Winter, Then Spring

This photo shows a heap of dead plants to be recycled into compost dirt

On the calendar it's been spring for a day. Here in Florida, we knew Spring had sprung a while back, because even though plants remained in a dormant stage, weeds were growing quite happily.

It was a tough winter for north central Florida. We had the coldest winter on record for December. Maybe I'm wrong about the record; I just know it got really cold. Temperatures were in the low 20's around Christmas time and stayed that way for a few days. The irony was there was no dew! So it didn't look frosty, and my kids, who have little experience with snow, were disappointed. Those of you who live in other areas may be experiencing how tough our winter was when you see that prices on strawberries and oranges have risen.
What that winter caused for us at Ridge Plants was a lot of dead plants.
In this photo you can see how much space has opened up by removing the pots. We have new 3 gallons to fill those holes.

If you read through the older posts you'll notice I touted Bulbine as a great Florida Friendly plant. The winter of 2009 had a very cold March and Bulbine flourished. Well, the Winter of 2010 killed all the Bulbine!!


Now that it is March it was time to assess the damage and realize some plants just weren't going to come back. Jim sorted the dead from the living, and now we are hauling pots to empty on a compost heap, or spreading them in our vegetable garden. Maybe it's because of all the destruction in Japan and the violent unrest in Libya, but I see it as a mass grave. Yesterday I dropped 10 wagon loads of 10 3-gallon plants onto the heap. These would have retailed for $10 each. Very sad.

On the other hand, it is Spring. And spring is when plants wake up from dormancy are are ready to expend energy and releaf, flower, and reproduce.
Jim started some veggies and herbs from seed and they are eager little growers.


Our other perennials are now releafed and flowering, like the Orange Zest Cestrum. They shall welcome the bees to collect pollen and spread fertilization. Bulb plants like Iris and Amaryllis are also blooming. These will spread by the bulb producing another bulb, and also through seeds and cross pollenization.



The lesson is Life goes on!