After the Frost

 Hello m' happy 2023ers,


Well, I've had a starry comedown after Gardeners' World's 'Adam Frost' visited just before Christmas and quaffed all the best biscuits and craft beers [see here]. It was near impossible to keep a straight face and steady camera hand when Monsieur appeared in character, complete with spade and long arm, huffing and puffing, from the bottom of the garden. In the end I had to close my eyes to film it! Here's a behind the scenes audio out take to prove it (we didn't have clip board so we had to do a '3,2,1' to sync the audio) -

Turns out the December frost  (please note now I'm referring to the cold temperature, not the Adam variety of Frost) destroyed a few of my beloved succulents. It was to be expected for those left outside. The cold also shivered its way through the cracks and gaps into my unheated greenhouse though, sealing the door shut for days. 

Although I had brought the succulent pots in a couple of weeks before, they were already very wet. They simply did not have chance to dry before the frosts arrived. With a more prolonged frost this year, I've had more casualties than I normally would.

 

Do you have a cuppa at hand? I have coffee and ginger cake. Let's have a quick scrub down....

The outdoors tree Aeoniums are not looking happy, but should recover -


 The patio purple aeoniums slumped over.

Here I am prodding them with a stick to see if they are still alive -

The Echeverias in the greenhouse look happy enough - 

I really don't expect these to recover - my beautiful Dinner Plate Aonium '(Tabuliforme') and  Kalanchoe thrrisiflora 'Bronze Sculpture'.

These should have been brought into the house, as they were this time last year, sat on the granny trolley with a hot drink and good book. 

(See The Cocunut Shy Prize here)

The Crassula had frost burnt tips, which were pinched off.  The Hawthorias survived. 


Back to another disaster, this time up on the top patio - Tradescanthia 'Purple Sabre' - turned to mush once it thawed out. Yet again my own fault for not bringing it in.

This was a car booty find in the summer - from a lady that had fallen in love with them in Crete. If you want to see how they are meant to look, here's a gorgeous picture of blogger Vintage Vix stood beside a fine potted specimen in Rhodes -

Image © https://vintagevixon.blogspot.com   2022

Plus Ivana captured a Tradescanthia on this incredible hill side garden by the sea in Croatia back in the summer. 

Isn't that a wonderful thing about armchair traveling through people's blogs, even if it is not a gardening specific blog, you spot plants in their happiest environment.

Image © https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com  2022

Luckily I had a backup plan for my Tradescanthia. In autumn, I rooted cuttings in water, potted them on and they are now doing well on the window ledge. 



All I need now is to grow them on a bit, pop them out on the patio in summer and perhaps get Vix to come & model them!

That's all for today folks. I hope you are keeping well. Please say hello if you ave stopped by.

Lulu xXx

p.s. The picture on the top of the blog post was taken on New Year's day in St Ives, where we met up with some dear old friends. Last time we saw them in the summer, one of their kids was trawling the beach with a metal detector, enrolling other kids to dig for them and trying to sell the found rusty nails to other unsuspecting kids (what an entrepreneur right?!). 

p.p.s. This time we took our kites over to fly on the beach. Monsieur refused to partake, saying the hobby was even tw@tier than metal detecting. Anyhow, I had my hands full with bags, so he had to carry one of the kites through St Ives. Who looks like a proper tw*t now eh!???

Thank you for visiting!

Most recent posts can be found here -

https://longmizzle.blogspot.com/

 

You can also sometimes find me here -

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You may also enjoy from the ol' archive -

Neolithic Partridge

The Coconut Shy Prize 

A garage or shed of your own?






Comments

  1. You must have been heartbroken to see so many of your succulents frostbitten, two of my lemon trees got attacked, I have pruned the blackened parts back but will be surprised if they make a comeback. I think kite flying is wonderful, especially over the sea. Betty x

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    1. Thank you, kite flying is wonderful Betty! I don't know why Monsieur has such an issue with it. Fingers crossed for your lemon trees xXx

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  2. It's sad when the weather catches us out and our plants suffer. It's happened to me more than once and when a plant dies from my neglect, I am cross with myself! Put it down to experience and then embrace the positive by supporting a local nursery/garden centre and buying some more! Good thinking on taking those tradescantia cuttings!
    Best wishes
    Ellie

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    1. Thank you Ellie :) Oh yes, I can feel a another trip to Surreal Succulents down Penzance way coming on. The carbooty sales are pretty good for plants too. Both are good things to look forward to xXx

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  3. so sorry that your succulents got frozen - weather is very strange this winter.... hope that most of the plants will recover and that your back-up seedlings will come out beautifully!
    i´m still in awe about monsieurs performance skills :-D
    the first foto is genius!!
    stay warm and cosy - and your plants too! xxxxx

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    1. It is has certainly been colder than previous years. This time last year, some of my succulents were flowering! Monsieur managed to do most of the takes in one, without the distraction of me! Stay toasty Beate xXx

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  4. Blasted frost! Hopefully they're recover but the leaves on my agapanthus and nasturtiums looked like something out of a Dali painting after the frost got to 'em!
    Give me a shout, I'll happily pop down and model those Tradescantias for you! Talking for which, if you haven't already done so, Philippa Gregory's Earthly Joys is based on gardener & plant hunter John Tradescant, who those luscious purple plants are named after! xxx

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    1. M' agapanthus are all floppy soggy! Thanks for the photo permission Vix, it's such as good one. Oooh, I must hunt out Earthly Joys, that sounds really interesting xXx

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  5. I lost loads of succulents this winter too. Thankfully I put some in the garage where it's a little warmer. It'll soon be spring and you can invite Carol Klein to visit

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    1. Well done on stashing some away in your garage Cherie. Carol Klein is most welcome to visit. I'd crack open a special bottle of plonk ;) xXx

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  6. If I ever need something to get me giggling all I'll need to do is pull up the audio outtake. Hilarious! So sorry about your mushy plants, I know that heartache. Many of mine that I thought were fine after our cold are now starting to melt too.

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    1. Thanks Loree :) I really don't know how Monsieur managed to keep a straight face! Blast the splooshiness & fingers crossed some will recover. I need to pop over soon for a good dose of Pacific North West gardening... xXx

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  7. Your What Really Happened video had me in stitches, particularly upon hearing you giggling in the background. I'm in total admiration of the fact that Monsieur was able to keep a straight face!
    But oh your poor succulents! I do hope most of them will recover. Poor Tradescantia too, it's a good thing you took those cuttings. Your garden needs another visit from Mr. Frost (Adam, not the meteorological phenomenon) methinks! xxx

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    1. Hehehe, thanks Ann. Monsieur is scarily good at acting... something he has passed onto our youngest daughter... who can also keep a deadpan straight face. I am hoping Monty may visit soon ;) xXx

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  8. Love the moody blue photo taken in St Ives, but I struggled to get past your hilarious out takes video. Filming with your eyes closed is an interesting technique!
    I laughed at Monsieur referring to metal detecting as a tw**ish hobby. They're often in the woods behind us, claiming to have found the odd Roman coin here and there. I have noticed that they are often carrying bags of loot that sound remarkably similar to clinking cans of beer however. xxx

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    1. Now that is exciting, finding a Roman coin! We get a fair few detectorists on the beaches down here, but I have never stopped one to speak to them. Nor will I be asking obvious questions such as 'found anything interesting today'' :) xXx

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  9. Shame about your succulents, I enjoyed the outtake video and, by the sounds of it, so did you. 😊 🐢 🐕.

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    1. Thank you David :) It's my own silly fault about the succulents. Hope you are keeping well xXx

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  10. Roll on spring. Sadly, at least several of my plants have succumbed to the frost. The rest, I am hopeful for, but I suspect there may be more victims. X

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    1. On no, fingers crossed for your plants too Jules. Hail-stoning here today, so coffee & a good book for me xXx

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  11. It's so frustrating when we loose plants. I learnt the whole frost lesson when I first moved here, I am a bit of pro with it now, it is a long time since I lost anything. Hope the cuttings are still thriving.

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    1. Thank you SM. Apologies for the late reply. Blogger decided to block me from commenting :0 .. but I have found a work around, mwahaha!!! I have had the emergency fleece at hand and the cuttings are doing well :) xXx

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  12. I lost a few succulents too, there's always something else to do and time flies past so quickly at times. Liked the audio out takes - good to hear and brought a smile. Thanks for the interesting read.

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    1. Thanks Mike :) Lesson learnt with the succulents, until I do it again next year ;) I need to do a bloggy catchup. Blogger has annoyingly been misbehaving lately, not letting me comment. Hope you are well xXx

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  13. Thank you for educating me and for the mention. I didn't know the name of the thing I photographed: Tradescanthia. That garden was such a dream. I still remember it. I might even paint sth from that photo I made, I mean I might reuse it as a reference for a photo.
    Isn't it the worst when Winter kills our succulents. Here the Winters are quite mild, but there are always those 'surprise cold' day...just one of these is all it takes for the poor succulents to die. I moved some of succulents from my balcony to my living room and they're doing well but I have also left some outside....we'll see what happens. We had a tiny bit of snow today.

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    1. Hello Ivana, well thank you for the photo permission! :) I know it was quite some time ago now that I asked you, but there is method in the madness ;) Ooooh, a painting of that beautiful garden you photographed would be gorgeous. Your indoor succulents sound nice & safe. I need to come over for a proper catchup very soon... xXX

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  14. It's sad to lose loved plants. We managed to get ours rescued from their summer holidays before the vicious cold spell hit. I loved your video - you have a very infectious laugh.

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    1. Hello there jabblog! Muchas thanks for stopping by and saying hello. Well done on the plant rescue. Sounds like they're all warm and ski chic-ed up. I am often told people know when I'm coming from my ridiculous laugh :0 I see you have a bloggy so will be sure to check it out xXx

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