Sunday, January 10, 2010

Crawling Out from Under the Comforter


Old Fire Station Fountain

No, this is not my own water fountain. Somehow I managed to roust myself out from under the covers this morning to attend a meditation session. As I was driving there I noticed this fountain at the old historic fire station. The station has now been converted into a meeting place and the courtyard houses this large fountain.



Somehow the fountain is still running, despite almost 72 hours so far of below freezing weather. This morning at 8:00 it was 12 degrees F. Each morning has been colder than the previous one.



All I can say is, I'm ready for this deep freeze to be over. I do live in the south, don't I??


Tufted Titmouse

The birds have been spending many daylight hours at the bird feeders. This Tufted Titmouse is eyeing the frozen birdbath and wondering what the heck I'm going to do about it.



Well, okay, I guess I'll try to help you feathered ones out.



Sorry, this is the best I can do. I never thought I'd need a birdbath heater down here.

Meanwhile, I've been most reluctant to peek under the sheets to see how my Wavy Leaf cactus and Agave multilifera are doing.



I already know that my Agave desmentiata in the stock tank is toast (see my last post). Okay, I did peek. A couple of cactus pads are laying horizontal but the rest looks like it might survive. I think that us southern gardeners won't really know the extent of damage until spring. Gee, I guess that means we have more in common with northern gardeners than ever before!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

17 comments:

  1. Cute picture of the bird! I didn't de-freeze my birdbath, but the number of birds at my tiny pond has increased dramatically!

    So many things have died already that have lived through many winters. I'm waiting to see if others will rebound.

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  2. I wonder that the fountain at the old firehouse wouldn't burst or something with so much freezing. Now, it's an ice sculpture.

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  3. Are you supposed to turn off your fountain pumps and waterfalls in freezing weather? I get conflicting answers on this.

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  4. Brrrrr brrrr am cold reading this post. Time to move further south Jean. I do hope it heats up soon.

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  5. I do feel for you all... there must be a great many bursted pipes... you are not insulated for this. Your teakettle on the birdbath is precious! I am sure the titmouse appreciated your efforts. Best of luck to you and your plants Jean! I hope the temps rise soon. Carol

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  6. The difference between your garden and those in the far north is the snow that mulches their plants! They usually don't lose their zonal plants to freezes. We do! I love the tea kettle in the birdbath! What ever works. gail

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  7. I peeked under the plant covers today and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. But many of the tender plants I left uncovered are mush. Still, it's impossible to cover everything.

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  8. That first photo says it all, Jean! My heart really goes out to all of you in the South who aren't used to this kind of weather in the winter. I hope that the big freeze hasn't damaged too many plants in your garden.

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  9. Thank you for your kind thoughts everyone!

    Phillip - I always thought you were supposed to turn off fountains and empty them in the winter but perhaps that's just for fountains that might crack, like glazed pottery ones. This one is an iron one. I have a little fountain that I emptied before the big freeze but usually leave going. But you're right, there's a lot of conflicting info out there.

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  10. Love the frozen fountain! There sure is some crazy a** weather happening. It seems like it's crazy cold everywhere that's normally warmer... and we actually have LESS snow this year than normal!!

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  11. Jean, it's hard for me to comprehend that it's so cold where you live. But the ice does make for some interesting photos. I prefer snow because it insulates the garden. Ice destroys.

    Warm hugs going your way.

    donna

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  12. Very creative birdbath heater, Jean! I must remember that. You know I feel for you since I'm going through the same thing. Let's look at it as an opportunity to do some plant shopping together on your next visit to Houston!

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  13. Ruth, Monica, and Donna - this is certainly not the norm here so we don't know how to act/react!

    Cindy - I've already thought of that. I hope to be in Houston the first weekend in April; perfect time to go plant shopping!

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  14. It's been an interesting winter so far, that's for sure. Looks like the tea-kettle solution worked for the bird bath, though. Good thinking.

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  15. Jean, the teapot in the bird bath is too cute! Sorry to see that you are still frozen, it it weird but we have been warmer here this week in Colorado than most of the south. It was 57 degrees yesterday, and so nice to be outside. I will send warm weather thoughts your way. I see you are going to Garden Bloggers Buffa10 - I wish I could go, it sounds like so much fun and I would really like to meet all the great garden bloggers. Have fun, Kathy

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  16. Hi Jean, I see on your weather widget that it is 59 degrees there, thank goodness! It has warmed up here as well, not quite that much, but we are farther north than you. I hope your plants survive. And I too will be looking into bird bath heaters.
    Frances

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  17. Your icy fountain pictures are extraordinary! I live in Gothenburg, Sweden,and we usually have very mild and rainy winters - not like in the north of Sweden. But for several weeks we have had - 10 and even - 15 degrees centigrade. (Hm, how much is that in Fahrenheit - have to look that up). The snow cover protects the plants to a certain extent. But we have not seen the end of this winter yet...
    It would be interesting to know where in the US you live?

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