Here it comes again...

By "it" I mean the bamboo-killing cold. Last year we reached -8ºF (-22ºC) as a low a couple of times here in St. Louis when the Polar Vortex spun down and made us wonder exactly how that arctic ice was disappearing, and the result was that all of my bamboos spent a few months with brown leaves.

This winter our low had been 6ºF (-14ºC) which is no problem for the several Phyllostachys bamboo species that I have planted. Most of them are all still green and lovely, but that will be ending tonight.

***

The current temperature this morning is 14ºF (-10ºC), and that's the high for the day. Tonight we're expected to hit -2ºF  (-19ºC) which wouldn't have me too worried -- it's not -8ºF so things should be better than last year -- except that winds will be around 10 mph (16 kph) with gust of 20 mph (32 kph) or so. Nothing desiccates bamboo leaves faster than bitterly cold winds.

So I'm expecting these to be the last photos of happy, green bamboo leaves you'll see from me for a while.

Next up you'll be seeing much more of this sort of thing:

The green bamboo in the foreground is Ph. virella.
It's quite hardy so I'll be watching it closely. 

The fish in the pond won't notice the cold...

...and at times like these I kind of wish I were unaware of what's going on above around me too.

The birdbath heater will be working overtime tonight...

...much to the relief of those living outdoors.

I'm hoping they're a bit off in their forecast, as every degree counts when it comes to bamboo survival...

.