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January 15, 2010
My own personal ice palace!
Last week's freeze was the biggest cold event in over 20 years according to the local media. I'm hoping that it will be at least another 20 until we have another one! For those of you who do not think it gets very cold in Central Florida, I thought I would share a few photos from my winter wonderland here in Clermont.
Citrus really took a beating this time. I spot checked a bunch of oranges on scattered trees and all showed signs of cold damage.
I had to rely on constant watering to protect my large Angel Trumpet seedlings growing in the open. With several consecutive nights of 10+ hours below freezing, ice accumulated quickly.
Even though I turned the sprinklers off when the temperature reached 37, piles of ice were still present when I had to start the sprinklers up again after sundown.
While an acre of glistening ice may have been a beautiful sight to some, now that the temperatures are back to normal it is not a pretty sight at all.
The photo above gives a whole new meaning to the term "Frozen Orange Juice". Those oranges had accumulated over an inch of ice during the course of the evening. I'll be busy squeezing lots of oranges this weekend, filling my freezer up with fresh OJ. Once an orange suffers freeze damage you have 7-10 days to use it before it spoils.
This is a new cactus called "icicle cactus". Cool, isn't it! :)
I hope this is the last external garden ice I have to see for quite some time.
Citrus really took a beating this time. I spot checked a bunch of oranges on scattered trees and all showed signs of cold damage.I had to rely on constant watering to protect my large Angel Trumpet seedlings growing in the open. With several consecutive nights of 10+ hours below freezing, ice accumulated quickly.Even though I turned the sprinklers off when the temperature reached 37, piles of ice were still present when I had to start the sprinklers up again after sundown.While an acre of glistening ice may have been a beautiful sight to some, now that the temperatures are back to normal it is not a pretty sight at all.The photo above gives a whole new meaning to the term "Frozen Orange Juice". Those oranges had accumulated over an inch of ice during the course of the evening. I'll be busy squeezing lots of oranges this weekend, filling my freezer up with fresh OJ. Once an orange suffers freeze damage you have 7-10 days to use it before it spoils. This is a new cactus called "icicle cactus". Cool, isn't it! :)I hope this is the last external garden ice I have to see for quite some time.
These photos are stunning, but also depressing, as someone who eats a lot of oranges but doesn't know how they cope with freak cold weather. Will the crop be okay? (we grow apples up here in Nova Scotia, but they're off the trees by late October, before it gets cold.)