WInter is on its way to West Texas and we might have our first freeze tonight. I spent the last 2 days (took most of today off work) clearing out my greenhouses & putting tropicals & other fragile plants inside. My wife is not happy about the amount of tropicals, I am over-wintering in the house, but I figure, it's free oxygen, right? I must say, I absolutely hate Winter. I call it "the season of death". I wish our ancestors had immigrated to Brazil, so we could be living in a warm climate year-round. I like that Winter kills mosquitoes & such pests, but I wish I had freeze-tolerant, ever-blooming flowers, you know? I mean I spend a lot of time in Fall planting pansies & violas and then a lot of time in SPring planting other annuals. Perennials are great, but I really like a lot of annuals, so I insist on having them. If I had a decent greenhouse (what I have is a 40 year-old metal shed which we re-roofed to let the sun in and a crumby, cheap small greenhouse I bought at a discount house), I could truly master my gardens, planting annulas from seed in Winter to have them ready to bloom in April. I do like pansies & violas & last year, I found a hybrid called a "panola", which was like a larger viola. At least I don't have to mow, except the fescue & perennial rye grass. Another thing I hate about WInter coming is all the dang leaves I have to get off the ground. I've got some big, bushy sycamore & mulberry trees & if I don't get after the leaves in Fall, I'll end up with drifts of leaves 3 feet high up against the back door! How many of y'all dislike Winter?
I hate winter as much as you.Its so dreary the only thing this year.I'll be glad to see the dang mosquitoes gone.I sure will hate to see all my plant die back.
I rather like winter. For the time it's here, that is. It's a nice break from the heat. All of the colors on the trees in autumn, then the snow-topped trees when winter hits. It's beautiful. Of course, then it melts and doesn't look so pleasant.
We had our first 'real' frost last night WT and, to be honest, when I woke this morning to see the sun sparkling on the frost I decided that maybe autumn and winter really weren't so bad after all. Well that was until I saw the damage to my tender plants. I should have had them inside by now but was fooled with the dry weather we've been having into believing that the frosts would stay away for a few more weeks. I've got all my winter pansies and violas ready to go into the ground - better get it done when the soil heats up hadn't I? They do add a nice touch of colour to an otherwise drab garden at this time of year.
I have to say, my better seasons are Spring and Summer. Yes, fall can be pretty but I too hate all my flowers dying back and the trees just look so bare once the leaves have completly dropped off. Then Winter is just so cold and drawen out, I just can't wait for spring and summer to come. And then we can plant all our pretty flowers once again.
Hey, could be worse, before coming out west my great-grands were in Houlton, Maine (consistently coldest spot in the US!) The weather is lousy here, but at least we have no deadly reptiles or arachnids, guess it's a tradeoff. If I could just chuck everything up and run away I'd go somewhere a bit dryer and winter-warmer, in a heartbeat.
SongofJoy I haven't a clue what zone I would come under as I don't live in the US but in Scotland. I just know that winter is definately on its way as we have another hard frost here tonight.
I don't know that other countries are divided into planting zones like the US is. Our zones are designated by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture.
I hate winter! Every year I hate it more. Last year we were quite lucky and only had 1 month of really cold (-30°C temps)weather. But we had a lot of snow starting late January that didn't let up until March. But the weather here is so weird this year...we are still waiting for our first frost! I'd love to live in Texas!
oh man it is so chilly here today and I got wet going in and out, I don't want to even think about cold weather mosquitoes gone will be nice I can live with that.
Norway is. We're from H2 up to H8 with H8 as the coldest, but if I recall correctly, this is not compatible with the US chart which has 10 zones divided into A and B. Eileen, you have zones in Scotland too, according to Wikipedia.
Oh my I got more research to do. I always thought that only the USA was divided into 'planting' zones. Around here all I know is that I live in the Fynbos biome. Never too old to learn
It should be a while before we get a freeze, but with weather one never knows. I don't mind winter, but then it doesn't get extremely cold here. Winter is a time of rest, for the garden and gardener. I really look forward to spring, when everything is new again, and without winter we wouldn't have that.
