Yikes, a PITA for sure bea ! All the outdoor thermometers for sale hereabouts only go as low as 40 degrees !!! :o)

Hopefully I will get a real cool down but not a freeze

OMG they changed it

I seriously do not want to bring plants in. It's not even going up to 60 today. Well, at least it's only cold occasionally in the winter, not like the constant heat in the summer.

Tender plants inside - check

Less tender plants pushed up against the house - check

Brugmansia buds covered with sheets - check

It's only going to be below freezing for a couple of hours. This is too much work. I say that every year, don't I? Well, it is, especially when you're fighting pneumonia and bronchitis.

I didnt expect this even though I should know better lol. I think we broke a record this year on getting the gh plastic on and getting most everything in there. Heater seems to b working. It was new last year and I think we only used it twice last year.

I agree...getting to be wayyy too much work. Im gonna move! As much as I love my sweaters and boots, I hope this is is a warm winter.

At the last minute, I remembered my huge African Blue Basil that's still in the ground!! Its so full, gorgeous, the bees love it, and if nothing else I could use the basil..I ran out after dark to dig it up and put it in a 5 gal pot. Its now in my bathtub lol. Im pretty sure it would have froze. I meant to propagate it earlier in the season grrr.

Only got up to 55 today!

Sultry hubs and I are actually discussing moving to St Augustine, our favorite FL city. Only a few degrees warmer than up here but enough.

On to another issue that's come up. I have a monarch pupa that will be hatching tomorrow. But the next two nights will be too cold again for the butterfly. So, hubs and I plan to take a trip to Orlando tomorrow - do some birding and release our monarch. And about two weeks from now we may have to do it again for the last two cats that pupated today, depending on the weather.

Haha I was just recently telling my dd that we should move to St Augustine. I don't know, I might wanna go warmer than that but yes it is a nice area! I have to stay somewhat rural no matter where I move because we have farm animals :0 You guys are so nice to release the Monarchs in a warmer area.

Luckily it only went down to 36 here, not 29. How did the rest of you do?

Sultry same for us. We won't ever move into a "city" type neighborhood. We need rural or semi-rural, definetely inincorporated. Cities and incorporsted areas have way too many rules and regulations. And we too have farm animals.

We thought about moving further south too but the further one goes the more expensive real estate and cost of living gets and the less likely one is to find properties with acreage

Hod A'Mighty D__n !!!! Ah been just smilin' at th' posts of folks up north, ( not D__n Yankees,..jus' N Floridians ! ), yellin' 'bout the cold weather,..but jus' now Ah GOT A TASTE ALSO !!!

Strolled onto mah lanai around 07:40 AM and woke up quick !!! It was only 49 degrees,... for Englewood,.why that's UNREAL !!! Can jus' imagine what it's like now in Jacksonville,...or Atlanta,..or New York City !!! Ah shiver jus' thinkin' 'bout those poor northern folks !!!

Since I have family up north, I am always watching the snow news and I feel worried. But, I don't like hurricanes either.

I am lucky with my plants that I don't have to move anything, it takes care of itself and if it dies, it was not meant to be in my garden.:)

it only got down to 31, not 29 officially here in Gainesville, but I think I was about 4-5 degrees warmer, because no frost damage on the banana.

If I move, it will be somewhere cheaper where the summers are cooler and the winters are still mild, like central Mexico, right at the foot of the mountains in Guadalajara. My days of raising farm animals and large acreage are long over. 5 acres almost killed me in my early 40s, so no more acreage for me. I like the convenience of city life, being within walking distance of everywhere you need to go. I was raised in cities, and thought country life would be nice after spending summers with my grandmother, but found out I'm just not cut out for it.

I havent been out to check damage yet. Im gonna be 'rolling' and steaming tamales today. I have the meat already done, thank goodness. Its work! lol

Kinda mad if it didnt actually freeze and I rushed to get the gh up and ran the heat in there last night lol. Oh well it had to go up soon anyways. Better to be safe than sorry and all that.

We have had a string of small catastrophes around here recently with appliances going out etc. Why do they all decide to act up at the same time? The washer broke down and its so old now, so now we are moving it out to make room for the new one. More work :D

Silvia, do you at least cover your tomatoes if the temps go too low? I'm definitely ridding myself of some tender plants. I want to get back to carefree gardening. I'm not even sure I'm going to pile leaves on them this year.

Sultry, I hope that you invite me for the tamales, I love them all!.:) I brought some of the best tamales from Quito on my last trip, they were frozen and kept them like that here. I ate them one by one heated, just like fresh.

Deb, I don't cover anything including the tomatoes, they are in good spots, somewhat a little bit sheltered with the trees and fences. I picked yesterday when they show signs of ripening, today I will do the same. After I do my walk I will go and check the garden...

Phew! We dodged the freeze! Living in a wooded area has its advantages. We usually stay 4-5 degrees higher than the official temp. Official for last night was 32. Ours was 36. Still d--n cold! But at least my tropical s are nice and warm in the GH.

Deb I'm surprised your temps were colder than mine with you beeing further south.

Jofus I feel for you. Anything below 60 is too cold!

Bea, we aren't close to the water, so we tend to be hotter in the summer and a bit colder in the winter. I'm in a high-density area with lots of apartment complexes, so I'm usually a couple of degrees warmer than the airport.

It seemed colder last night and this morning, even though it was warmer. I think it's because it rained earlier in the week, so even though the temps were a few degrees colder, the humidity made it feel warmer.

To a certain degree you eventually adapt to wherever you are. After about 30 years within the same climate I find minimums below 20C (68F) and maximums below 30C (86F), put politely, are 'very inconvenient'.

I could probably move into a climate a bit cooler than here, adapt in time and still maybe end up only grizzling about the cold as much as I do now. It's all probably more to do a need to complain about something, LOL.

I can't adapt. I lived in SC for most of my life, and I never adapted to the cold. Breathing cold air feels like being stabbed in the chest with icicles to me (I found out that's a type of asthma). I was fine down here until I developed lupus, because the heat and humidity didn't bother me, but now I'm trapped inside nearly all summer. There is really no place where I could be completely comfortable all year long. The closest I've found is in Central Mexico, and there are way too many drawbacks to living there, starting with healthcare, so I'll just suffer somewhere up here until I die, I guess.

I can't tolerate anything under 60F or over 80F for too long outside. Aside from Hawaii or California, where I could never afford to live, there just isn't a state that has those temperatures.

We're forecasted for 39 tonight, but we're usually a bit warmer, so I"m not even covering anything. It rained all day yesterday, so they're well watered. I think they'll be fine. I'm only bringing about 4 or 5 tender tropicals in.

Same!

Same here!

I could adapt to any climate that's mostly stable year round. My problem is with very distinct seasons. When I lived in NY, as soon as I finally adjusted to the heat or cold and I began to actually feel completely comfortable in it then the weather would change completely and it would feel awful. Let it either always be cold or always be hot. I need to move near the equator where high elevation areas are always cool, and low elevation areas are always hot LoL

florida_joes, that's why I want to move to central Mexico at the base of the mountains. The temps in the summer stay in the low 80s (except in May, their hottest month, but then only get to the low 90s and back into the 50s at night), in fact, most houses don't even have air conditioners. It does get chilly in the winter, but hardly ever below 40 at night a true tropical climate. Of course, there are those pesky summer rains, but the tradeoff of only one month where temperatures get into the 90s and no more 70 degree nights would be heaven for me!

I'm procrastinating bringing my plants in. My mind doesn't want to believe that it's going to be so cold with such a beautiful, clear blue sky and so many things blooming. Ah well, here I go. Too bad my brugs, which just bloomed, risk being burned back tonight. The flowers are so beautiful.

Dirtygardener, I'm thinking more along the lines of Quito, Ecuador and Bogota,Columbia. Just look at how stable the climate is! Ughh

Florida_Joe's, sshhh...please don't give the secret away! lol

Looking at Quito, there's a lot of fantastic plants you could grow. No Mangos though :(

It's not that easy to relocate to some of those countries. Some people can adjust easily. I am giving up with bringing in the plants, it was easier when I was younger.

Mexico is easy to immigrate to, if you have a decent income, or money in the bank. If you don't, you have to make border runs every 6 months, but they're not too strict about that either. I have a friend who has been living in Mexico for 7 years, and is still just renewing her visitor's visa. The government has said that they aren't really going after Americans who are there illegally because their visa expired.

Plus, it's close enough for my son to visit and the people are very kind and appreciate life, even though they are poor. I could stand to be around people like that.

jhl654 - I left a lot more outside than I usually do. Next year, I'm having very little outside that isn't cold hardy. I remember in SC letting everything just die in the winter. Tropicals were houseplants. I think I'm going to try to live like that from now on.

Nonetheless it's my dream. I don't know if it will ever happen or even if it's really in my best interest, but I live vicariously for now through videos of YouTubers who have relocated there or to other high elevation equatorial cities. I'm a very simple person who doesn't require much in the way of luxuries which I imagine is important when living in such locals.

Yes, I watch videos about Mexico and also lurk on some Mexico expat forums. Nothing wrong with dreaming.

Just my two cents,..felt I had to relate my exuberance that I just encountered ! Walked onto my 10' x 20' screened-in lanai awhile ago,..around 08:00 this morning ! Always like to have my breakfast out there, looking thru wifey's butterfly garden at my precious young Kent mango tree as it stretched up to kiss the early morning sun,..and of course way out back the banana plantation also visible,..the 15' + tall leaves softly waving in the gentle morning breeze !

However, like most mornings lately, I am steeling myself for the chilly early December air,.. tepidly glancing at the oval outside thermometer ! It registered a shocking 50 degrees !! Can you imagine ? And I am in Southwest Florida ? However I forced myself to sit down and begin munching on my bowl of cereal. Hmmm, "not bad at all really " said the voice inside my head ! " Hey Dufus,.. this is actually a great way to start the day,..when you think about it, wouldn't it be boring as heck if it was 68 every morning ? 365 days of the year ? A little dip in temps is actually a blessing,..say 3 months of the year ? Like it is here ? "

I couldn't help but agree with the impertinent voice ! In fact, this yearly changing from what I used to call Nirvana,...is in fact, just a nice, and IMHO, vital change that breaks up the monotony of the tropical weather we enjoy here for 9 months of the year !

What a blessing these chilly days actually are,..I now realize how cool ( great adjective ) it is to be among the lucky people living here in S Florida ! Never again will I whine about the cooling temps this time of year ! This is,..no doubt, what Nirvana is all about ! A WELCOME CHANGE !

No need to look elsewhere for the " perfect climate ", we've got it right here !! No mangos ??? Forgetaboutit ! They whine, ...but they never move,...do they ? :o)

Case closed,..gots ta get back out there before it warms up !! LOL

I lived in SW FL for 15 years. I'll never go back. I might complain a little, but I'd rather have lots of moss-draped trees than palms and I love having actual seasons. The summer is harder than the winter up here due to the lack of a sea breeze, but I still wouldn't ever go back.

Nothing froze last night, although my lonely little Everglades tomato is not looking tooo perky. It will likely perk up as it get warmer. Even the angel trumpets are still shining bright, and I didn't even cover the tall one.

Now, if I can just get the energy to go out in this chilly weather to put the plants back outside. I may just wait until tomorrow.

I can understand the seasons being refreshing, invigorating,or restful for some. I guess we're all a lot like our plants. Some of us thrive with seasonal changes, others just die hahaha. I guess I'm more akin to a tropical shade and moisture loving plant that enjoys consistency. Maybe that's why I'm partial to them. I empathize with them haha.

FL Joe I'm like you. I too dislike the weather changes. If I were a plant I would be a tropical plant. Here's my ideal weather

Tropic those rainforest garden photos you linked are my idea of what I want my property to look like. It's heavenly!

Bea, from all reports, Costa Rica is turning against expats and turning into a dangerous place to live. Still, it does have nice weather.

Hmmm. I have a friend who has lived in CR for over 10 years so I asked her about what you said. She said no on the expats - there are many living there but people interested in moving to that country must show proof that they can support themselves just like when she moved there. As for the danger part she said it's no different than in the States - there are some places she wouldn't go at night or alone.

Umm…we're NOT moving there. I was just posting my ideal weather.

That sucks about your house being trashed. Are you back in the US now?

Back to the original topic, I don't know why I ever took up gardening as a hobby sometimes. Forecast for Tuesday night is 31, and I'm not bringing anything in. Nothing. I still have the very tender plants inside, and I'm trying to clean for my son to get here. I don't have time to take them all in and out, so whatever dies, dies. My only concession will be to pull them up as close to the house as possible and toss some sheets and blankets over them, but they're staying there until Spring.

And all this rain! It's supposed to be the dry season! I had enough rain this summer to last me at least 2 years.

I swear, I'm getting rid of anything that won't survive the cold outside.

Well, I won't wish for it for the sake of you folks further north, but personally I would be very happy to see about a three-day freeze with no sunshine here to cut down on the agama lizards and cuban tree frogs. The frogs eat anything remotely spicy (bye-bye, cilantro) and the stupid lizards keep trying to climb my chard and breaking it down, besides chowing down on their native equivalents.

It took several years after the 2010 freeze for the tree frog population to come back, but they sure are back in full force now. Too bad the lizards don't seem to eat them.

Yeah, all's well now Bea. Took me 2 yrs after returning to that devastation, ( thieves were so desperate, they even unscrewed the big wooden front door I had installed and took it along with all the other stuff ), to get that home returned to normal, get it listed, and sell it. Needless to say I never flew back to the US again until the home sold.

Just a bad experience and a few lessons learned. Love it here in Englewood and have no desire to relocate again ! LOL