I don't know what I was thinking!

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I have an aloe vera that is very precious to me, since my mother gave it to me for my 25th birthday. It's gotten leggy and ugly and the top has been cut off and re-rooted many times, but it's still going after 38 years. I've dragged it (literally, since it was too big to lift) inside more times than I can count during cold spells to keep it alive. This year, I moved and someone had left a heavy terracotta pot full of the cold-hardy aloe. I don't like that aloe so I gave it all away and for some stupid, stupid reason, I planted mine in that pot. Well, it's going to get cold here in Gainesville the next few nights, and may even get down to freezing, and guess what? I could not BUDGE that huge, heavy pot to bring it inside. So I did what any good plant mommy would do. I dug it up and put it temporarily into a plastic nursery pot. I have a nice decorative plastic container it will be going into as soon as I can get some perlite to make the soil lighter, and although I know it likes clay pots better this sucker is STAYING in a plastic pot from now on.

I'm telling you, North FL is so much different from SW FL. I'm having to learn to garden all over again. Right now, I'm preparing to lose a few gorgeous coleus, but I have cuttings started for spring, and it's time for that garden to go to bed. These are my favorites. You can see the bottom leaves on the red one are already starting to fade.

Featured Answer

Michael AKA Leekle2ManE

8 years ago

Something that helps some of my more sensitive plants is setting a 5 gal bucket near them, but not next to them and filling the bucket with boiled water. I then put the lid on the bucket to trap as much heat inside as I can and the tent the area. With three buckets done like this, I have managed to offset a night's low by 5°F, which makes a fair bit of difference in survivability. I got this tip from a guy who used to work the cherry orchards up In Michigan and they would do this if a late freeze threatened a crop. I don't do it alot, just on the coldest nights when temps threaten to get nearor below 30°F.

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Comments (6)

marcia_m
8 years ago
I especially like the light green one.
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Original Author
8 years ago
@Marcia - thanks! It's my favorite too. I "rescued" a cutting of that from a plant that was about to be pulled up outside a building where I lived last summer. I really need to stop doing that -- NOT! lol Wish you were close by, I'd give you plenty of cuttings. Seems my plants like your house.

@Michael I used to use Christmas lights under a blanket, but I haven't been able to find my Christmas lights since I moved. The lights gave off just enough heat to keep the plants from freezing.

Luckily, Accuweather missed the mark by 10 degrees last night, and everything is fine, but they're calling for 28 degrees tonight. I think my courtyard walls are helping quite a bit, and all these apartment buildings generate a lot of heat. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow. In the meantime, I have a lot of lizards running around my living room that I'll have to rescue and put back outside once this is over. I'm putting out saucers of water for them until then. Poor babies. They didn't ask to be in here.
marcia_m
8 years ago
DG, I don't need any encouragement! I do appreciate the plants you shared with me. I am a plant lover who is trying to reform!
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Original Author
8 years ago
Marcia, as I am. I got hooked on tropicals in z10, now I'm trying to grow to love more cold hardy things.
irma_stpete_10a
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Thanks DG, I had forgotten the xmas-lights-under-a-blanket trick - since the lights sold now are so cool. But, I do have a crate of tangled, larger lights bought at a moving sale, that I can't even give away. And, tangled is no problem for this purpose. (But, is it ever going to get cold here in Pinellas County?)