NO SOONER SAID THAN DONE.

Just a few weeks ago I was suggesting that a good frost might settle down my Dionysias and stop them from flowering prematurely.

Well my wish has been granted but with a vengeance. Shortly after the festive season, well just two days actually, a blanket of snow covered the country, and most surprising of all, the Shannon estuary.

If I had checked my records it should not have come as a surprise at all, as it is exactly six years since the last snow and ice covered this area, and that is about the average. But not since 1982 did we have such low temperatures.

As a polar low descended from the north temperatures plummeted and everything froze solid. Tender plants had to be removed to more sheltered conditions and fleece and bubble polythene that had a long rest were quickly brought into service.

As luck would have I did get the bulb frame containing the south African plants covered before the snow arrived which then acted as extra insulation. Even when the outside temperature went down to - 6 º C. the plunge material did not freeze.

Nature has its own way of protecting plants in the Mountainous regions by covering the plants with a thick blanket of snow before the really low temperatures arrive, thus saving them from a prolonged freeze up over the winter period.

Hopefully the advantages of the cold spell will be that seeds that generally require freezing before they germinate will thing that they are home and will burst forth shortly after the thaw sets in. As I had just finished sowing my free allocation of seeds from the Alpine Garden Society the snow could not have come at a more opportune time, as the pots were all now wearing nice little white hats, thus ensuring the chilling some of them require.

There will be lots of extra room in the fridge this year!

The seeds of the more tender plants including the South Africans are kept in the alpine house, which in this type of weather is kept just frost free.

An electric greenhouse fan heater does the trick when at the frost protection setting, and keeps the temperature at two degrees above freezing. While too much heat is the last thing one would in the alpine house at this time of the year, I like to keep it just above freezing for the following reasons.

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