If you ask the B次元官网网址淜ing of SucculentsB次元官网网址� Johnny Tai how his plants are doing, do it gently.

The 80-year-old Richmond, B.C., gardener hasnB次元官网网址檛 recovered yet from what he calls the B次元官网网址渃rime sceneB次元官网网址� he found in two greenhouses one morning in mid-January B次元官网网址� thousands of dead and dying plants, thanks to a sudden cold snap and snowfall.

B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 even want to talk about it. ItB次元官网网址檚 so sad,B次元官网网址� said Tai, whose backyard collection of 10,000 succulents is open to the public, attracting hundreds of visitors each year and earning him his regal nickname in Chinese media.

Across British ColumbiaB次元官网网址檚 south coast, gardeners are finding dead or damaged plants due to the cold snap that sent temperatures plunging to -13.7 C in Richmond. As spring nears, hydrangeas are bare of buds and evergreens are losing their foliage.

Andrew Fleming, superintendent for VanDusen Botanical Garden and the Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver, said plants were pushed to the brink by year-on-year drought and cold, wet winters B次元官网网址� before the B次元官网网址渢ipping pointB次元官网网址� of the cold snap.

Tai and his wife Sonia, said in interviews in Mandarin and English that they lost 2,000 plants that night in January.

B次元官网网址淚 have been growing succulents for about 30 years in Canada and it was the first time losing so many of them,B次元官网网址� said Johnny Tai.

B次元官网网址淭he succulent seeds I have are from South Africa and they arenB次元官网网址檛 used to low temperatures. They can only sustain -5 degrees, but that night the temperature dropped to -11 and apparently, they couldnB次元官网网址檛 handle that,B次元官网网址� said Tai.

Tai used tweezers to show the rotten roots of some of the dead plants, their leaves mushy or withered. He plans to replant in April.

In nearby Paulik Park, Richmond Garden Club president Lynda Pasacreta pointed to a mahonia where hummingbirds had been coming to feed in December and early January.

Now it is a naked stick, thanks to the deep freeze.

B次元官网网址淭his is very, very sad and you can see on the ground all that has been lost,B次元官网网址� said Pasacreta, pointing to the dead yellow leaves. B次元官网网址淚 am sure the hummingbirds are pretty upset.B次元官网网址�

The parkB次元官网网址檚 master gardener Jill Wright says the hydrangeas at the park are struggling, with no growing buds.

B次元官网网址淭hey are dead B次元官网网址� we wonB次元官网网址檛 get any flowers on this plant this year and itB次元官网网址檚 so sad because this just adds so much colour to the garden,B次元官网网址� said Wright.

Fleming said VanDusen Botanical Garden and the Bloedel Conservatory are also seeing the effects of recent weather events.

Some evergreens have dropped their leaves, a result of a combination of stresses rather than a single event, he said.

B次元官网网址淲e did have a pretty significant cold snap a bit later than we usually do this year and a lot of plants had kind of decided it was spring and were sort of waking up and had some tender growth on them, and the cold temperatures had a pretty drastic effect on that plant material,B次元官网网址� he said.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not this one cold event that has caused it. ItB次元官网网址檚 these long, dry summers followed by cold, wet winters and then a kind of unique event like the cold snap that we had ends up being the tipping point where we see a lot of damage in plants.B次元官网网址�

Older plants that had made it through a series of tough seasons were more vulnerable than young plants, he said.

B次元官网网址淭heir energy reserves are depleted during every one of those stressful events, whether itB次元官网网址檚 the drought in the summertime or the extreme cold in the winter,B次元官网网址� he said.

B次元官网网址淪o, when you do see plants in distress, try not to focus it on one event and try to imagine the bigger picture and kind of these incremental losses towards the overall health of the plants.B次元官网网址�

Douglas Justice, associate director of the University of British ColumbiaB次元官网网址檚 Botanical Garden, said extreme weather events were getting more common, leaving plants with little room for adaptation.

B次元官网网址淲e had three or four drought years in a row, some very long summer droughts, and we have had three winters with significantly cold weather and this last cold snap was particularly bad,B次元官网网址� he said.

B次元官网网址淏ut the problem was that the cold followed a period of warmth B次元官网网址� and I think that plants are just stressed, not able to tolerate all these kinds of rapid changes,B次元官网网址� said Justice.

His advice for gardeners is to be B次元官网网址渃onservativeB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� donB次元官网网址檛 plant too early and plan for the worst by having covers for plants and vegetables ready.

Justice said he learned from personal experience, growing parsley through the extreme heat of last year followed by the cold snap that killed it all.

B次元官网网址淚 didnB次元官网网址檛 cover it because I didnB次元官网网址檛 think that it would be damaged. Now I know B次元官网网址� we all make mistakes,B次元官网网址� said Justice.

Wright said gardeners at Paulik Park will be more thoughtful about what they plant, including whether new plants can sustain big swings in temperature.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e never protected any plants in Paulik, but we are now going to have to start, so if we know there is going to be a severe change with an arctic flow coming down, we are going to have to start covering,B次元官网网址�

Sonia Tai said her husband Johnny was still in grief over the death of so many prized succulents. To cope, heB次元官网网址檚 been spending more time meeting with his gardening friends for dim-sum.

She said they are still hopeful that the garden can be brought back to its former glory.

B次元官网网址淪ometimes gardening is like life,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淵ou might lose everything and then you restart it all over again.B次元官网网址�

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