Wednesday, September 22, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 7370 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating When clouds explode! One thing I love about Florida is that we have some really cool storms. During the summer and and early fall, Central Florida becomes a breeding ground for massive thunderstorms. The storms are fueled by the collision between the east and west coast sea breezes. A few days ago this massive storm developed in less than an hour. As it grew larger and larger the sun started to set and the entire sky turned an eerie orange color. Here's one of my monster seedlings silhouetted be the growing ... Categories:Weather Tags:Brugmansiacloudsweather Read more
Thursday, July 29, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 9176 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating An Angel Trumpet Sunset... Florida has some of the most beautiful sunsets you'll ever encounter. Here's some recent shots I took while strolling through my Brugmansia forest at sundown.It is almost as if the sky is on fire..Of course if I was living in southern California I would be afraid that the sky may actually be on fire...Sunrise and sundown are the best time of day to admire Angel Trumpets during our hot Florida summers. Categories:BrugmansiaWeather Tags:Angel TrumpetBrugmansiasunsetweather Read more
Friday, March 5, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 6704 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating It's official, this winter really has been cold as ice... Central Florida's chilly winter this year is going into the record books as the coldest in nearly 30 years. The National Weather Service stated this week that this has been the coldest winter season on record since 1981. Winter does not appear to want to give up its hold on us so we could be on the way to setting the record as the coldest winter season on record. The only upside to all this is that our much-needed rainfall has been above average this winter. I say let's close the ... Categories:WeatherRamblings Tags:cold winterflorida record coldrecord winterweather Read more
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 17958 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating Thanks anyway Canada, but please keep your weather to yourself! Just kidding of course, I like Canadians.....however, their weather etiquette leaves something to be desired!Story by AccuWeather.com senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson. So far this month, much of the Deep South and Middle Atlantic states have been hit with snowstorms and persistent cold.Average temperatures since Feb. 1 have been a whopping 5 to 10 degrees below normal! So what's going on?An unusually strong and persistent area of high pressure over northern Canada has been forcing ... Categories:Weather Tags:colddeep freezeweatherwinter Read more
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 6623 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating Brown, brown and more brown... This is a continuation of yesterday's post showcasing an assortment of freeze damage plants from my yard. Categories:ReflectionsWeatherRamblings Tags:weather Read more
Thursday, January 7, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 9384 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating Brugs on Ice... My field of Angel Trumpets has turned into a Winter Wonderland as the icicles glisten under the Florida sunshine.Of course this is no Winter Wonderland for me, it is devastating to say the least. It is too early to tell what the extent of the freeze damage is, plus another hard freeze is forecast for tonight with more cold weather moving in on the weekend.With temperatures finally above freezing, the sprinklers are working hard to melt the protective cover of ice that was formed overnight. ... Categories:BrugmansiaWeather Tags:Angel TrumpetBrugmansiabrugsfreezeicesprinklersweather Read more
Saturday, January 2, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 7406 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating I hate cold weather...and so do my Brugs!!!! Well it looks like we are going to start the new Year off with a bang! The National Weather Service has just issued freeze warnings for Sunday and Monday mornings.This graphic above is the forecast from AccuWeather.com. I like Weather Underground's forecast better, a low of 31 for both Sunday and Monday mornings. Two degrees can make a big difference with my Angel Trumpets. I have found Weather Underground to be historically more accurate around here than AccuWeather.Well, I know what ... Categories:Weather Tags:Angel TrumpetBrugmansiafreezefreeze warningfrostweather Read more
Monday, October 12, 2009 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 7654 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating Where is our fall weather??? Geeze, what's up with this weather. I went out at 12:30am to look for new blooms and the temperature was 81 degrees out!!! That is about 10 degrees warmer than it should be for this time of year.Orlando set a new record high of 93 on Sunday. It was actually a couple degrees warmer out here in Clermont.The good news is that a cold front is supposed to come down next weekend and drop our temps down to the normal zone for October.I'm ready! Categories:WeatherRamblings Tags:Angel Trumpetbrugsweather Read more