Mothers blanket

Mother nature showed up with a blanket last night. She gently tucked in her little green people so they would be warm for the cold air she about to bring in to the interior region.
It is amazing to me that snow nearly always comes before cold. If it doesn't then plants will die and things are not as they should be. If you have zone 5 plants the limit they can tolerate is around -24C, and this only for a limited amount of time. The zone system is only a guide, so don't think in absolute terms.
This is something Brian Minter(http://www.gardeningbc.com/page/minter.html ) also stresses so just figure that if you have a zone 5 plant it's going to be OK in Kamloops if you live at river bottom. Further up the hill it goes into zone 4, and in places like Juniper, zone 3, all just rough guides to your plants survivability rates. Even gardeners on the lower mainland can have zones 3 and 4 if they are in the path of outflow winds that begin this time of year.
With lows going down to -20C on Wednesday we will be taking care of some of our borderline plants by making sure they either have enough snow cover or have a frost blanket placed over them.
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Who put the win in winter.

Another strangely beautiful January day. Tonite the temp is supposed to dip down to -10 or more, so don't put the parka away just yet.
The little green people out in the field must have some communication skills that humans either lost or never had. They just hang out, grow buds if it's warm, stand like sticks if it's cold, I never hear a word of complaint, only silent expiry in the spring. We humans could and do learn so much from our silent friends, without them there would be no us, but we have either forgotten that or have yet to learn it.
So, carry on, enjoy this crazy weather and let's hope for an early spring and lots of summer.
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Breaking snooze

We are going to open to the public this year. YIPPEE     Hold tight for more dates on that. Previously we only allowed people to come as a part of a garden club or special invitation, but we felt that so many people wanted to come and see/buy our plants that why not open for one day a week. Anyway it's a lovely drive and a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
 Visit our site @  http://www.laughingswanfarm.com/

Winter post

Basking in the sun.

The warm temperatures are wonderful but cause most gardeners a bit of concern because some plants are convinced it is spring and we have no snow to help protect the confused little green people. Wait till they find out that La Nina was just having a little joke on them.
I don't think we will have the intense cold that would come with prolonged winter though, but a cold snap could seriously affect some of the zone 5 plants and definately clobber the zone 6 ers. Still here we are January 6 and it's minus 4 outside, close to normal for this time of year.