Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Record breaking cold temps




Burnt PineapplesBurnt Aloe thraskii
Burnt sanchezia
Burnt seagrape

We had a 10 day period in January where 70 year old records were broken each day for overnight lows and even for lowest daytime maximum temperatures. It was also the longest time ever on record with freezing or close-to freezing temperatures in West Palm Beach. We even turned on the heat for a couple of days when the maximum barely hit the 40's.

It took a heavy toll on my garden, but fortunately a lot of plants are already recovering well.

Worst hit was the crossandra and sanchezias. The pineapples, aloes, cleodendrum all got burnt, but are recovering very well. Even the native seagrape got quite badly burnt, but its already pushing out tonnes of new growth.

Not much came of my attempts to grow vegetables. In fact, I planted beans twice, first they succumbed to the intense heat we had right into November, then the second batch wilted after our cold spell, so I dug them up, removed all my vegetable beds from their conspicuous spot and relocated a few beds to the back of the garden, where they're out of sight (and big hallelujahs were heard from my wife's mouth). In place of the vegetable garden, I replanted emerald St. Augustine grass and my seed-grown atualfo mango.


Atualfo mango

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