Calling all our southern members

[Itsme]

So we have had much talk lately of dealing with snow and cold.

I have never lived anywhere else so know no different. there is the internet and travel shows...I'm not totally ignorant, but I thought of something that I did not know the answer to about down south.

I know that in some places although you do not get cold cold, you do have a change in the seasons........which I would take to mean that your trees lose leaves, things turn a little dormant for awhile you give your veggie gardens a break.

BUT....in places that don't seem to have seasons....is there ever a time the garden doesn't grow? Do you lose leaves on your trees? Do you have trees that lose their leaves ( oak,maple,birch,ash etc etc)

Tell me everything........

 

[rooster-red]

To find a place that doesn't seem to have a change of seasons you'd have to go way south of me, like to the tropics!

 

[picklespickles]

i grew up in houston. we had summer, hopefully almost the end of summer, oh it's getting a might chilly and then almost summer again.

i was able to grow some plants all year round outside. if it did snow a tiny bit every ten years, it might stick. our trees did lose their leaves.

i remember lots and lots of azaleas and chinese tallow.

 

[Southern28Chick]

You'll have to talk to some people in way southern Texas (I think) and Florida. I'm in NC which is the south and even though we don't get much snow (only an ice storm once a year maybe) we do have season changes. That's for most of the south. Florida is the only state that I can think of down here that doesn't have season changes.

We do get into the teens in like February (or coldest month) but we are a very dry state so not much snow.

 

[Poison Ivy]

I lived in South Florida for years. We use to go to the beach on Christmas morning. It's funny because after a while people think it's cold when it gets in the 60's down there.

 

[speckledhen]

I live in Georgia, but at the uppermost part of it in the mountains at 2000 ft elevation. We have a shortened growing season, but definite seasons, a little snow in the winter. The leaves are gorgeous in the fall then they drop and I miss them till mid April when the unfold again and hide my house from the world. We do sometimes have ice storms, not fun at all! We get to the single digits a couple of times at night during the winter, but not that often. Summers, other than last summer, which was unusually hot and dry, we rarely go above 85 degrees where I live, and the nights cool down alot due to my elevation. You couldn't pay me enough to move further south-I hate the heat!

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
Whoo, 60's. Time to break out the shorts and tank tops.

 

[chickiepoo]

Well, I'll get you started. Here we do have what I call the change of seasons. those who live further inland and closer to the mountains sometimes disagree with that. The leaves have been falling now for a coupla weeks. Maples, ornamental pear, etc. I saw the seeds falling from the pines about 10 days ago. The summer crops (farming and garden) are long gone. Rye or whatever should be already planted for the fall cover crop or pasture. We have already had a few good morning frosts a couple weeks ago, but today's temps were mostly 60ish. Rye should grow all fall and winter for pasture. The hay crop was really lousy this summer because the rain was inconsistent, so people are scrounging for that already. Mostly coastal bermuda hay here. Too hot for timothy.
We can grow collards here in the fall and winter. The collards that I have seen look full and ready to start gathering. I have heard people say not to eat collards before the frost. I don't know if that is for flavor, or for killing the bugs. That is about the only winter garden item I see going on here. Others may know of others. I did hear once years ago about a fellow growing one tomato plant in a protected southern facing corner of his home well into winter, but that is unusual.
The nut trees and oak trees lose their leaves. Except the live oaks. We have pecan and hickory, but few people fool with cracking hickory nuts, they are so small and hard to crack.
We may or may not get snow. It is seldom that we get no snow at all during the year, but rare that we get enough to accumulate enough to make a snowman. I was 17 before I saw snow dry enough that you couldn't make a snowball out of it at first because it was so dry! Snowed three days that year. Fell fine like a mist almost. The air was so cold and dry you could hear the snow falling like a hush.
Ice is usually our biggest concern in the winter. We get more of that than snow. Not always enough to cause big problems, but occasionally bad enough for power outages, bad roads.
In '89 we got a big snow 3 days before Christmas. 15 inches I think. I know you laugh, but that was the most snow I had seen since '73. And it stayed cold so it never even started melting til after Christmas. Only white Christmas I have ever seen. In 51 years. We almost never get snow before the first of the year.
That spring boat owners all over the county found their inboard engines had frozen and the blocks were cracked! Most here hadn't thought about winterizing their boats, and all the marine mechanics were backed up for months getting the repairs done. The river froze that year. Slightly. Just the second time in recorded history. There is a story that the time before when it froze a man drove his mule wagon over Kingston Lake right behind Downtown, but I have no idea what year that was.
Other areas of the state have more severe weather.
On the coast of SC our weather is very...unpredictable.

 

[hsm5grls]

Here in southern Arizona we have summer and winter. Hot hot and then cold cold. Really no in between. Fall is mild and spring is mild but they are so short it just feels like summer and winter. My leaves don't turn colors before they fall they just fall the first freeze we get. That is probably why I love pics. of trees with red and gold leaves. We just don't get that here. On the up side we can garden almost all year here.

 

[Silverduck]

I live in central Alabama, we have season changes, leaves turn and were beautiful this year. We almost never get any snow. It was 71 today, but is going to go down in the 20's tomorrow nite. It was very dry this year, we are about 26 inches below on rainfall. The humidity is awful here. We also get lots of tornados. Sandy