Highbush Blueberry yamadori

Leo in N E Illinois · Apr 4, 2021

Looking good, lots of buds coming.

Darth Masiah · Apr 6, 2021

my tab a 8" lte (2019) has a built-in stylus, so i can't help but ride vert..., no helmet

Darth Masiah · Apr 8, 2021

in the woods on break yesterday looking for stuff to airlayer soon, or dig in January, when i found this guy. these vaccinium are everywhere, but most are in straight branched clumps. very boring.

HorseloverFat · Apr 8, 2021

Use V.A.T.S.

Darth Masiah · Apr 14, 2021

Leo in N E Illinois · Apr 16, 2021

Mine are just barely budding. We will be getting a frost Monday or Tuesday evening.

Carol 83 · Apr 16, 2021

Leo in N E Illinois said:
Mine are just barely budding. We will be getting a frost Monday or Tuesday evening.

We're looking at 30 degrees Tuesday morning, with all my lilacs just starting to bloom.

Darth Masiah · Apr 17, 2021

Carol 83 said:
We're looking at 30 degrees Tuesday morning, with all my lilacs just starting to bloom.

i do not envy your zones. i was up in Ridge Farm, IL in jan/feb '20 putting up a solar farm with my brother. united rentals had put a skid steer previously used in Georgia out for us to use. so me and my bro were the only ones out in this field, 7°F, 20mph winds, laying out little i beems with no windows/heat in the steer! 15min on, 45 off. $24 beans an hour

then the beer bug shutdowns hit and everyone got laid off. at least i was able to save enough to get a mortgage going. goal #1 of going on the road was accomplished, now i have a homebase to bonsai

Carol 83 · Apr 17, 2021

Darth Masiah said:
i do not envy your zones. i was up in Ridge Farm, IL in jan/feb '20 putting up a solar farm with my brother. united rentals had put a skid steer previously used in Georgia out for us to use. so me and my bro were the only ones out in this field, 7°F, 20mph winds, laying out little i beems with no windows/heat in the steer! 15min on, 45 off. $24 beans an hour then the beer bug shutdowns hit and everyone got laid off. at least i was able to save enough to get a mortgage going. goal #1 of going on the road was accomplished, now i have a homebase to bonsai

What is Ridge Farm close to in IL, too lazy to google myself lol.

CasAH · Apr 17, 2021

Carol 83 said:
What is Ridge Farm close to in IL, too lazy to google myself lol.

Danville.

Carol 83 · Apr 17, 2021

CasAH said:
Danville.

Way north of me then.

Leo in N E Illinois · Apr 18, 2021

CasAH said:
Danville.

Danville is about 110 miles south of me. @Darth Masiah - you were lucky, you had +7 F. (that's -14 C for you metric readers) This far north, at least once every 5 years we will get 5 days to 10 day episode where the daytime high temps will be BELOW ZERO F with nighttime lows some 15 degrees colder. (metric readers, that is a week with temps below -17 C) Though I admit, the one up side to the warming climate is that we have had no recent record lows. Back in the winter of January 1982 or 1983 we had a record cold of -27 F, the metric is -33 C. The up side is that this cold has not been repeated. We get the occasion -15 F to -17 F, but it seems these outbreaks of extreme cold are fewer, and of shorter duration. So there is a "upside" to climate change. Maybe someday I'll be able to grow palm trees year round?

I am being facetious about raising palm trees, though I do have a friend who was fascinated with cold tolerant palms. If you are in a zone 7 climate, there are a few palms that will be winter hardy. The most winter hardy palm is Rhaphidophyllum histrix which has no above ground trunk, in winter it kills to the ground and resprouts each spring, and it survives -10 F, though it really doesn't thrive until into zones 7 and warmer. The genera Serenoa, Sabal, Trachycarpus, Chamaerops & Nannorrhops all have species hardy to considerable temps below freezing. None quite hardy enough to plant along the shore of Lake Michigan, at least yet. But there are some very cold hardy palms. Palms outdoors in Memphis is now possible.