February 12 at the Charleston Tea Plantation: Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!
Monday, 22 February 2010 by admin
The staff at the Charleston Tea Plantation could not believe it! The day started off with reports of heavy to moderate snow fall across the northern part of South Carolina. However, before the day’s end, it became more and more evident that snow was definitely coming to the Lowcountry.
Even though the tea farm had seen snow flurries before, it had not received this much accumulated snow on its grounds in almost 20 years.
In fact, this was the first time since 1989, the winter following Hurricane Hugo, that the Charleston Tea Plantation has been blanketed in snow…and what a site it was! Seeing the Camellia Sinensis plants completely covered in snow was unbelievably surreal.
No worries, though. Even though the plants thrive on the typically subtropical climate of Wadmalaw Island, they were not harmed by the unexpected snow fall. As veteran tea tester and plantation partner Bill Hall explained, the tea plant is dormant in winter. If anything, snow actually insulates the plant against cold, bitter winds.
What tea plants DON’T like is to stay below 32 degrees for a week. But since the temperature in Charleston rises above 32 degrees every day, there’s no concern. We’ve had tea plants on the island since 1799 and they’re doing just fine.
The Charleston Tea Plantation did lose power, but luckily it happened after hours and was restored before our brave guests arrived the next morning.
For those who got to see the winter wonderland of tea plants, you should know just how rare this occurrence truly was!
Cara Valentine
Business Manager
The Charleston Tea Plantation