Part of my poor old plant nursery!
By Anchorman
11 Feb, 2012
3 likes
The plants have virtually disappeared . Hopefully the blanket of snow will have afforded my stock plants some protection. Last night was the coldest I can remember since I became a nurseryman in 1988
Comments on this photo
It was -16c last night which is a near record for my part of the world( North Cambridgeshire) certainly it's never been that cold since at least 1988
11 Feb, 2012
Fingers crossed that they are nice and cosy under that blanket.
11 Feb, 2012
Gosh that's cold. It said something about -8 on hubby's screen for Romford. They do say that a real cold snap in winter is beneficial to many plants and trees. To someone like yourself, with everything frozen solid, it's a bloomin nuisance...to say the least.
12 Feb, 2012
We've had -14 Alan does the river at Sutton Bridge come in from the wash ? it probably whooshes the cold wind straight down your way , the snow does help to keep the plants warm fingers crossed that yours will survive ,it's been thawing today ! I like the fact that your garden chair is still out there in anticipation of better weather :o))
12 Feb, 2012
The Nene does come in from The Wash and it flows directly north/south depending on the tide. I live 200 metres from the river and when there's a northerly gale get battered by it .
All my plants will have now been sitting in ice blocks for over a week . Most should be OK as they survived last winter but some were badly stunted .
12 Feb, 2012
That sounds bad Alan you need a good thick hedge all round you for protection , do you ever have floods from the river ?
12 Feb, 2012
It hasn't flooded in living memory and I've never seen the water nearer than about 6 feet off the top of the banks which were raised about 50 years ago.
Further in land though I think they're in much greater dsanger of flooding. At Guyhirn a few years ago I once saw the water get within 6 inches of the top of the banks.
They've recently raised the banks through Wisbech but not as far as i know at Guyhirn which is a much smaller place and no doubt they argue it isn't cost effective.
Even though I'm fairly safe they've recently added us to the "at risk of flooding" area and my house insurance nearly doubled last year and no other company would even quote.
12 Feb, 2012
The insurance companies are so mean in their behaviour. The slightest excuse and they shove up insurance costs. Surely East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the country? Also one of the best versed in drainage and building of dykes on slow flowing rivers
13 Feb, 2012
Yes although I'm only 200 metres from a tidal river witrh a 15 foot range I reckon i'm probably less likely to flood than most. The problem is we are on a flood plain but the insurers seem to have "forgotten" we have fantastic flood defences
I hope I'm not tempting providence saying that!
13 Feb, 2012
I think the insurers are using this flood plane stuff as an excuse to put up the ins.costs . we are officially being declared a drought region but at the same time they are talking about building thousands of new houses in Norfolk . Farmers are being asked not to draw water from rivers etc. there's going to be a huge food shortage if it carries on ....
13 Feb, 2012
Follow up....
Almost everything got through the winter except 120 coreopsis... everyone of which died.
I won't be growing coeopsis for sale again!
28 Jul, 2012
Thanks for the update anchorman. Its good to know you got through this last winter with not too much damage to your nursery plants. We stayed in a cottage near the river at Guyhirn some years ago and I painted a picture of a combine harvester at work from the top of the dyke.
29 Jul, 2012
I lost my beautiful Corepsis this winter, A.man, was so dissapointed it was a mix of reds and pinks called 'turkish delight'. Also lost my Gaura too. :(
29 Jul, 2012
Certainly pretty chilly at the moment...........
11 Feb, 2012