I see we're going to from 77 to 26 Saturday.

Ugh.....I know @Bubbles I will let them enjoy the sunlight until Saturday when I bring them all back inside. My house has been covered in lady bugs for two days in a row. I do mean covered!!!!!! My white truck was covered, my hair, my tools, my plants, and I have been bitten by them at least a dozen times. Who knew lady bugs bite? Do I smell like an aphid? So the great part about that being my plants that get moved back and forth all winter have had the royal spa treatment. No, bad bugs here.

We sure are lucky to have the sunny breaks between the yucky stuff. It really does make winter more bearable. I simply can not stand many days without sun. I start to get etiolated just like my plants.

@Esperanza That's interesting about the lady bugs for two reasons! # 1, someone in our neighborhood posted on Nextdoor that she had seen hundreds of lady bugs around her yard a couple of days ago. # 2, I've been bitten by those little buggers and my gardening friends don't believe it! They say lady bugs don't bite and it's just my imagination.

Yep, the reprieve from the expected cold gave me a few more days to situate pots in the big hoop. Still have to shove a few more in and decide what do with a lot of cuttings.
We have two boxes of lights for the trees in the back yard that we bought early this summer from Costco. I think I'm going to get a handyman we use to string them. Otherwise, they'll just sit until spring before they get up.

Sandi, I went crazy on coleus cuttings this year so I feel ya. On the lady bug note, this was not hundreds. It was thousands upon thousands. I have never seen anything like it. They were like that on the bottom and top of our 18 acres. They were also present in these huge numbers at neighbors who all have 20 to 30 acre plots. Thousands probably is an understatement. I am kicking myself for not getting a picture yesterday. There were already less today. I was just to busy trying to enjoy a day off in my own garden in youthful sunshine. My husband mentioned there was a local story on it just now.
http://www.kvue.com/life/abund...

The Ladybugs loved my penguin when I inflated him. There were a lot, not 1000's but enough to make his white tuxedo look spotted.

I like these breaks in our cold, too. I can give my garage plants a breath of fresh air and open up the windows to the gh for some natural breezes instead of just the fan.

I was walking down the street to help a neighbor put up the trash can. On the way back I noticed how the trees without leaves really expose our illegal greenhouse from the street! I am trying to think of a way to disguise it before I am reported. Thankfully we aren't policed. A report has to be filed against us by another homeowner. Seeing how I have had it up for 3 years, I'd like to think I am safe from the neighborhood. But you never know when am over-obsessive, rule-following, buttinsky will come along. Letsee, I have a tall ficus and a tall Giant BOP that I can tote in and out of the greenhouse to help hide it. Which can take the cold better?

It must be these Asian Lady Beetles.
https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/...
Here I'm seeing very few.

@LindaTX8 Glad you posted this link to the lady beetles. I couldn't open Esperanza's video. Will have to find it online.
Those look like real pests!

Yep, Linda is right. I took a few photos with my phone this morning of them all crammed up in truck doorways. EEEEhhh yuck

Our DD said her friend in Circle C went upstairs in her new house to find the second floor covered in these buggers yesterday. I just sent her a link to the article on the beetles that Linda posted.

They are everywhere tucked into all kinds of things. I wonder if that news cast took down the link due to bad info.(edited to add link is still working) I was sooooo P.O. ed that I had to come in and wash my hands of bug pee or vomit I don't know what orange juice after trying to get them out of my vehicle crevices. We have an A.C. unit in one room that they came through in a tiny corner that I was not aware was open. It was an event for sure. I hope these ever dropping temps for this weekend kill the suckers. Seriously every time I look at the forecast it is lower. If you can not tell I am totally throwing a tantrum right now

Told DD I wanted grandson to catch some so I could put them in the hoops over winter to eat bugs to their hearts' content. Now I'm afraid they'll come down the chimney and poop on my white couches!

@Bubbles and @Esperanza - Wow! Hadn't heard about the invasion of the boogers. Used to garden in Austin. Wonder if my XNDH was also attacked, which I wouldn't mind. (Oh, slap me!) Hope the 'ladies' have left and that they don't come north to Dallas.
Thanks for the pictures. They're worth more than a thousand words.

Well, todays change of forecast has us at a possible 22 degrees on Sunday. It just keeps getting better! Grrrr... I only have about 100 beetles left inside my truck now. They can and will ruin a white couch unless your a die hard U.T. fan or just really like the color orange.

We're watching the news. I just asked DH if there's any good news. He said, "Not so far..." We will be battening down the hatches tomorrow. Moving in things we left outside during the last "freeze warning" a week ago.

I haven't seen any Asian Lady Beetles, thank goodness. Hope they've moved on....not to wish any on those of you south of us!

Writing again after dinner...Tomorrow (I've just been told), we have to run up to the lake to drain the pump. I will be up at o'dark thirty to move pots into the hoops before we leave.

I have a potted red passiflora that has been outside since spring; it has rooted itself into the ground. Since it will be 30 degrees tomorrow night, should I uproot it and bring it into the garage? Or do you think it will be alright for two nights? It is mulched with pine needles. The leaves are starting to turn yellow.

I have two other passies that's planted in ground for couple years and they've come back in the spring. But not sure about the potted one - I hate to lose it.

My only advice is if you keep them outdoors be sure to water them really good. Other than that, I know nothing.

piksihk said:I have a potted red passiflora that has been outside since spring; it has rooted itself into the ground. Since it will be 30 degrees tomorrow night, should I uproot it and bring it into the garage? Or do you think it will be alright for two nights?

I don't know, so I'm looking forward to the answers from folks with more experience. I have 'Lady Margaret' in a pot and it did the same thing. When our first freeze was predicted, I cut it loose from the trellis and chopped off the roots that had grown out the drain hole and have it stored in the garage until next spring.

The latest prediction is for 17F tonight. The front is already here - about 3 hours ahead of the time predicted. It's already dropped into the upper 30sF according to a thermometer I have set away from the house. No telling what the wind chill is because there is a lot of wind. I've moved some things inside and set up some straw hay bales and raked some oak leaves to cover things. Just a couple of hoses on faucets to disconnect and then wait to find what I overlooked or what I left out that didn't manage.

@needrain - funny how the cold snap came in about 3 hours or so early. So I've been out doing last minute stuff in the garden as well as watering some of my large epis that were inside and thirsty. (Didn't need all that loose dirt clogging up my kitchen sink.) Of course that means out they go and then lug 'em back in.
Haven't even had time to do at other none garden related things. And looks like I'll miss the Happy Hour at one of my fave nurseries. Dang!
And double dang it is Windy with a capital W! Brrrr.

I think we broke the record and hit 81 in the Houston Area today. It didn't feel badly though with the breeze and cloudiness. The sun peeked in and out. Over all it was a nice day!

The official windchill here is 11F, but I'm probably colder. I know the last minute things I was doing were in cold conditions with stiff wind. I'm in a low spot, so the actual temps tend to run about 4F colder than official readings. It's miserable outside at the moment. It was beautiful this morning and up until about 2:30 when the wind shifted. Unfortunately this old retired person is working as a favor at a real job, so the nice hours were on the clock for someone else.