The recent extremes in weather leave me wondering what I can grow that will survive drought, freezes, heat, and humidity. I welcome suggestions.

Good post, Porkpal!

Anything you can hide indoors should do fine, in my experience

Very true, but I try to avoid plants that have to be moved in. I have enough to do to prevent my out door plumbing from freezing when a killing cold front is coming.

I am particularly interested in fruit bearing trees and shrubs.

The problem is switching our tastes to conform to the fruit trees and plants we could use. Flowering Quince & JuJube plants, may work, but zones 5 to 9 is reaching.

porkpal said: The recent extremes in weather leave me wondering what I can grow that will survive drought, freezes, heat, and humidity. I welcome suggestions.

Same. Unfortunately, unless you grow plastic plants, there's nothing that will survive through all those conditions. If have another bad year like last year idk what I'll do.
This fall I'm considering a change involving my greenhouse. I always set it up around December when I'm ready to start little seeds. However I'm thinking of putting it back up like late October or early November (depending on temperatures) and using it to grow plants in. That's why I'm in the market for dwarf tomato varieties because they'll fit fine in smaller pots. I was recently lied to about some dwarf varieties a forum member offered to share but unfortunately there's nothing I can do about their rudeness; I'm sure I can purchase those varieties later on from an honest source.
Anyway, I should be able to grow something like a pepper plant as well; too bad my greenhouse won't hold anything bigger or I'd have okra, corn and everything else growing in there through the wintertime, but I'd need a greenhouse the size of a baseball field for that.

I guess a greenhouse would be a solution for me, but the citrus trees I lost were over 25 years old and would have needed a greenhouse bigger than my house! Oh, well, still searching.

TomatoNut95 said: Same. Unfortunately, unless you grow plastic plants, there's nothing that will survive through all those conditions. If have another bad year like last year idk what I'll do.
This fall I'm considering a change involving my greenhouse. I always set it up around December when I'm ready to start little seeds. However I'm thinking of putting it back up like late October or early November (depending on temperatures) and using it to grow plants in. That's why I'm in the market for dwarf tomato varieties because they'll fit fine in smaller pots. I was recently lied to about some dwarf varieties a forum member offered to share but unfortunately there's nothing I can do about their rudeness; I'm sure I can purchase those varieties later on from an honest source.
Anyway, I should be able to grow something like a pepper plant as well; too bad my greenhouse won't hold anything bigger or I'd have okra, corn and everything else growing in there through the wintertime, but I'd need a greenhouse the size of a baseball field for that.

I do not post alot but growing conditions got my attention.
the past week was so warm I brought out plants that I had in the garage all winter.
Now I see cold temps which may not be good for the plants .
So everything thing is back in the garage.
My wife had said it was too soon to move the plants outside.
I hate when my wife is right.

You wanna lend me your wife? She might save me a lot of trouble provided I listened and paid attention! Gonna have to move a LOT of plants back inside if the current forecast proves to be correct. Some small, some big and awkward. That's the trouble with this time of year. Things change rapidly. The other problem is that the longer days and increasing number of days awakens plants and they start responding, whether inside or not. That new activity needs corresponding light which they cannot get inside. I'm resigned to hauling in a couple of truckloads of plants for Thursday night and the following few days.

Cant give her up her up she is a great cook and a little bit smarter then me
Not too bad for me only about 15 plants and I have a heater in the garage

We have always had inconsistent temperatures, but recently the issue has been more extreme. What a nuisance!

Not in Texas but same issues here next door. Warm days but freezing nights have only just stopped, and I suspect there are more to come. Still too cold for the succulents I have indoors where I want to be starting tomatoes. Not to mention ugly overcast skies which we are unaccustomed to. Sorry to barge in ... Needed to vent!

I have 47 pots to put back into the garage. The hibiscus don't like temps below 40 degrees.
Thank goodness for my little Red Rider wagon.

Today was cold mostly; had trouble getting out my nice warm bed. Wore a long sleeve pretty much all day and ran the greenhouse heater last night. Tonight will be in the 40's again so I'll probably run it again.

TomatoNut95 said: Today was cold mostly; had trouble getting out my nice warm bed. Wore a long sleeve pretty much all day and ran the greenhouse heater last night. Tonight will be in the 40's again so I'll probably run it again.

WHOOPS, I thought this was the weather thread, I'm sorry!

I am not worrying about any temps showing for next week, it will change. 40* is not too cold for veggies, but I will break out the wind protection. This weather did this last year, -Spring/Summer heat in January, Winter in Feb, then back into Summer for March. Monday next week is the 20th, thats Spring, or the 22nd, close enough, then 3 weeks to Easter and bam! it will be too late for Spring again. Its just the humidity that is really high and messing with the watering schedule.

I'm not in Texas, but we're also dealing with more extreme temps here. I wonder if it would be useful to think about hardy figs and citrus. I've never been much of a zone-pusher myself, but there are plenty of varieties of 'tender' plants that were bred/selected for their hardiness. Common Fig (Ficus carica 'Chicago Hardy') is a well-known example of hardy fig, but there are others that might be better for your specific growing conditions.
https://www.almostedenplants.c...

Satsumas are an example of hardy citrus, but there are others to choose from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Loquats are fairly hardy, and some varieties may even be suited for zone 6? Pawpaws are native to most of the eastern U.S., and there are varieties that are grown north of its native range...one of those varieties might be worth trying. Pawpaws don't travel well, so they aren't usually found in grocery stores, but if you grow for home use, that shouldn't be a problem.

Some heirloom fruits might be worth considering...plants can't become heirlooms if they aren't tough, right? 'Negronne' is a delicious fig that is often recommended for short-season growers...it's old enough to have a number of synonyms, such as Common Fig (Ficus carica 'Violette de Bordeaux'). It's a smaller tree (can remain in a large pot), and more shade-tolerant than most figs, so it's a good cultivar for people who think they can't grow figs. Also handles heat and humidity well. Better than I do...

So far it seems "hardy" doesn't cover the recent sudden changes of temperature we are experiencing. I lost my entire collection of citrus trees (many 25 years old) including the Satsumas to the early/late freezes. It looks like my figs are dead or dying now, and the Loquat tree has lost most of its branches over the past two winters and all of its fruit. I'm running out of ideas. These trees can tolerate heat and cold but, apparently, not in rapid succession. Your fig suggestions sound promising, and I haven't tried Pawpaws. Thanks for the hope.

I hope some of your figs- if not all of them- survive. I agree that the problem isn't hardiness so much as it is the drastic temperature swings, but hardiness is useful for when temperatures drop, however quickly.

If some of the problem is that your cold fronts tend to come in with windy weather, do you think planting some windbreaks could help?