The coldest on record is 1664 when trees exploded and the Thames froze solid for two months - horse races were run on the river and it was used as a road for carriages. Some of the sea along the English Channel also froze.
From 1683 to 1817 the Thames froze over 24 times (re "Mini Ice Age" and different style of bridge arches that impeded river flow). Imagine being that cold for a regular person with little food, living in a shack, no reliable heating, no furs, couldn't afford wool, the beer and wine froze, utter misery for months on end. That's what I call "cold".
I was born in that year, my mum couldn’t afford a pram for me so carried me when she did the shopping, someone eventually felt sorry for her and gave her a really old pram, better than nothing. 1963 I was working, I only lost one day because of the weather, now, one inch of snow and they shut everywhere down.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Or as once a doctor said to about his time in Turkey for doctors sans frontiers, “snow is when you leave the car for a sec to have a …. and you turn around and can’t see the car anymore”. 😀
Anything that survived Berlin cold will survive the worst English cold. Wet is more of a worry. Check hardiness ratings on any plant you are tempted to buy. Or ask the supplier. Late frosts, May/June in Surrey, will kill things that survive -20ºC.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
@bédé Thanks for that tip. I have bought plants from locations nearby like a nursery near Eversham and Kiftsgate and our garden centre in Bampton which grows its own plant. I know that they are grown in my conditions and are coming from plants that had my conditions for ages before. I was surprised how good that one French lavender that I have coped with the frost this spring and in contrary to what is said about lavender, it needs a lot of watering.
Lavender, like any plant, needs watering until established - and certainly if it's in a pot @Simone_in_Wiltshire. We often get queries on the forum about it, and it can be misleading when info says they don't need watering [which is often the case] because it leads people to believe they don't have to water at all. It's a shame because there must be thousands of dead plants around the country that shouldn't be dead! Funnily enough - I've mentioned before about the French lavender. A neighbour had one in what's completely the wrong conditions for it - shaded NW facing ] and in fairly unimproved clay soil, in our wet climate. It survived very well for years. It doesn't seem to have managed last winter though.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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Give me 28C every day in life and I'd be a happy bunny
1963 I was working, I only lost one day because of the weather, now, one inch of snow and they shut everywhere down.
My poor Mother , bless'er
I ♥ my garden.
Late frosts, May/June in Surrey, will kill things that survive -20ºC.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I have bought plants from locations nearby like a nursery near Eversham and Kiftsgate and our garden centre in Bampton which grows its own plant. I know that they are grown in my conditions and are coming from plants that had my conditions for ages before.
I was surprised how good that one French lavender that I have coped with the frost this spring and in contrary to what is said about lavender, it needs a lot of watering.
I ♥ my garden.
Funnily enough - I've mentioned before about the French lavender. A neighbour had one in what's completely the wrong conditions for it - shaded NW facing ] and in fairly unimproved clay soil, in our wet climate. It survived very well for years. It doesn't seem to have managed last winter though.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...