Floridians who have plants that died of frostbite this week, do not cut them back now. In a few weeks – after you see new growth on the live parts – would be the time to cut them back. You’ll handicap the plant if you cut the dead looking stuff off right now. What looks dead isn’t always dead. Yesterday I wrapped my surviving arbicola up in wine colored sheets and indian blankets. The frostbitten turk’s cap bushes made great frames for draping the fabric over to cover the tall plants. Some good news is that with so many plants dead to the ground, I now see I have hundreds of loquat seedlings, and they are cold hardy to 10 degrees.
With so many plants gone, do I make the choice of being in the Now or prepaving the future? Can I do both? Yes, I can do both. In the Now, my plants under the oak and palm canopy are free of frostbite. In a few months, everything that was not under the canopy will be back green and strong. But I also appreciate the soft, dark, blackfrosted leaves that will fall any day now; they have an exquisite beauty all their own, telling of a life well lived, and they will become mulch for the new growth in Spring. If I can’t see the beauty in the Now, if I can’t look at my frostbitten plants and feel good about them now, then I can turn my thoughts to being hopeful about what they will look like soon. It’s helpful to remember, when looking at death, that it’s simply a cycle and that Spring always follows Winter.
It was thought provoking walking around the yard yesterday and seeing the cold kill for the first year since Uncle Jimmy built me this house in 1984. It’s like another chance to start from zero with the landscaping. I can do anything I want with it now that I’ll be starting over.
I like having insights and corelations pop into my head when I am doing the most mundane things. It makes me realize there are no mundane things. My dad used to say, “You know, not everything means something else.” He wasn’t wrong, he was just telling his truth and his experience. My experience has been that everything has many meanings on many levels. I’ve learned that everything I see in front of me is reflecting something to me that I can learn from, if I look at it with an inquiring eye. Anytime I ask, “what can this scene or situation teach me?” I am always answered. The trick is to remember to ask. (Smile)
In my teens, friends and family around me began dying. As I studied Eastern philosophy, I gained a different understanding of the cycle of death and rebirth. It answered many questions for me. As soon as I discovered meditation, I began getting flashes of insight that deepened my understanding. So for me now, the thought of death is not so shocking, not so devastating. Even as I looked at my garden yesterday, now frostbit to the ground, I could not lament its loss but rather celebrate the new opportunity to begin again from scratch. Zero = infinite potential, right?
But seeing the scene before me made me reflect, “If whatever I have, that I have seen flourish for years, decades, were to be taken to the ground tomorrow, how would I rebuild? Would I do the same thing again? Knowing it could be taken away again at any time? What would I change?”
I wondered yesterday at Florida Record Low Temps Changing My Perception of Cold “do I want what I’m used to, what’s familiar, what I know I like? Or am I ready for change?”
I’m excited to see what I decide.
Stay warm.