As I mentioned in my previous post, I was out of town in Washington, D.C. When I watched the national weather on Tuesday morning I found out that the temperature in Tallhassee was 29 while it was 34 where I was in D.C. Gulp. I figured this was probably not good news for all the tender tropicals poking their heads up in my yard.
I spoke with a friend later in the afternoon who said that everything in his yard was fine. "Whew!" I thought to myself. I dodged that bullet.
But this morning proved me wrong. I was walking around the yard checking for damage. All the tender tropicals made it through, even though they're just tiny little plants trying to get established right now. Heck, even the Thailand Giant Colocasia that I planted just before I left town made it!
I discovered my little variegated lemon tree, which was a gift from a co-worker, all shrivelled up and crispy looking on my patio. Even the flowers were crunchy, which was double dissapointing since I had been looking forward to smelling them bloom and then to eating the fruit.
The interesting thing is that the lemon was right next to a pot of young banana plants, which made it through just fine. Maybe the orange was drier and thus more susceptible to frost/freeze damage? Maybe it got hit with the morning sun before the banana did and that's why it got crispy?
Oh well. The trunk seems to be okay, so I'm guessing the plant will drop its leaves and put out a new flush. In the long run, all will probably be fine.
And for those of you hankering for photos of traditional spring flowers (cherry blossoms, hyacinth, tulips, etc), stay tuned. I'll be posting some photos from my D.C. trip soon.
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Update: So upon further inspection, I think the lemon might have succumbed to drought, not freeze. I forgot to water it before I left for D.C. and my best guess is that it dried out. I'm watering it now to see if it might come back. We'll see.
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