Week of December 6, 2020

Gainesville lies just north of the frost-free line across Florida, so it has infrequent FROST, not every year but certainly several frosts over a three year period. This infrequency lures us gardeners to plant species that are not really frost tolerant. To tempt us more, the sensitivity to frost varies among varieties in a plant family, the duration that they had been planted, and their location in the garden under the oak canopy, next to the house, etc., and the ability to use frost cloth to protect them. Last week, the weather report issued a frost warning for Gainesville with a low of 29F. It had not frozen here in two years. The Key limes, herb pots, new plantings of bat-faced heathers were covered. The temperature went down to 30F and the covers were removed. The damage was minimal until the next night, which was supposed to be milder was actually colder, leaving quite a bit of damage. Sensitive species in the Florida Garden include the coleus, which we are happy to replant the newest varieties bred at UF the next year. Several plants, even large bushes, will freeze back but regrow from their roots the next year, including Pentas, Firebush, some lantanas, the many varieties of elephant ears, and the blue haze. We will usually not prune off the unsightly dead leaves until the risk of frost is gone in February. If the temperature goes below 27F for several hours, several other plants such as the philodendrons, lime/lemon citrus, avocados, bromeliads, gingers, and yucca are at risk, as it happened two years ago. We can put the elk horn fern and one Key lime pot in the tool shed, but the rest must be covered with frost cloth— a lot of work. One hopeful aspect of the last frost was no damage at all to the plantings under the natural frost cloth, the oak canopy, including the bromeliads, camellias, and gingers. Frost certainly adds some drama to the winter in North Florida.