The cold snap arrived

Hello, everyone.  The arctic air is here in a big way and so we have put some freeze protection on some tender plants.

The Caribbean tree cactus, a tropical opuntia, is a cutting from the one that came with the house. (That one froze in 2021.) 

We put incandescent Christmas lights around the pads and wrapped the plant in an old sheet. There was extra length on the string of lights which got draped on a nearby basil.

The dragon fruit, a tropical pitaya that makes hot-pink fruits, is also tender.

More Christmas lights and two sheets.

We did what we could for the avocado. 

Three strings of lights, as far as we could reach. 

Lights and sheets have been helpful many times during short frosts. The lights must be incandescent or they won't make any heat for the plant.