Now that Phoenix has thawed from it’s impressive and unprecedented freeze, I am in MUCH better spirits! I am definitely a “valley girl” at heart! (shhh! don’t tell anyone I’m from Chicago! brrrr!) Since I can finally go outside without turning into a popsicle, I’m been going around the yard and checking out the damage. We had a week-long warning for our cold front, and I had enough sense to cover the rose bushes and move the two elephant food plants to the covered patio. I figured all the rest would fend for itself just fine. HA! Just about everything got frostbite. I’m still holding out hope that most of it will come back so I refuse to say “killed.” We have three palm trees that of course did just fine, and a mexican flower-thingee vine that took the frost like a champ (I’ve yet to learn what this plant is — we’ve lived here three years and I’m willing to just call it “pretty”. What’s in a name anyway?). On the fatality list: 4 basil plants, a patch of lily something-or-other, the planter of portulaca, two poinsettias and my beloved elephant food 🙁 The basil… well, it can be replaced and they dropped so much seed that they’ll probably come back on their own anyway. The lily is a zombie plant since it dies and comes back all the time as it is. Probably has something to do with my general neglect of it, and I’m of firm belief that makes it stronger. (Right?) The portulaca should have died months ago so I’m not too concerned, and besides, it looks like it’s only halfway dead so I’ll baby it and see if I can get ‘er going again. The poinsettias? I’m ashamed to admit it was a fickle love for them anyway since I only got them for the holidays to begin with. The roses look like they’ll make it, although they definitely didn’t enjoy their snuggle time with the sheets I enveloped them in for four days. They’ve certainly been happier. Which brings me to my elephant food plants, scientifically known as Portulacaria afra (thank you, Google!). Here is the damage:
happy elephant food
sad elephant food
Sadly, this is a picture of the “healthier” plant, since the other one doesn’t have a drop of green on it!
I realize how silly this sounds being that I’m talking about a plant, but I’m truly sad about this! I admired someone else’s plants for a long, long time and only finally got my own when I was old enough to know how NOT to kill them. Guess I didn’t wait long enough, huh? I really thought I had it under control! In fact, I’ve moved them into bigger pots twice now since they were babies when I got them — that shows responsible plant ownership, right?
I know I’m being melodramatic, and I am half joking! Although I really am disappointed my poor plants suffered, I know there’s a chance they’ll come back from the dead and join the ranks of the zombie lilies. So that’s positive, right? And while I have absolutely no idea how to nurse them along at this point, I’m sure Google can help me out with that 🙂 In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the doors-open-in-the-middle-of-January kind of weather us Arizona girls are lucky enough to have!
