Spring got off to a late start here in Northern California and when it finally did, we had @ 1 week of typical California spring weather - and everything popped from the Sarracenia species and hybrids - Dionaea and Drosera as well. Roses and citrus trees budding up and beginning to crack - aloes spiked up (they look like a starfish colony), Japanese maples fully leaved out and colored and nepenthes re potted and returned to the cold frame along with some orchids that stayed indoors for the winter.
The local forecast yesterday AM said "A slight chance of a shower, nothing worth measuring". So around 5 pm the sky turns blackish grey, the kind funnel clouds like, (the county next to us had a tornado - small) and it began to rain...hard. The wind picked up, and the temperature dropped....hard - then @ 7, the sky cleared, so what was the worst that could happen?
This morning we woke up to hard frost and 36 degrees, so after a while I went out to survey the "damage" and thankfully have found none! And we've got S. flava and all of it's species, both flowering (some have 7-10 buds and flowers) and pitchers 1' tall now with many coming up with them and no damage - I know sometimes frost damage can be slow to manifest itself, but I would think at this stage, damage would show up immediately, even if in burning small pitchers back -
So tonight, it's supossed to get down to 37 and then pop back up to mid 40's at night, which is typical for here, and I can't cover them, as that would do more damage than the frost itself!
The local forecast yesterday AM said "A slight chance of a shower, nothing worth measuring". So around 5 pm the sky turns blackish grey, the kind funnel clouds like, (the county next to us had a tornado - small) and it began to rain...hard. The wind picked up, and the temperature dropped....hard - then @ 7, the sky cleared, so what was the worst that could happen?
This morning we woke up to hard frost and 36 degrees, so after a while I went out to survey the "damage" and thankfully have found none! And we've got S. flava and all of it's species, both flowering (some have 7-10 buds and flowers) and pitchers 1' tall now with many coming up with them and no damage - I know sometimes frost damage can be slow to manifest itself, but I would think at this stage, damage would show up immediately, even if in burning small pitchers back -
So tonight, it's supossed to get down to 37 and then pop back up to mid 40's at night, which is typical for here, and I can't cover them, as that would do more damage than the frost itself!