[saibot]

Originally Posted by Threestep2

As an avid gardener and that in OK - daffodils are fine. Give the roses a drastic hair cut and they will come back with a vengeance.

Check your growing zones and keep what does not naturally grow here in pots and a heated green house. Lilac has no business in OK. Bay and lavender do not belong in the ground here.

Plant enough for everyone and there will be plenty for you. We could not give Armenian cucumbers away after a couple of weeks. All sorts of peppers thrive. Tomatoes are simply perfect.

Bugs?

Do I want things that do not grow here? Oh yes! We lost precious Japanese Maples (one imported from New Zealand), collected over the years and moved from AL, TX to OK. One is still with us and pretty as can be. It came back after SO stuck what looked like a bundle of dead roots and wood into the ground without sun or weather cover. Scapes is closed until further notice. Then we will replant what did not make it through ice and snow 2020/2021. There goes my ElCamino:>(

What I have seen from your sister on DC over time is constant comparison CA/OK. Not a good place.

Thanks for your comments and tips. Yes, you are right, she is not in a good (mental) place. I've been to OK and met happy people who like where they live; it's not the location. But when people come to C-D and say they are considering moving from CA to OK, or from any place to any other place, they want people to tell them, "Look, this is what you need to know. Where you going is not like where you are coming from. These are the good parts, and these are the parts that are maybe not like your hope/expectation in this or that way." Unfortunately, in this case, the OP seems to have been one and done, and we have no idea what he/she thinks about the comments and suggestions that have been made.

By the way, we had Armenian cucumbers a couple of years ago and they went insane, turned into baseball bats. We realized after a few weeks of having them pile up that no one needs that much cucumber!

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by saibot

Thanks for your comments and tips. Yes, you are right, she is not in a good (mental) place.

She has to decide between the pos and cons.

Originally Posted by saibot

I've been to OK and met happy people who like where they live; it's not the location. But when people come to C-D and say they are considering moving from CA to OK, or from any place to any other place, they want people to tell them, "Look, this is what you need to know. Where you going is not like where you are coming from. These are the good parts, and these are the parts that are maybe not like your hope/expectation in this or that way." Unfortunately, in this case, the OP seems to have been one and done, and we have no idea what he/she thinks about the comments and suggestions that have been made.

One post wonders.

Originally Posted by saibot

By the way, we had Armenian cucumbers a couple of years ago and they went insane, turned into baseball bats. We realized after a few weeks of having them pile up that no one needs that much cucumber!

They are actually a melon. Please do not let them get away! 1 1/2 inches diameter and I find them delicious. They make great refrigerator pickles:>)

[kemahkami]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

So you knows how many, many palm trees died in Texas?

The full extent of casualties won't be known immediately. For one, it takes time for the full extent of cold damage to reveal itself, especially as much damage can manifest on the inside even when the outside appearance looks fine - on the other end, many palms that look gone actually pull through and come back. So things won't be known until later through spring and summer.

Overall, I'd say that places in Southeast and coastal Texas like Houston, Beaumont, and Corpus will probably have much less percentages of casualties in zone 8-9A specimen like dates and washingtonia robusta compared to places farther inland like Austin and San Antonio which saw longer duration of freeze and lower absolute temperatures. Stuff like sabal palmetto and sabal mexicana are hardy, and largely look unfazed ... until you go northwards to places like Dallas and Northeast Texas that saw single digits, wiping out everything but the extreme hardiest of sabal minor.

In the extreme southern tip of Texas along the Rio Grande, including South Padre Island, the 9A stuff will be untouched, or maybe some burns at most. There might also be some 9B-10A specimen that end up pulling through. Unfortunately, some of the more tender specimen, like the few coconut cultivation attempts in the region, will be completely wiped out.

Originally Posted by saibot

The OP appears to be long gone, but just for fun, here's an e-mail I just got from my transplanted sister:

"I have discovered that this last cold spell has killed my roses, my lavender, my bay tree and the bulbs that were starting to sprout - daffodils etc. I have no idea yet about the lilacs. I cannot describe how much I hate this erratic climate. Just when something starts to flourish Oklahoma decides to send straight line winds, or triple digit heat, or tornadoes, or hail, or flooding rain. Not to mention the bugs and voracious wildlife. I am praying that I can do better at accepting my current location but honestly it’s difficult."

Oklahoma will never be California, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It's a good thing. California has lots of problems that can be hard to deal with, but the generally benign climate covers a multitude of sins, as far as enjoying everyday life is concerned.

Actually, it's not a good thing. That email right there spells out the sheer problems with the climate of the US. Problems that could very well seal the country's fate as time goes on. These problems relate to just how limited the US is when it comes to the territory of congenial climate.

Outside of California and lower Arizona, the only serious, large-scale cultivation of subtropical-tropical vegetation is limited to peninsular Florida and the extreme southern/coastal tip of Texas by the Rio Grande. The fringe coastal strip of the Southern US from Texas eastward to Florida, and up to the Carolinas feature some decent subtropical specimen, but it's all small-scale compared to the aforementioned region. The immediate West Coast area of Oregon and Washington has a relatively temperate climate in relation to the latitude. Otherwise, the US is just a total wasteland of severe continentality and volatile temperatures east of the Rockies, and extreme aridity, cold, heat, or a combination of all in much of the West. It's such a huge landmass, rendered useless by temperatures that occur in just a handful of days - no wonder there weren't any ancient US civilizations to rival the likes of the Aztecs and Incas south of the border.

Relevant:

6.12. Inhospitable Environment for Plants

The southern United States is an inhospitable environment for the growing of exotic forest trees. The area has been compared with that of Siberia, without its severity, for its great fluctuations in winter temperature. This phenomenon prohibits the successful establishment of forest trees from most other parts of the world where the mean winter temperature can be even lower than that in the southern United States. The temperatures in those areas, however, decline steadily from summer highs to winter lows in the absence of fluctuating warm and cold temperatures. That is why seed sources of thriving plantations of Eucalyptus spp. from other areas of the world, such as E. dunnii from southern Brazil, E. deanii from France, and E. viminalis from Georgia (formerly the Soviet Union), failed when introduced to the United States.

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfr/2013/189393/


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DC11bBwXoAA_yFt.png

[turf3]

Hey Oklahomans,


Sorry to hear the infestation has reached your lovely state as well. Good luck with that. Our housing prices are out of control, there are panhandlers everywhere, and they're still coming. As we used to say about Michiganders, "they never stop complaining, but they never leave, either."

--A Texan --

[ImmerLernen]

I'm not the OP, but I am from California! Also wondering about Oklahoma -- but Tulsa, not OKC.

This thread has been helpful. If anyone cares to provide insight into life in the Tulsa area suburbs (as opposed to being right in the heart of the city nor out in the sticks), I'm all ears.

We are a family of 4 and would like to leave CA quietly (meaning, we won't advertise it). Our hope is to end up someplace that isn't being overrun by transplants (is that what @turf3 meant by "infestation"???) from anyplace else.

If I should start my own thread, please let me know. I figured I'd just add onto this one since the OP hasn't yet returned but might be reading in the background...and since 33% of their poll results are "Other", well...

[sportslover]

Originally Posted by ImmerLernen

I'm not the OP, but I am from California! Also wondering about Oklahoma -- but Tulsa, not OKC.

This thread has been helpful. If anyone cares to provide insight into life in the Tulsa area suburbs (as opposed to being right in the heart of the city nor out in the sticks), I'm all ears.

We are a family of 4 and would like to leave CA quietly (meaning, we won't advertise it). Our hope is to end up someplace that isn't being overrun by transplants (is that what @turf3 meant by "infestation"???) from anyplace else.

If I should start my own thread, please let me know. I figured I'd just add onto this one since the OP hasn't yet returned but might be reading in the background...and since 33% of their poll results are "Other", well...

Why do you not like transplants ? Do you hate diversity or something ?

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by ImmerLernen

I'm not the OP, but I am from California! Also wondering about Oklahoma -- but Tulsa, not OKC.

This thread has been helpful. If anyone cares to provide insight into life in the Tulsa area suburbs (as opposed to being right in the heart of the city nor out in the sticks), I'm all ears.

We are a family of 4 and would like to leave CA quietly (meaning, we won't advertise it). Our hope is to end up someplace that isn't being overrun by transplants (is that what @turf3 meant by "infestation"???) from anyplace else.

If I should start my own thread, please let me know. I figured I'd just add onto this one since the OP hasn't yet returned but might be reading in the background...and since 33% of their poll results are "Other", well...

On the OKC side and not only a transplant but a foreigner to boot.

I would like to meet those who started the Internet rumor about OK being cheap. It is what it is.

Are you ready for the climate? Buy moisturizer by the case Do not expect much to grow unless you water, pamper, sing and dance. There is no place without transplants. Cali is on the move so are a number of other states. So far no realtor signs "no Californians".

Tulsa and OK are two seperate worlds. Either one - you let them do their thing and do not educate them about being cave dwellers they are likely to let you run along. It seems to be easier with kids in tow.

Please do not try to say y'all until you know how to pronounce it!

[ImmerLernen]

Originally Posted by sportslover

Why do you not like transplants ?

I never said that I don't "like" transplants. I was just trying to reassure those who are wary of a mass of Californians coming to their area and changing the politics, etc. of their hometowns. Lord knows I've read a bunch of such comments on many, many other threads.

Originally Posted by sportslover

Do you hate diversity or something ?

Hate diversity? Nope, never said that either.

"or something?" Of course. Everyone hates something. I hate the look of vessel sinks and the texture of water chestnuts. But neither of those have anything to do with my asking about Tulsa, OK.

Sheesh.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by Threestep2

On the OKC side and not only a transplant but a foreigner to boot.

I would like to meet those who started the Internet rumor about OK being cheap. It is what it is.

Are you ready for the climate? Buy moisturizer by the case

If someone isn't complaining about Oklahoma being "too humid" then they are complaining about it being "too dry".

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

If someone isn't complaining about Oklahoma being "too humid" then they are complaining about it being "too dry".

Give me something they do not complain about. I am about to compile me 5-year-here.