January 2016 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Irm]

I wish You a Happy New Year 2016   


The Helleborus thibetanus in my Berlin Garden starts to bloom, but it will be cold and frosty the next days 

[Maggi Young]

Happy new year, Irm - your  H. thibetanus is  far advanced!

[Roma]

A couple of casualties from flying glass during last week's storm. 
Narcissus romieuxii rifanus.  Not sure if it is correct.  The angle of the flower looks ok but last time I grew it I do not remember the flowers being so wide open and certainly not with a rolled brim.  I got the bulbs at the Discussion Weekend two years ago.
Gladiolus murielae.  I planted some outside, some in a pot and kept a few to plant later.  I forgot about them so they were very late in being planted and the first bud was showing colour when it was decapitated.  I'm not sure if the other two in the pot will flower.  The greenhouse is now very cold and wet with two gaping holes in the roof and no hope is being fixed soon.
The pictures have come out a bit too yellow. 

[Hoy]

Roma, are you not afraid of the cold weather arriving now? Or will you get clear of it? Here the temperature is expected to drop 15 degrees the next few days

Nice flowers and a pity they were damaged but now you can enjoy them in your sitting-room

[Hoy]

This is what it looked like until today:









And this is what is expected when the temp drops from about +10 to -10 in 3 days! (all pictures taken today):

[Irm]

And this is what is when the temp drops from about +10 to -10 in 3 days! (all pictures taken today):

Berlin, in this moment:  - 12,3° and sunshine  Some of my plants are covered with the branches of the Christmas tree   

[Anne Repnow]

Oh, Irm, I hope everything survives. (Good idea putting the Christmas tree to good use.)

Here in the Heidelberg-region we are still waiting for winter and hoping it won't get too cold. A last Campanula trachelium is still in bloom...

[astragalus]

The rock garden is abloom right now with chicken wire to protect from rapaciously hungry deer.  So far it has been remarkably successful as the motion detector lights are not coming on at night.  More of the garden was covered this year than ever.

[Robert]

Anne,

Despite the chicken wire your rock garden seems quite beautiful. It seems that you had some beautiful rock out-croppings to start with. 

How are you getting along with the weather? I have heard that it is way too warm out east! That is how it was last winter here in California. The plants hated it! or at least the ones I like to grow.

This year we have had a return to average, "normal", "cold" (California cold    ) weather. So far we have been struggling to stay average to-date on precipitation. At least there have been far more overcast days and much cooler temperatures. The weather pattern has certainly changed, but the "El Nino" rains have not arrived in our parts.....  yet.

[astragalus]

Robert, to give you an idea of how weird our weather has been it was 70 F on Christmas day and I think that set a record.  I have hellebores budding, some with blooms and none of them with brown leaves.  They usually bloom starting in April, so this is really a first.  Now it has gotten cold and windy and the temperatures are approaching 0 F tonight, much more normal.  Don't know what will happen to the hellebores or if they'll have any flowers next spring.
Yes, the rock outcroppings are beautiful, just made for a rock garden.

[Gabriela]

Ice flowers on the window today, after -20C last night (-18C the other day). The moss-like threads ones complement very well the mossy-green December we had. Very little snow cover outside, so I prefer not to think about it and concentrate on seeds...

[David King]

Like many others our Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill' has been in flower for some time with the scent almost over-powering as we go out the back door.  It is now as high as the wall of the house next door so I think we may have to prune it back soon.

[Robert]

Robert, to give you an idea of how weird our weather has been it was 70 F on Christmas day and I think that set a record.  I have hellebores budding, some with blooms and none of them with brown leaves.  They usually bloom starting in April, so this is really a first.  Now it has gotten cold and windy and the temperatures are approaching 0 F tonight, much more normal.  Don't know what will happen to the hellebores or if they'll have any flowers next spring.
Yes, the rock outcroppings are beautiful, just made for a rock garden.

Last year the weather here in California was very strange. It never became cold. Only 24 days of 32 F or less. We have exceeded this already this year. Many plants did not like the lack of chilling hours and bloomed strangely or did not know when to grow, or not to grow, in the spring.

Now the weather is more "normal", however the much touted "El Nino" rains for California have not materialized. We are slowly falling farther below average to-date on precipitation. At least it is raining, .86 in. (22mm) last night. That is .86 in. more than we had last year in the whole month of January.

Good fortune with your garden this year, despite the weather. 

[Leena]

Ice flowers on the window today, after -20C last night (-18C the other day). The moss-like threads ones complement very well the mossy-green December we had. Very little snow cover outside, so I prefer not to think about it and concentrate on seeds...

It is the same here, now -20C, and tomorrow it's going to be even colder.

[Hoy]

Yesterday it was close to -42C in Northern Norway and -5C here at the coast in south. It is too cold for me, anyway!