It's cold! Not only is it cold, it's friggin' cold! I didn't move here for this. It's going to be in the 30's tonight and we finally had to turn on our pitiful little heat pump to keep us warmed up overnight. We hate turning on the heat - it brings back too many memories of living up north, not that there's anything wrong with that, and enduring those endless days of ice and snow and friggin' cold. Our appliance repair guy is a transplant from Boston. He's been here over 20 years and to this day refuses to wear anything but short sleeves and shorts. Imagine how cold that can get when you're riding around in a truck in the early morning. I don't even want to think about it. (Shivers...)

Anyway, we are used to an occasional cold day here during winter. Many folks get very excited and wrap their prized shrubs and other favorite plants to ensure they don't get frozen out. Unfortunately, a few weeks later they are still wrapped and guess what? Right - they are getting baked in the heat of the wrap! Some folks use sheets or blankets - that's not too bad. It's the ones who use tarps or plastic sheets who really concern me because they are usually the ones who wax forgetful to the detriment of the poor plants. So, our poor pitiful plants have to suffer in the cold just like we do (try not to feel too sorry for us) as we struggle through an infrequent cold snap. Luckily we've got many natives in our gardens that can survive the cold or will die down and come back stronger. As we sit here suffering swathed in our sweats and drinking hot toddies (is that a ys or ies?)we still say - what the heck tomorrow will be sunny and in the 60s. We can't complain. And we'll still be gardening in January. Happy Florida Gardening.