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Sunken Garden monitoring cold temperatures
FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - As the cold weather takes over the Tampa Bay area, botanical gardens like Sunken Gardens are keeping an eye on the temperature.
The staff at Sunken Gardens say they take certain precautions for their plants and flamingos if temperatures drop low enough.
What they're saying:
Staff at Sunken Gardens said their flamingos are a Chilean species which originate in the Andes Mountains and can withstand colder temperatures.
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"Forty degrees or below, we bring the flamingos in, and they have a climate-controlled animal care center that they go to," said Dwayne Biggs, the curator of Animal Care and Horticulture at Sunken Gardens.
He says the flamingos are typically brought into a climate-controlled house nightly. Biggs says they monitor a number of factors like temperature, wind and rain when deciding whether to make any changes to animal care.
Dig deeper:
During this cold weather, he says they're also monitoring certain plants around Sunken Gardens.
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"We have covered some of the tender root annual plants, flowering plants," he said. "Most of the plants that we have here, even the tropical species, are shrubs, and some of the trees are pretty hardy. But if it gets down below 32, and it's consistent for more than one day or two days or three days, that makes a difference. If we hit 38 degrees, and it's only for two hours overnight, really doesn't affect us that much."
Biggs says they've only had to cover three or four beds of plants so far. He says the location and positioning of the property creates a microclimate, which also helps protect the animals and plants.
Big picture view:
Biggs says historically, Sunken Gardens has experienced significant periods of cold weather.
"When the Turner Family owned the gardens, back in 1962, Florida had a severe freeze, and it was below 30 degrees for over three days, and that was the high temperature," he said. "And back in that day, the Turners had these smudge pots, or grove heaters, and they were oil burners. They put these out throughout the gardens to warm the gardens, and they were here overnight making sure the heaters were running to protect the plants. So, the downside of using those types of heaters, they're extremely hot. And they also can burn the plant."
The Source: Information was gathered from an interview conducted with Sunken Gardens.