Icy Florida

ABOVE: My tallest and oldest grown-from-seed queen palm lit by a fire in a pit near its base, and the moon to the south. This was a very long exposure to achieve a kind of daylight effect. I find it difficult to watch my palms die, especially those grown from seed, so I'm doing whatever I can to save them. This tree gets a fire every night.

Tonight is our sixth sub-freezing night in a week. It is currently 24 F. Unequaled cold in the modern history of this part of Florida.



ABOVE and BELOW: 11 miles to the east under a great canopy of mature, native live oaks (Quercus virginiana) these Centipede Tongavine (Epipremnum pinnatum (L.) Engl.) are doing fine, so far. Tonight when I went to check on the plants it was 6 degrees warmer at the lake house, or about freezing, at 9:00 pm. I have water running underneath these trees to keep them slightly warmer than they would be otherwise.





ABOVE and BELOW: As we departed for the west coast this morning the queen palms were dripping ice. It was freezing rain and sleet until about 1:00 pm.



It should go without saying that ice dripping from palm trees is not beneficial for the tree. These trees are theoretically hardy to 20 F. They've now experienced 6 nights in a week around their threshold for cold. It will be months before we know if they have survived.



BELOW: Yesterday the days of cold had started taking their toll on the tallest part of the tropical canopy on Lake Theresa. Everything above 25' was starting to shrivel and turn black. Here too I have water running to warm the roots of these plants and hopefully save them.

All of these plants are seed grown. The tallest of the true tropicals, an octopus plant (far left; Schefflera actinophylla (Endl.) Harms) are from seeds picked in Key West, Florida. The Giant White Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai) are from seed brought from Africa (center), the Mango (right) is from a pit brought from Naples.