And Now, Here's The Weather...

(page 4)

From Sweden, Kjell Persson:

"I live in south Sweden, between Gothenburg and Botas, 148m altitude. Normal winters here are not very cold by Swedish standards; usually the minimum is around -20¾C, and in Gothenburg itself, perhaps a little milder, say, -15 or -16¾. In 1987 the lowest was -28¾C. Normally the snow cover is between 10 and 40cm and this occurs between November and March.

"This winter was in fact rather mild, although February was about average. The lowest in January was -9¾C; February had 16¾ with many days of frost but little snow, only 5-10cm.

"I grow all my palms in pots and containers. I have had one Chamaerops outside in a pot in the ground from February 18th 1990 until January 20th 1991 with little protection. It's had no damage despite frost day and night for many days. This has encouraged me to try Trachycarpus in the ground this year also. But I would hate to lose it as they are very difficult to come by in Sweden."

From Madrid, Spain, Santiago Pajaron writes:

"The weather in Spain has been colder than in other years, especially during February. There have been some very cold years with very low temperatures, down to -20¾C in some places. This year was not as bad as all that, but the cold did reach the whole country. And those low temperatures were accompanied by a fair amount of snow even in places like Malaga, the 'Costa del Sol' and the mountains near Seville, which is very rare. We even saw 'Palmitos' (Chamaerops humilis) covered with snow, an unusual and bizarre sight."

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