Cold damage to the elephant ears

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It's December 23rd and it looks like the elephant ears got some cold damage last night. The temperature got close to freezing, but not below it, but this area is a bit of an "air trap", where the cold air cannot drain away, so the leaves on the top plants got hit.

It's just unsightly, but not fatal to the plant. When it warms up today a bit I'll go out and trim these leaves away. I have intentionally kept this area very full, knowing that the cold weather would hit the top layers, but the middle and bottom layers of this area are protected. There is a nice cycad down below, and that's the one I don't want to see any cold damage to. Elephant ears, and cannas, will grow back nicely, but cold damage on a cycad is permanent.

This is a minor annoyance, but I need to keep an eye on the overnight lows for the next few weeks, and get ready to throw an old sheet over this area as protection.


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