Week of March 13, 2022

A LATE SPRING FROST came to the Florida Garden on March 12. North Central Florida had already suffered through several hard freezes in early February. We usually expect one more cold snap toward the end of the month, so a hard freeze warning in midMarch was an unwelcome and unexpected event. The pruning of the leaves and stems that froze in February had already begun, exposing tender new shoots emerging from the bases of many perennials. Even more concerning were the best citrus blooms ever, with tender white buds on all orange, lemon, Key lime, tangerine, and grapefruit trees, as well as small fruit on the peach and plum trees. All this would be very cold sensitive, threatening our entire fruit crop for 2022. The predicted low temperature was 28 degrees F, which could be protected by frost covers. Our entire stock of frost clothes were deployed, with large sheets over the Mexican heathers and aloes in the front yard, round sacks for the potted Key lime and the herb pots, and large sheets over the citrus trees along the drive and in the back yard. The covers placed at dusk required repositioning at midnight, due to initially gusty winds turning still for the frosty night and the lowest temperatures between 4-6am. Morning brought great relief to see that the low was only 30 degrees or so and for a shorter time, only an hour or two. Inspections of the plants showed only the Persian lime and one of the grapefruit trees to have been nipped. The cloths were gratefully removed, with no expectations for future need of them until next year.