It’s not at all uncommon for us to have mild winters down here. What’s really uncommon for us is to have balmy winters down here. What does balmy mean? It means temperatures in the 80s with humidity in the 90s. And not just an odd day here or there, but days on end. We had a couple of very cold nights about a week or so ago, with temps in the low 20s. We even got some freezing rain and sleet, which I wrote about. Then it warmed up. And kept on getting warmer. We’re going to cool off a bit in the next few days – powerful storms rolled through the South a couple of days ago – but all in all we’ve been consistently above-normal this winter.
A phenomenon I’ve written about before has resurfaced this year. Some of the bald cypresses I collect come from locations a hundred miles south of where I am. These trees tend to start budding out in February. Even though I’ve relocated a number of these trees northward, they tend to bud out very early as if they were still at “home.” Here’s one that’s decided to start pushing buds now.
I was surprised when I first noticed this tree budding the other day. It wouldn’t have surprised me if it had started budding in February, as if it were still farther south. But in mid-January? Wow.
I don’t have any idea what the remainder of winter will bring, temperature-wise, but if we don’t get a killing freeze this tree will continue to push buds all the way through to spring. Today I went ahead and did some trimming and a minor bit of wiring. I’m considering changing pots, and if I do it’ll have to happen fairly soon. I’ll post an update. This tree is developing good ramification now, so I’ll need to pay closer attention to how the branches and sub-branches are positioned. You can also see that I’ve left two strong shoots in the apex. Their purpose is to thicken the leader and smooth the tapering transition. I should have this chore completed in another season or two.
BC collecting season is upon us. I should have some new material coming in within the next two weeks. For those of you on our BC wish list, you should expect to hear from us when these trees start budding. More on that to come.
The Privet I got from you has done great it winters in container when it was 3 outside it was 37 in the container have had great success with it. You might want to pass that along again. CLEM
Thank you, Clem. For anyone seeking a good winter storage idea, just search for “winter storage container” on the site.
Wow I would love to have a little bit warmer ! It’s been cold beyond normal here in Vancouver WA, I’m pretty sure I’ve lost a few trees. One I’m certain of is the small privet I bought from you, when it went down to low teens for a week it was just too cold even though I keep my deciduous trees protected from wind and such I just can’t do much more on an upstairs apartment balcony. I put the small pot into a larger pot with growing medium $ hoped it insulated it enough but the extreme cold seems to have claimed & anyway! I have a couple other plants that are questionable but alive for now I think.
Sorry to hear about your cold weather, Gordon. You guys up north must be getting it all for us. My experience with privet is that they won’t take much below about 20. Hopefully when spring arrives you won’t have too many losses.
I wonder what will happen to the landscape as well as bonsai if this warming trend continues. Will Louisiana be more tropical in a decade? If so what would happen to flora that require a winter rest? We have a small area of larch about 10 mins away and I would hate to lose them. What a strange and unfathomable problem. Who knows why its getting warmer but its hard to say its not.
Usually they attribute warmer winters down here to the position of the Jet Stream. When it hangs up north we’re warmer, when it sweeps down lower we’re cooler. I’ve seen historical photos featuring palm trees in the New Orleans area, ice floes on the Mississippi River floating past Baton Rouge, and if memory serves there’s a Civil War photo of the Union encampment in Baton Rouge in winter with snow on the ground.
Wonderful tree, talk about weather we have had a low of 3 to a high of 69 in a matter of days it got to 60 today.The temp. in my container was 45 today our weather gets funnier every year.
Thank you, Clem. We’ve given up trying to guess what the weather’s going to do. I’m amazed the forecasters can get as close as they do.