Garden Pic Wednesday: Fall Gerbers!

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My Gerber Daisies were going strong up until Christmas---when we had a hard freeze for 3 days. So this photo is from Dec, sometime before Christmas.


 It's not uncommon to have a hard freeze or two on the Florida Panhandle, but rarely does the thermometer dip much below 28 or 29F--which generally just kills the various annual flowers.
But over Christmas, it was around 22F for 3 days and frost-burnt all the Mexican Heather, the Amaryllis leaves, my Plumbago shrub, my Butterfly Bush--even my Winter Jasmine shrub---all things I haven't seen get frost-bit, had their leaves all turned brown. Even so, they are still alive, since roots weren't frozen and most, if not all, should regenerate.
I was able to save my clumps of Calendula daisies & bachelor buttons only because I covered them with plastic and a double layer of towels. So those are fine.
Other things weathered the extra cold without issue: the sorrel, the green onions, the parsley, the thyme, the lettuce in the veggie bed, the container blueberries, the blackberries, gardenias & the azaleas. 
Some daylily leaves wilted, but most were fine. I covered my Julia Child rose and the leaves still got a little cold, but it's thick with fresh buds and the blueberries are prepping to bloom.

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