At first look it would appear that plants do not have the luxury of movement to help them avoid bad weather — like our recent bout of freezing rain that coated my garden plants with a thick layer of ice and sent our neighbor’s car careening down the hill. That was really slick ice!

Some plants can change the direction of their leaves or flowers but they can’t change locations; if they could, they might choose to live in a more favorable place. Imagine the botanical click bait: “Six best garden locations without invasive neighbors” or “The Top 10 Hot gardens for the Professional Cactus looking for a dry neighborhood to retire to.”

When the cold weather (or hot for that matter) comes, plants have to be able to withstand it, or they die. In winter, the sharp edges and spikes of ice crystals can be deadly to plants cells, which are soft and thin. The freezing of water within the cells can cause ice crystals to damage delicate cell walls and internal structures. In plants, that takes the form of dark leaf spots, mushy stems, and crinkled leaves — or worse yet — another visit to the nursery in the spring to buy an expensive replacement plant. 

Last year’s seed stalk from a cilantro plant.

Azalea leaves in ice.

Evergreen huckleberry (vaccinium parvifolium).

Penstemmon spp. leaves encased in ice.

Ice can also help plants survive freezing weather. In Florida I remember watching strawberry farmers coating their plants with water the day before a predicted hard freeze, so ice formed on the plants. I thought the water would freeze the plants and kill them, but actually it formed a protective blanket of ice on the plants so they would not lose too much moisture to the cold, desiccating winds. The ice also maintained a constant temperature around the strawberry plants that they could survive — albeit it was a cold 32 degrees (the temp of frozen water), but that is better than lethal lower temperatures. Sort of an icy protective blanket.

Two reddish flower buds for blueberry – Vaccinium spp.

Other adaptations help the plants survive the cold as well. Seemingly delicate plant buds have outer scales that protect the interior bud from freezing or getting wind damage. Some trees, especially evergreens, are able to keep the fluids in their cells from freezing by moving the fluids within their cells around. They can move some of the water out of the cell to “extra-cellular” areas or spaces that are outside of the cells and avoid damage to the more fragile cell interiors.

Azalea leaves in ice.

So, plants do use movement to help them adapt to freezing weather after all. The movement just occurs within the plant itself. Thankfully they can’t just move in and snuggle up to us in front of the fire — mostly because my couch is already too crowded with my small slobbery dog.

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Thanks so much for your interest and your support.