magnolia grandiflora 'Brackens Brown Beauty' instead of just a regulair less hardy M. grandiflora variaty.

Alexander

I thought they were hardy, here at least. The reason they are grown against a wall is so the huge flowers face outward rather than upward. I had a tall free standing one and you could just about see the flowers pointing up to the heavens

The main reason for growing them against a wall is to increase the summer heat effect, which increases the flowering. Magnolia grandiflora is one of those continental climate plants that's not worried about UK winter cold, but does need a baking hot summer to thrive and flower well.

Well some variaties will do well in in climates wich have not a backing hot summer!

Both Brackens Brownb Beauty and Edith Bogue grow very well here in Leidschendam and or summer are everything but backing hot! For backing hot summers you have to go to Hungary or Italy. And certainly NOT to Leidschendam wich is close to The Hague. The summers here are very similair to what you get in the UK. Well oofcourse the Northwest of the UK is colder. But central and southern parts are similair innsumer temperature. And the London area is much warmer.

And also some parts of England have even vineyards! You need a bit of good summer weather to grow grapevines for wineproduction.

P.S. M. g. Edith Bogue gets flowers up to 30 cm in diameter.

Alexander

[Dave Brown]

Mine was Exmouth, which flowered well, but you needed a ladder to see the damn things well as all at the top of the tree and facing upward.

[Kristen]

Maybe another reason for planting on a wall - look out of an upstairs window to enjoy the flowers?

Don't they have nice dangly-red seed pots too, or have I got the wrong type of Magnolia in mind?

[kata]

Has it gone now in America..the cold Insane temps?

[miketropic]

Has it gone now in America..the cold Insane temps?

very mild over here right after it left and night temps went from -32c to 0 c now an have stabalized.

[kata]

Good to hear Mike, we worried for you and your countrymen