The Big Freeze

The night that Cameron left for Indiana, Doug and I moved all of the vulnerable outdoor plants to a safe spot to protect them from freezing weather.  We had done this in the past, but only for a day or two.  This year, however, we have had enough freeze warnings that we have had to keep them protected for almost three weeks. Our lanai was filled with the most vulnerable, including the lemon and lime tree, and the rest were all placed in a safe spot next to the house, in an alcove under the patio, under a rocking chair on the front porch or behind the tiki bar. Everything had gone well.  I checked on them every day and kept them watered as I read that was the best way to prevent them from freezing. I was excited to read that this Sunday would be warm enough to move them all back into their sunny spots in our yard.

Since everything has been going so well, I wasn't even worried about the freeze warning that I received Friday afternoon. It was just like all the rest, and I knew my plants were safe. Thus, I was completely shocked when I woke up to see an almost dead sun patient on my back patio. It had looked incredibly healthy yesterday, full of beautiful pink flowers.  This morning it was completely wilted. I was super sad as I had already nursed it back to health last fall when it got too much sun. It wasn’t the only outside plant that had taken a beating the last night. Our yellow hibiscus tree was brown as well.

I decided to remain optimistic and went to Lowe’s today with Grandma to buy some new pots, a red petunia for the front yard and a bag of fertilizer spikes. We spent the afternoon while Grandpa was golfing repotting the poinsettia that had almost doubled since Christmas. I also moved the pineapple into the sun and trimmed up some of its dead leaves hoping that it would grow fruit this summer. We put the hibiscus out in the sun as well, realizing that it probably wouldn’t recover. Thus, I already had plans to replace it. The biggest excitement of the day was the Better Boy tomato that I found at Lowe’s. I knew that Doug would be happy about that because he had been looking for one since November. We put it in a bigger pot and decided to replant what was left of the sun patient into a smaller pot with new soil. I was skeptical but remained hopeful that it would survive as I gave it a little bit of water and put it back in its favorite spot from last October. Hopefully all of our hard work pays off, but if not, I know that I will enjoy looking for replacements.