Early Cold Snap

So much for a nice Fall for camellias. The last week was much colder than normal and as a result, my camellia flowers were destroyed. Unopened buds are still ok, but it is supposed to be cold again next week, so I can probably kiss them goodbye as well. ' Daikagura' has still not come into full flower.............it is a painfully slow opener. So I don`t know how it is going to end up. I am hoping it will eventually adjust itself and open sooner in the season. With normal temperatures it would still be ok........maybe some year we will have a season that stays near normal.

At any rate, the event left me with some interesting observations.

The open flowers are fine when the temperature drops to the upper 20`s at night.

But light colored flowers get ruined if it goes to the lower 20`s . However darker colored flowers can still be ok at this temperature. I`m sure it depends on the duration of the cold.

Basically if the temperature goes below 20 and into the teens, your flowers are toast.

Unopened buds, that are in the process of opening still look alright, slightly damaged, but minimally.

I am also sure all of this varies from plant to plant. So these are just generalizations.

George