If you ask the 91裸聊视频淜ing of Succulents91裸聊视频� Johnny Tai how his plants are doing, do it gently.

The 80-year-old Richmond, B.C., gardener hasn91裸聊视频檛 recovered yet from what he calls the 91裸聊视频渃rime scene91裸聊视频� he found in two greenhouses one morning in mid-January 91裸聊视频� thousands of dead and dying plants, thanks to a sudden cold snap and snowfall.

91裸聊视频淚 don91裸聊视频檛 even want to talk about it. It91裸聊视频檚 so sad,91裸聊视频� 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 Columbia91裸聊视频檚 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 91裸聊视频� before the 91裸聊视频渢ipping point91裸聊视频� 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.

91裸聊视频淚 have been growing succulents for about 30 years in Canada and it was the first time losing so many of them,91裸聊视频� said Johnny Tai.

91裸聊视频淭he succulent seeds I have are from South Africa and they aren91裸聊视频檛 used to low temperatures. They can only sustain -5 degrees, but that night the temperature dropped to -11 and apparently, they couldn91裸聊视频檛 handle that,91裸聊视频� 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.

91裸聊视频淭his is very, very sad and you can see on the ground all that has been lost,91裸聊视频� said Pasacreta, pointing to the dead yellow leaves. 91裸聊视频淚 am sure the hummingbirds are pretty upset.91裸聊视频�

The park91裸聊视频檚 master gardener Jill Wright says the hydrangeas at the park are struggling, with no growing buds.

91裸聊视频淭hey are dead 91裸聊视频� we won91裸聊视频檛 get any flowers on this plant this year and it91裸聊视频檚 so sad because this just adds so much colour to the garden,91裸聊视频� 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.

91裸聊视频淲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,91裸聊视频� he said.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 not this one cold event that has caused it. It91裸聊视频檚 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.91裸聊视频�

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

91裸聊视频淭heir energy reserves are depleted during every one of those stressful events, whether it91裸聊视频檚 the drought in the summertime or the extreme cold in the winter,91裸聊视频� he said.

91裸聊视频淪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.91裸聊视频�

Douglas Justice, associate director of the University of British Columbia91裸聊视频檚 Botanical Garden, said extreme weather events were getting more common, leaving plants with little room for adaptation.

91裸聊视频淲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,91裸聊视频� he said.

91裸聊视频淏ut the problem was that the cold followed a period of warmth 91裸聊视频� and I think that plants are just stressed, not able to tolerate all these kinds of rapid changes,91裸聊视频� said Justice.

His advice for gardeners is to be 91裸聊视频渃onservative91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频� don91裸聊视频檛 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.

91裸聊视频淚 didn91裸聊视频檛 cover it because I didn91裸聊视频檛 think that it would be damaged. Now I know 91裸聊视频� we all make mistakes,91裸聊视频� 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.

91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檝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,91裸聊视频�

Sonia Tai said her husband Johnny was still in grief over the death of so many prized succulents. To cope, he91裸聊视频檚 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.

91裸聊视频淪ometimes gardening is like life,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淵ou might lose everything and then you restart it all over again.91裸聊视频�

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