Sunday, December 20, 2009

So who won ?





I got the plants on the balcony covered up with fleece just in time. A couple of days later, temperatures had dropped to freezing and there was a sprinkling of snow. By yesterday there was considerably more than a sprinkling, and by nine in the evening it was -10 degrees centigrade outside. That´s 14 fahrenheit. I don´t remember temperatures like that in Milan ever. Despite the fleece, I wonder how much is going to survive.

Temperatures are similar all over Europe. I don´t know how low it finally dropped overnight in Milan, because we then left for Germany, where we´re spending Christmas. And arrived at -14C (7F). Today is better - it´s been snowing again, and there´s a bitterly cold wind, but temperatures are up to -2C. The plants on my sister-in-law´s balcony seem to be holding up. We´ll see ...


A plea - while weather conditions are like this, don´t forget the birds. It´s tough enough for themout there without going hungry too.



To cheerier things ... who won the mystery bulb competition?The forst person to get it was Dreamybee . It´s Dracunculus vulgaris - an arum lily. When I saw the photo of the flowers they reminded me of the giant Titan arum that I´d heard of at Kew Gardens. But I was sure it couldn´t be that - firstly because it´s huge- over 10 foot high - and secondly because it stinks to high heaven. It puts out a smell like a rotting corpse to attract flies and other pollinating insects. Not a flower that anyone would want on the balcony.

So when I saw it, I just assumed it would be something different. But no -this may not be the titan arum, but it is a smaller cousin, and it has the same revolting smell. So I don´t think it´s going to be around for very long. Providing it survives, you´ll be seeing one photo - and then I´m afraid it will be down the waste chute with it. And next year, if I see any strange bulbs that I think might be fun to try, I think I´ll ask about them before I buy them ...

Anyway, as soon as I get home in the New Year, I shall get the cards off to Dreamybee as promised. And thanks to all of the rest of you who left comments too.








4 comments:

Dirt Princess said...

The weather has been so strange this year. I didn't realize you got snow in Milan! I know the birds are glad you havent forgotten them

Jan said...

Goodness that's much colder than here, we've only been down to about -4C so far. I think it could be a really cold winter!

Helen/patientgardener said...

We have had very low tempertures as well this week - might even get a white Christmas

Katherine said...

This is the good blog with good images and good details. Please keep on posting the more stuff. I will like to hear more from you.

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