I see you are ready! My living room is packed with plants. I really need to stop growing tender plants. I have this Zone Denial Disorder thing that I need to get over if I'm going to live up here where it's cold.

The last time I brought in plants because of a cold snap, I also brought in thousands of tiny, tiny ants! They lined the walls, marching in single file across several rooms. Never again! Luckily, this cold spell won't be as cold here in North Port.

I spent my day mowing the lawn at the highest level and dumping the clippings into that bed and then topping those off with my compost. The result should be material composting at a slower rate but still generating heat which will be trapped under the tent. I joked on Facebook where I also shared that picture that in abother year or two I will have to build a pergola over the area that can double as a greenhouse.

Marcia, I had that happen one year too -- fire ants! From then on, I always put some boric acid on top of my plants and watered it in for a few days before a freeze or storm was predicted so I could kill the ants.

Supposed to go down to 28 tonight, but last night they said 35 and it was 45, so I'm praying that will be what happens tonight.

It's already 33 out there according to Accuweather, so I'm thinking 28 is definitely possible. Hoping it's a few degrees warmer here. I need an outdoor thermometer.

Seems my theory about the heat generated by the surrounding apartment buildings was right. No damage at all, even though the official temp for last night was 30. Not even one burnt spot on the coleus, which are my bellweather plants, being the most cold-sensitive and outside the protection of the courtyard. The maintenance guy says that the banana and the hibiscus freeze back every year, so I guess we'll have to get much colder temps for that to happen. I'm buying an outdoor thermometer so I can see exactly what the temps are, and what the variance is. I'll keep all the plants in for one more night, but they go back out tomorrow unless something radically changes.

It got to 23F at Jax airport last night/this morning. I don't think it got quite that cold where I am but it was in the upper 20s F, probably. A lot of stuff that wasn't moved in the gh is freezer burnt and the leaves have that blackened dark green wet tissue paper look. Stems aren't frozen though. Hopefully it won't get that cold tonight. Last night the news said only down to 31F but then changed their mind around 10pm and said it would get around 27F !! Ya that's a big difference for a lot of stuff I grow. So I went out in my pj's and quickly covered what I could lol. It better not do that again tonight :/ They are saying it will be 36F right now.

~SJN

Sultry, that is why I rely more on Accuweather and, more than that, Weather Underground. I used to compare broadcasted forecasts with what those two apps/sites told me and those two were more accurate by far. Especially with Weather Underground which gathers information from various micro-stations around my area to generate the forecast, which, with all the Airplane Ranches in my area, there are lots of weather stations. Broadcasted forecasts just alert people of the average expectations of an area, leaving people to guess if they are going to be warmer or colder. Of course, over time and getting used to the broader micro-climate (is there a lake or pond nearby or thick copse of trees that will affect us?) of one's area as well as the micro-climates specific to our yards, one can eventually assume the relative difference between what the forecasters say and what we will see.

According to Accuweather, it was 28 in Gainesville last night (forecast was 31), but of course, that is at the airport. I had absolutely no damage, so I'm assuming there is at least a 5-degree variance between here and there. That's good to know. They're calling for 35 tonight, so I think I'm putting the non-tropicals back out today and just keeping the orchids and tender ones in until this passes. They're calling for more cold next week, but my plants need fresh air, sunshine and watering so out they go for awhile! Glad I don't have many now, and most of these will be planted out into the ground soon, so there will be even fewer to lug in and out.

I am located just outside of Gainesville in somewhat rural area, temps got down to about 28-29. As a result, the basil plants croaked in a flash, 8 big eggplants in 15 gallon pots died back to about 1/2 size, but believe they will survive... no plants allowed in the house for the many reasons listed above. Parsley, peas, swiss chard ... all laughed at the cold.... A few years ago I grew cabbage at UF organic garden and it had ice in between foliage and t also shrugged the cold off... Am a believer n survival of the fittest... plant wise

Another temp drop tonight. It was interesting to me to note that we had so much rain Friday and yet it is taking until today for the temps to drop. Normally for our winters, the rain comes at the very head of a cold front with temps dropping almost as soon as the rain stops, but instead we, my area at least, had a fair bit of rain Friday, a fair bit of sun and relative warmth Saturday and now today the temps are already (10 am) dropping. The temps for my area are supposed to stabilize around noon and then continue dropping around 3, so I am going to let the sun warm all that saturated soil for as long as possible before putting up the covers to trap the heat.

As strange and unusual as this winter has been, it is a bit of relief for me as I took a page from Leu Gardens's book and planted a Monstera deliciosa under an oak tree (on the east side so the winds are buffeted by the trunk of the tree). The warm rains and warming sun are giving it fair chances of surviving
its first year in the ground without any extra protection from me. I also put some rooted wild coffee cuttings under that tree hoping that the canopy will will protect them enough to allow them to thrive. They can be a little iffy here and might die back a bit under a hard frost, but I am testing and playing with micro-climates. This strangely warm first winter should make it so that all the plants will be stronger and quite established for future cooler winters.

I dunno, if you are in a 9a, you might wanna dig up or take a cutting from the monstera lol. I had one freeze a few years ago. It was under a huge oak. Luckily I had a cutting. I have 3 variegated monsteras and one huge green one. I keep them in large pots and just move them into the gh with a hand truck if it freezes. I love the variegated ones. I think they are even tougher than my green one. My green one is a weenie lol. Course I'm probably further north than you. I'm in NW Jax.

~SJN

I have 6 more in pots in my lanai. A few years ago my mother purchased one that was labeled as a Split-Leaf Philodendron that was on clearance sale. Since then I have learned that it is actually the Monstera and have also learned that the 13 or so that were in the pot were all individual plants. So she happily shared some with me when I split them up for her.