Marcia
It is still cold now, plants look okay. I covered my prized red guava (By the way, I eat them raw,peel, seeds and all)
My mango, dragon fruit and sapodilla. Still small.
The new citrus were on their own, because I know they can take colder temperatures. We had even hail and snow one day in Phoenix.
Vegetables and flowers have to be strong or be replaced.

Willy

Everything in my yard seems fine. I didn't cover anything, not even the mussaenda and orchids. Orchids are in the patio by the pool and that tempers the cold by at least 5 degrees I think. I don't think the buds on the citrus will like all this but if we lose these buds, they'll reset.

Kate

I have to admit, I take a 'survival of the fittest' approach in my yard.

But, even I may cover some plants tomorrow night as it may be in the 30s here in St. Pete. I'm worried about my plumerias in the ground and my gorgeous tomatoe plants - loaded with green globes of fruit not ripe yet. My other plants can easily be replace if they don't make it.

Interestingly, my Flamevine does NOT like the cold at all. It's looking very humbled this morning.

The cold will kill my Skyvine and my Morning Glory vines, but they'll come back when it warms up.

It was definitely in the upper 30's here, but my skyvine looks fine so far, and morning glories are blooming this morning. I have one orchid that doesn't look happy, but it was looking kindly poorly already, so I don't know that it's related to temps in the upper 30's, necessarily.

It's definitely survival of the fittest here. I made up my mind I'm not lugging plants inside any more. They make it or they don't. And if they don't, I won't likely be growing them again, at least not on any large scale. I'm not up for all that work.

*me, giving all my plants a strongly worded warning..."GET TOUGH OR DIE!"*

Marcia (goes off humming A Boy Named Sue to self)

We definitely froze here in Citrus County. When I went outside this morning, the temperature was 29 degrees. The birdbath was frozen over, and my poor fig that had decided to leaf out got zapped. Tonight is supposed to be even chillier. Yuck.

Maureen

Maureen,29 ? That is cold. We had a balmy 30 degrees.
It's too cold to go see the damage but tonight...
Tonight I'm afraid it will be in the 20s.
I will not be outside but inside being warm by my little sausagey dogs. As Marcia told me, she had me cracking up.
Marcia how was your home made turkey,vegetable soup?
She just loves to spend time in her kitchen.
It's soup and cocoa weather.LOL
Jacob

Oh, Felix! Shame oh you telling such stories! I do NOT like to spend time in my kitchen...okay, I DO if I'm EATING in the kitchen. But the COOKING part, not so much so! Yuck. However, I AM inspired in cold weather to make soups and chilis, that's true. I didn't make it last night, because I wasn't sure when Mark would get home from Tampa. But I have the turkey carcass boiling as we speak, and loads of vegetables to go into the pot, along with a little bit of brown rice. (I'm keeping it healthy this time, and omitting the noodles, which are actually my favorite part. Surprise!) And I got stuff for chili for tomorrow night, also a WW recipe, so low points for me. Mark says he wants to lose ten pounds, too, even though he doesn't intend to give UP anything. So the low point chili will be fine with him.

And our little sausagey, four-legged hot water bottles will be snuggled up to us both tonight, by the fire.

I was thinking about how good all those veggies (pictured in another thread) would be in my soup tonight! Don't you guys who grow such bumper crops wanna run some of those over here this afternoon?????

*grin*
Marcia

No damage(that I can see) from last night...still have two more nights to go! Can't wait till Saturday. I use to love it when it got in the 30's... until I decided to plant Mangoes and Lychees!! Now I hate temps colder than low 40's, LOL...

Keeping my fingers crossed for warmer temps.

We saw 28 here in the Gainesville area last night. Tonight is supposed to be lower and Friday night perhaps down to the low twenties. I've been in Florida all of my life and have never seen freezing temperatures four nights in a row. Two in a row is not uncommon, rarely three, but never four.

I wrapped all of my young citrus night before last and will unwrap them on Sunday. "Bother", said Pooh.

.....Alan.

Jacob, start working on your soup recipes. Caldo Gallego sounds good. Baby, is cold outside!

Marcia, your soup is singing too, at the same tune like Felix.LOL

puglvr, I have a mango and a lychee too. I was told the lychee can take the cold temperatures. On the other hand the mango I covered last night, it is very sensitive. I lost one in Phoenix.

Alan, did you see the well protected citrus at Just Fruits nursery? That is a very good setup, they are ready for the cold weather that we are having now.

Willy

We got down to 37 at my place last night but it never got above 56 today. I think it will get lower tonight. It is funny (actually, you guys are funny) that you should mention soup. I almost always have some kind of soup in the freezer to cook on cold nights or on nights we don't have time. I was just rummaging through the freezer and thought I was out of soup! Fortunately, I found some minestrone stuck way in the back. I think I need to roast a chicken tomorrow so I can make some more chicken soup. Yum

Hi Willy,

You're right about the Mango being more sensitive than the Lychee. The cold(as long as its not 32° or below)is excellent for Lychee bloom production. One of my Lychee tree(under 2 yrs old)is starting to bloom! From what I've read the Lychee can take brief periods of frost for a couple of hours AFTER they mature, young trees being a lot more sensitive and can be damaged.

Was your mango tree in Phoenix planted in the ground or potted? Good luck with your trees!

Hi puglvr
My mango in Phoenix was planted in the ground and I thought protected by a fence and other fruit trees, but one winter didn't make it, it was a Valencia variety. I have Carrie now and is blooming like yours. The lychee is blooming also. All the plantings in my yard are one year old or less.
Hope we get rid of this cold snap soon. Good luck with your trees.

Willy

My toes are a tad cold but haven't turned black or blue or anything. Hummmm guess that means I did not freeze. My doc checked on me to make sure I survived. I just cut the thermostat up to 74 to thaw out. I have been laid low with bronchitis, stomach flu and a slight touch of pneumonia. I have been at hoje all week. I told my plants they were on their own and they seem happy. The tomatoes seem fine and if they did not make it I was going to make greeb timato pie. Since I've been sick I have been craving greens and ave kept a pot of something going in the crockpit all week. It started as mustard and then had turnips added abd tgeb collards and my grocer called to tell me they had kale and hopefully more mustard today. He will be bringing somthing over soon. I just loe my Publix. My plants on the screned Florida room have the heat from the house to assist them and the stuff in the front is in pots but they are all clustered togther underbeat the eves and everything seems fine. It got to 39 on the outdoor themp guage. Hope everyone stays warm. My fur babies have beeb skeeoubg ib top of me, under the covers and snuggles up close to me when I am either in my chair or bed. One lays next to my neck and keeps my chest warm. Oh the joy of two holy terrors. Linda

Hi Willy,

Sounds like you're doing all the right things for you fruit trees, and they are showing you how much!!
You are doing better than me, last year I had only two trees bloomed out of 8-9 trees, and those didn't produce one single fruit, all the flowers fell off, lol...at least this year all of them are blooming except two that I just planted late summer. Maybe the unseasonably cooler weather helped my trees to bloom? Just no Frost!

Yes...to warmer weather!!

Congrats on how well your fruit trees are doing, keep us posted...

We were away for a couple of days so the Wednesday night cold spell got the new growth that we had. I had one tropical potted plant covered and it has now been brought in. Tonight is suppose to be very cold here.

My peach trees, mangoes and avocados are in full bloom. Here's an ode to the weather gods for some protection from the cold. Don't want to lose my entire crop.

A gardener from Florida was fuming,
His fruit trees had just started blooming,
With frost on the way,
No one could say,
If fruit he would soon be consuming.

The peach trees and the new mango,
Were doing the springtime tango,
Blooms and blossoms galore,
From the trees they did pore,
The avocado was going bizango.

But it's only January here,
More cold on its way I fear,
Now I'm down on my knees,
Begging, pleading, puh-lease,
Keep the ice off my fruit trees this year.

I believe we are getting culture here in GW.
Thanks Bill. I love the poem
I suggest you come to one of the swaps and read us some poems.Yes!
Felix

billbrandy

I second what Felix said, come to the BBQ and read us some of your poems.

Willy

When is the next one scheduled? I live in Seminole, on the west coast.

Billbrandy
It is near Orlando, February 21 at noon. If you can make it, contact me through my email.
I will be giving directions to the house a week before the BBQ.

Willy

Thanks for all the updates and for the lovely poetry! Culture at GW? Who'd a-thunk?

For me, we never got a freeze, and not a single leaf has dropped that I can tell. Everything looks as well as it did before the cold snap (which wasn't all that great anyway, due to my long neglect). And as for myself, as long as the plants don't freeze, I don't care how cold it gets. I love it. Never turned the fan off at night, and never turned the heat on, even once. I did have a nice fire going in the family room for three mornings running. That always makes me happy...snuggly & cozy for reading by, but not heating up the back rooms. I like to sleep in a cool or even cold room. Our fireplace is just enough to warm up the family room, library and kitchen, while the living room and bedrooms stay pretty cool. PERFECTION!!

It's sunny and beautiful outside today, so Mark is laying brick. I, alas, have to continue cleaning out the guest room for my daughter's visit. (I had pretty much been using it as an oversized closet for a year! Couldn't even SEE the bed in there!) But tomorrow, I expect to be able to spend some time in the backyard.

Hope you all are having a nice weekend.

Marcia

Marcia ~ I just read on the weather site that Tuesday night it's supposed to go down to 38 and feel like it's 27, PB County. YIKES! I'll probably take my orchids inside, that's about it. I might cover my herbs and maters in the main garden now that I think about it. Sheesh.

It was lovely out earlier and I did play outside.

Hope you all survive this next dip in the temps.

FlowerLady

Well, if it's 38 in your part of the world, we will probably get our first freeze up here. I do hate it when the plants die, but as for ME, personally, I don't mind it that cold. However, my daughter is in Florida for vacation this week...she will be frozen! Of course, she's coming from San Diego, so hot weather is nothing new for her, and maybe the cold will feel good for a change. I did tell her to pack some sweaters, etc.

I guess I'll bring the little cherry tomato I just bought inside...it hasn't even been repotted yet. But that's it. If anything else croaks, c'est la vie!

Y'all stay warm down there!

Marcia

Thanks for the great poetry!! Very appropriate.

We're still in the line of fire here, just checked weather.come, my Tuesday night/Wed morn is showing 32° and windy! Hope it changes before it gets here. I am tired of the yo yo...covering...uncovering...dragging, hauling...well, you get the picture!