Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Woolsery

Catsacor said:

Woolsery said:

twopenny said:

Farway, never say never.

 ....the Covid hangs on,

Instead, here's a picture of our white Eupatorium; a picture in summer and almost as good last weekend.

Will they survive sub zero temps ?

Yes the link I provided says 'Fully hardy.'

Farway

Hard frost this morning, bright & sunny though, no gardening again but I did take my new old camera out with me when I went to collect my prescription, just in case some garden related opportunity arose, it didn't so nothing to show today

My cold or whatever has progressed to bleary, watering & itchy eyes with a matching cold sore. Such joy

twopenny

Unpleasant Farway. Take care. 
I feel like I may survive today and the sun is shining despite a tiny bit of frost, our first.

Woolsery, what a lovely dramatic plant! It definitely earns it's keep.

The new perennial wallflowers I bought are still blooming and nice clump forming so a good buy. The bees still prefer the straggly Bowles Mauve though.

The yellow margarete type thing has recovered from the drought and blooming. It seems to do this 12mts of the year. 
 I bought others but they fell at the first hurdle so I hope to take some cuttings. Better late than never. Not sure what would work so I'll put 3 in water and 3 in the ground or a pot. Any suggestions?

Woolsery

twopenny said:

The yellow margarete type thing has recovered from the drought and blooming. It seems to do this 12mts of the year. 
 I bought others but they fell at the first hurdle so I hope to take some cuttings. Better late than never. Not sure what would work so I'll put 3 in water and 3 in the ground or a pot. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure what this might be. Jamaica Primrose, perhaps?

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/93719/i-argyranthemum-i-jamaica-primrose/details

If this is your first frost, your little microclimate is very benign. Even down on the estuary near Bideford, my friend's garden's been frosted, so the salvias and alstroemerias are all mushy.

Woolsery

It's going down to -7c tonight in these parts. After that, things improve; only -4c tomorrow night!

Not much gardening today, but I tried to creep up on the birds in the orchard, finishing off the last remnants of the fallen apples. Didn't get as close as I'd have liked, but apart from the Fieldfares, Starlings and the odd Blackbird, I also saw a few Redwings when the pictures reached the 'puter. That was a nice surprise.

YoungBlueEyes

That's a great pic woolsery. Thank god for fallen apples eh?

Met office reckons it's -1 here. Met office is drunk - it's more like -5. 

I cleaned the bird feeders the other day. They don't get any direct sunlight so they were a bit green. I've never had to do it before so I spent ages with the toothbrush doing a thorough job. And today I've got chilblains. So bladdy painful, but the NHS website says there's nothing you can really do and they'll go on their own in 2-3 weeks

So that's me added to the sick ranks. How's the Dreaded Lurgy doing farway twopenny?

Woolsery

Chilblains? Wow! That takes me back, mostly to a 2 room primary school in darkest Dorset, but we won't go there!  Also to winter 62/63, which was fun around here for us kids....3' ice lollies in the quarry, streams turned into wonderful toboggan runs and a heliport in the town car park to feed people and animals on the moors.

I was the luckiest kid in town during the blizzard which began that. I'd been in detention, so had to catch the 5pm bus in the big town, 12 miles from home. It was the last one to get through for about a week, so Lord knows what would have happened to me if it hadn't. Put into care in a children's home, I'd guess, all for getting my Latin wrong, or something like that!

If there's one thing that would have improved kids' lives in that time, it's the knitted gloves with rubberised palms and fingers we can get now. I fished a load of stuff out of the stream yesterday wearing those, and my hands were still dry. I think that may have counted as gardening.

Met Office is down this way. They're having parties, I suspect. Right now it's -6c and nothing much is moving, but they've re-routed the buses because of our hill and DD2 has given up on the trains for now, so we're not seeing the usual volume of traffic.

As things are due to thaw soon, here's piccie of the polytunnel, just to prove we did get it ready for covering. That's much better done when the temperatures are in the teens, though:

Get well, all you folks with the lurgy. I'd tell you what I take to stay so young, fit and virile to ward off winter bugs, but the Mods would ban me, again perhaps. 

YoungBlueEyes

Yeah I didn't even know chilblains were still a thing! I thought they went out with consumption and Dickens and that..... It was my neighbour across the road who noticed me hobbling home and came out to ask if I was ok. I said I've got a funny fat red toe that's while tender but I don't remember stubbing it on anything. She came in for a look and diagnosed a chilblain (she's nearly 90 and an old country sort, so it's prolly right). She said it'll move across my other toes and then up to my hands and then it'll be gone. So far she's right - 3 toes on my right foot and 2 on my left are so sore. Really not looking forward to it being in my hands  

Blimey, catching that bus was lucky. Woulda been a long cold walk otherwise, prolly resulting in chilblains

I'll accept any tips and/or advice on easing them, if anyone has any to offer? Not holding out much hope cos Jean (and the nhs website) says you've just gotta wait for them to go.

Woolsery

The best advice is not to scratch them when they get to the itchy stage. I don't think there's much out there that provides real relief, or Mr Big Pharma would've produced it; not for us specifically, but for those guys in the Eastern US and Canada, or anywhere that gets very cold.

I couldn't have walked home in the '63 blizzard. There was so much snow I was able to jump out of my first floor bedroom window into it, and it was days before we could make a tunnel out from the back of the house. Dad and I did go out in the blizzard quite early on, though. We were taking candles around to old people who might have needed them when the power went off, but most, if not all, were OK. I remember the wind and snow were so fierce, we had to go from doorway to doorway, catching our breath.

I've been out and seen to the chickens, then took some more photos with my point 'n shoot.  Can't put them up yet. They'll probably look like watercolours anyway!

Farway

Hard frost overnight, but it's a beautiful sunny day with a blue sky to fool any casual observer

YBE, hate to bring bad news, but my gout starts like that, red swollen toe etc. I hope it is just chilblains. Time for the big slipper on one foot yet?

I love it when you talk of the winter of 62/ 63 because I was protecting the Empire by Tiger tops and investigating "local culture" at various premises while ferrying Gurkhas around Borneo & Malaya, the hardships were no air con on board, hence need to frequently seek refuge from the heat in a cool bar or a base swimming pool

My lurgy is stuck at itchy runny eye stage, but I think I now have a cough starting up in tandem. Lots of cold type things going round it said on radio this morning and hospitals topped up with 'flu now

No gardening today, could be a that setting in for weekend, so maybe get those hyacinths in?