January - The month of dislike

January with a few nights where the temperature drops below 40F ruins my tropical landscape. The garden looks toasted.

 Every year it is the same, I dislike my plants and vow to throw them all out to replace them with cold hardy plants. But by March all is forgotten. The plants have recovered and by May the garden looks lush and tropical as if there was never a night below 70F.


Right now, I dislike!

Did I mention I have no luck with Elephant ears?

The Billbergia bromeliads are doing ok, and so do the weeds :-)

Toasted Mango tree

Aechmea del Mar 

Some bromeliads just can't take below 40F, others are ok. Of course, it depends on the location, the toasted one above with no cover and the one below with no damage is sitting under the Dombeya.  

Aechmea del Mar 

Normally I do not see Hummingbirds in the garden in January. They arrive in Myrtle Glen beginning of  March. Since my yard is toasted, I set out a Hummingbird feeder which is completely ignored in favor of the white powderpuff flowers. No picture, as usual, I was too slow with my camera, but the Cardinal saw my despair and posed for me.

 Some plants did ok so far. But we still have a couple nights with chilly temperatures ahead of us.

The bromeliad branch hung close to the housewall is doing ok

The Mexican Turk's cap, red and pink, lost some leaves.

Hubs did already chop off some of the Banana leaves. The Dombeya lost most of its leaves as did the hibiscus.

So sad looking