Well, to top this strange winter off, we had about 1.5" of snow last night.

Here is a picture of my "orchard" with all its protection. While last night did not get below 32 degrees (from 0300 to 0500 temperatures dropped from 47 to 32), tonight is supposed to get down to between 26 and 29 for most of the night. However, the good news is that if the medium range forecasts from the NWS are correct, we should return to our normal nighttime lows of the 40s for the balance of the winter.

Citrus:



And, I couldn't resist the following picture of one of my almond trees in bloom with snow:



Finally, here is a general desert vegetation picture:



Have a great Sunday everybody.

P.

Damn, and it's 80 degrees here.

We had some temp spikes down to 18, All my citrus that was fall budded got burnt, but the buds are still alive... We'll see how they handle tonight..

Pertman, hopefully this is the last cold spell. This is the coldest winter coast to coast relative to average temperatures in over 10 years! The high temperature here was near 80 F though. The meteorological winter ends March 4 which is Friday!

I think I will celebrate on Friday.....

Tend to agree that this might be it for the season. At least I hope so, taking down and putting up the protection is getting old.

Peter

great pictures

Peter,

Figured that was you in the other post about our last cold snap, with all the weather data, heh. Great photography. You must be up pretty high to get that much snow. Are you right up next to the Rincon mountains? What is your elevation? I'm about at about 2550'.

No snow on the ground on my side of town, but a flake or two up until about noon. It also tried to hail or sleet in the early afternoon, but not enough energy left in the system.

Got the lights and cover going for one more time. Went window shopping at Mesquite Valley yesterday, a Bearss lime and several others are on my planting list for this spring. Will start preparing holes next weekend...

EDIT: Correction, my wife informed me we did indeed have appx an inch or so on the ground early in the morning, I just woke up too late to see it She keeps me honest.

Eric

Funny , we had our most significant snow of the season Saturday afternoon through mid day Sunday on and off Maybe 8 inches. No other measurable snow this year. Hopefully that is it for the season.

BTW Great Photography - I like the snow covered cacti with the deciduous tree in behind. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Greg

Wow, that's tough with the organ pipe and senita, hard to replace those. I dig my holes with pick, various shovels and, most importantly, a caliche bar. I have had my eye on a drill powered auger: http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Auger-Bulb-Planter-Regular/dp/B000WFKCPQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1299467488&sr=8-1 I plan on just digging 2' deep holes after I acquire this and just auger the heck out of the bottom of the planting hole before backfilling, so I will have 4 total feet of nicely turned earth for good drainage.

My current technique is to dig a 2'x2' wide x 1.5' deep hole and do an initial percolation test by filling with water twice and noting results. I then progress the next weekend to a full 4'x4' wide and 3' deep hole. I wait a week so I'm not wading in slop. The initial hole and perc test and week of drying make the final hole much easier digging. I am in an alluvial plain of sorts in a subdivision reclaimed from a network of small washes and mesquite bosques, so you never know what you will find from sand to caliche to everything in between, not many rocks though.

I am using basin irrigation after giving up on drip for anything I really care about, too many things/variables to go wrong.

Noted new growth beginning today on my heavily damaged Meyer lemon, and the tangelo has been putting out the first signs of growth for about a week. I did fertilize the tangelo like a good boy in February; Meyer lemon and new plantings will wait out the first year.

I am planning on trying some other fruit trees this year as well, so may need some guidance on those in the appropriate sub-forum.

Felt good to put away lights and sheets today. Most likely out of the woods for a short while, 'til the heat and drying winds begin.

Eric

Thanks for the snow pics. It is very frustrating for me to loose plants to cold but it would be a little less painful if we had snow to look at during our freezes.

Well, it appears that we can put this record-breaking winter behind us. I have new growth on my Moro Blood Orange, Washington Navel and my Variegated Pink Lemon. The lemon's new growth unfortunately seems to be confined to the area where the worklight was heating the plant at the bottom. There is no new growth on my Valencia, Rio Red grapefruit or Lime tree. What is odd, is that when I break off a twig, the inside is green but the outsides are brownish. So I don't know what this means. Any insights are welcome.

Will try to post some pictures later today -- am going out to pull more Prickly Pear cactus out of the front yard before it gets too hot today.

Eric -- thanks for the description as to how to dig a hole. Over here, we don't seem to have any caliche but do have tons of rocks -- anything from gravel size to bigger than your fist. Drainage is generally good, there is a lot of sand and decomposed granite mixed into the soil which I use for my cactus transplants.

P.

If you want to see if the branches are still alive very gently scratch the bark. If you see green it is alive, brown is dead. After a severe freeze event the full extent of the cold injury may not be known until May or June.