Not really a Question ...

It snowed 5" today but at least our temperatures are up to -8C. A big change from the -18 or so we've had lately. ....its actually supposed to come up above freezing for a few days. That'll melt the 1.5 ft of snow out there and make a huge mess. Then, probably it will freeze again and we'll be back to the subzeros. I hope I winterized my roses well enough otherwise there are a couple that will definitely not make it through this winter.

Hi Gilli - Here in SW UK we're more used to warmer winters (rarely below about -4C) and then only for relatively short periods. You're cheating by living in BC, lol !! Personally, and I'm *ancient!*, I don't remember a -9 here in the last 30+ years. If you know it's coming you can take precautions but when you're not prepared ...

down in pembrokeshire we have been below freeezing for weeks now. i specialize in succulents and they are struggling but fingers crossed as it is a dry frost they do seem to be surviving. i visited my family up the valleys on the weekend and we all went walking on the pond......

hi all, yep having a few problems here in Essex too, we also don't usually get the worst of the weather, we have had a bit of snow, not much, it is the heavy frost, icy winds and everything freezing that i am concerned about. i have fleeced quite a lot, but wondering if i should have fleeced a few more that are hardy but newly planted. I cant even open my greenhouse door as it is frozen, and i know all the plants inside will be. i have brought into the house and porch all my echevera and geranium cuttings, as don't fancy there chances anywhere else. i have seedlings sown in the autumn in the greenhouse, which are all hardy perennials and annuals, but as they are babies don't think they will take too much of this. fingers crossed aye!

Angie,
You can cover your greenhouse with a dust sheet.
The tops of our Antirrhinums are frosted, also our lush Wallflowers, Geraniums in a trough not covered are being tested. If you have a good layer of snow leave it alone. Shake the snow off bent branches i.e. Rhododendrons.
Looks as though Peteq is nice and warm indoors.

thanks Dr.B, if we get much more of this prolonged cold i will give that a go. i did consider bubble wrapping the inside, but it is just so small, think this would be too fiddley.

It was supposed to be -8C here last night but I don't think it went below -3C. And most of the previous night's light snow has melted today. I checked on some of the less hardy things yesterday and they all look to be OK so far although I did put a second layer of fleece over the loropetalum

I'm in usually-mild London but it has been cold for a few weeks, -5 here last night in the burbs. My central heating was firing up all all night in spite of being set at a low level on the thermostat so ironically I was too hot in bed! In the garden I think the california poppies seeded in autumn have had it - no big deal. Myrtle leaves have gone blackish but that's a big mature shrub near the house wall - would be surprised if it doesn't pull through. Convolvulous cneorum has gone floppy at the tips so I wonder if that's finally going to bite the dust.

In the unheated GH I was an idiot for leaving the crassula out there just because they've been ok in milder winters - I have brought two into the house but they might have had it. Everything else in there looks like they are coping.- the oriental winter veggies haven't turned to mush, not even the seedlings.

It reached the lowest I've experienced in the UK last night (-9C just north of Dartmoor). While I've got daffodils already in bud and the gorgeous coreolopsis wonders what all the fuss is about. I do fear for my Philodendron which collapsed this morning despite the bubble wrap and the frost fleece in my unheated greenhouse (the heated one is chokkers). But since it's in a 100litre pot it wouldn't surprise me if later it shoots again when it warms up.

I've no complaints. Where my brother-in-law lives they're enjoying comparatively mild weather at the moment in his part of Siberia. At -28C he goes to work no problem and all the schools are open too. The schools only close when it reaches -40 because then, when children walk to school the air can easily freeze inside their lungs at that temperature.

And then in July it will reach +40C!

We don't get bad weather in the UK, we're only ill-prepared for what we do get.

There was ice on the water in my heated greenhous e this morning. If plants are fairly dry they stand a chance of survival , but my Succulents have been tipped quite badly in some places. Such a surprise after several winters where they survived in unheated tunnel. That's one of the adventures of gardening. Lets us know Gaia The Earth Mother is the Boss.

Yes i have double layered a couple of things Andrew, and they all seem fine, it's just all so dry, it has been a lot milder today, and snow all gone and ground thawed out a bit around lunchtime so i have given a few thursty pots and baskets a bit of a drink, we have freezing fog here tonight, really thick too.