A tree aloe with a glacial flower stem .
I knew it was coming . Everyone who owns a greenhouse in a cold weather area experiences this . It was inevitable , but finally happened . I waken Friday morning to outside temperatures at 16 academic degree F , and as I mess up in the dour kitchen for the coffee pot , I glanced , as I always do , with one eye open , through the porch window across towards the greenhouse just to see if the unthinkable fall out . I ordinarily see a puff of steam descend from the exhaust system of the furnace near the roof , and even through the whole glass social organisation is frosted over , the corner near the furnace is always clear and mellow out near the tiptop . But not today . The entire household was silent and frosted over , and I knew what had happened . My fear was that everything would grow to treacle , and thousands of dollars worth of collection would be mislay forever .
sometime over the night , the furnace konked out from a lack of fuel . I knew that the late sunday , while putting up holiday light , that the fuel storage tank said 20 % , blah blah blah , the work week flew by , and everytime I call the gas party they yell at me anyway for calling them too early on . That will never stop me again .
Joe flew out to see what the damage was , ( and to pinch a cigarette ) , he came running in saying that the temp inside the house was near 31 , and that we might still have clock time to call the gas company . He admonish me though no to go await since the oxalis collections we ’re freeze substantial , as we ’re many thing . I recognize that the sunshine would be up in an hour and was too shocked and down to go out to see . I sit and drink coffee staring at the road looking for the gas truck .
Long story little , the sun enver came out , it started snowing , gas motortruck game , re - primed the pump , the nous came on with a swoosh and steam clouds once again rose through the falling C . I then stepped out to see the damage , which , amazingly was pocket-sized . plant are so bad sometimes . I knew that I read somewhere that if kept dry , that industrial plant could handle below freezing temperature , and clearly , this work . Besides the fact that most of my plant are cool- produce anyway , I did easy most of the pelargoniums , a couple tropical vine , some succulent bonsai and most tragically , the huge blossom stalk emerge from a tree aloe which I brought back from California , due to blossom for the first time this winter . Surprisingly , the velthiemias , Boophanes , Fresia , Cyrtanthus and Oxalis which where not only transparent and frozen heavily , but wilted as if dead to the humans , all recocoverd as if nothing happened ! The Cyclamen purpurascens , narcissus collections all outlast and may have even savour the hullabaloo . That read , the back - up smoke are now quick to bunk with gas and electrical energy , and even though I was sound off last week that the greenhouse was a burdon , another dependant keeping me from move to another occupation , career , or excuse du jour , I am grateful that it is still there , collections and all . Temps out side the house we ’re 16 degrees F. This Agave paryii survives alfresco since it is well drained .
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