32 degrees Fahrenheit in The Tropical Paradise

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It's December 7th, and the temperature touched 32 degrees (0 Celsius) last night (actually in the wee hours of the morning). I just finished trimming another damaged leaf from the clump of Elephant Ears, but overall there is no damage elsewhere in the garden. The sun is warming things up already, at about ten a.m., and the forecast is for 62 degrees this afternoon (17 C).

By the way, I'm old enough to remember when the attempt was made here in The United States to get away from Fahrenheit, and to get in line with the rest of the world. I guess we resisted it because it was called *Centigrade* and that sounded too Russian to us, or something. Anyway, I am determined to post temperatures here on this blog in both F and C, and maybe I can learn it. Celsius does seem to make a lot more sense, because freezing is zero, as opposed to in Fahrenheit, where it is 32. Maybe it sounds warmer! When I try to explain to people here in the Southwest about my childhood in Minnesota, it's difficult to explain that 0 was 32 degrees below freezing. And *minus* temperatures are even below that! Now that's cold!

The temperature here in Glendale can dip below freezing, even getting into the low 20s (-6 C or below), which isn't as bad as in Minnesota, but it can be brutally hard on your tropical plants. Get ready for some cold desert temperatures!

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