How did your plants fare in the deep freeze?

[La lamy]

I brought in all my potted plants into my garage and they were okay, but my flowering bush did not fare so well. I had to cut back all the dead flowers and leaves, and it's looking a tad naked, except for a branch that was hidden in the back with flowers on it. It's way higher than the rest but I just had to leave it! My grass is completely burned out from the freeze. :ohdear:

[kcrazorbackfan]

I brought in all my potted plants into my garage and they were okay, but my flowering bush did not fare so well. I had to cut back all the dead flowers and leaves, and it's looking a tad naked, except for a branch that was hidden in the back with flowers on it. It's way higher than the rest but I just had to leave it! My grass is completely burned out from the freeze. :ohdear:

Probably shouldn’t have cut it back until the end of March; I’ve had a couple of landscaping companies tell me that.

[laryb]

I covered 6 ixora shrubs we have. It seems the south facing sides of the plants died and turned brown, but probably only 5% of each plant. Will not trim them back so the dead leafs are the ones touching the covers in the event I have to cover them again. From what I've read, we're out of the ixora's zone, so covering seems to work. We've had them for 5 or 6 years now

[tophcfa]

Same plants that took a hit from the cold last winter got hit again. Covering them last weekend didn’t seem to help. Just like last year, we will cut them way back in March and by the end of the summer they should be back to normal. If only the frost would kill all the dam weeds.

[dewilson58]

"I had to cut back all the dead flowers and leaves"

:1rotfl::1rotfl:

People, don't cut back now.
If another chill comes, a freeze on fresh cuts will greatly damage the plant.
Plus you might be cutting back good stuff......let the plants have a chance to show you what can grow.

(I slept at a Holiday Inn Express)

[thelegges]

Our lawn guys showed us the small amount of damage on a few bushes. Told us they would not trim until spring. For us to leave them be. We didn’t cover. Our lawn had that winter look for a few weeks before the frost

[rjn5656]

Few edges of flowering bushes took a hit, but overall not bad. No cutting back until mid March.

[Arctic Fox]

We have been planting up at the rear to replace grass - mainly Florida natives but some annuals (and the Xmas poinsettias!)

We only covered (as much as we could) on the worst night and, generally, most survived, albeit with some low bushes taking a 30% hit. Most of the poinsettias lost their red leaves, but not the two that we planted under trees.

Mrs Fox won't let me prune anything until St Valentine's Day (patron saint of epilepsy and beekeepers, so he obviously knew a thing or two) which is when the Crepes will be murdered, but we'll leave the damage on the bushes until the end of February to see if there is any recovery.

We have always said that if the plants can't survive by themselves then they don't deserve to be in our garden, but it is always a shame to lose some - eight hours of sub-freezing temperatures was an extreme test.

[Bonnevie]

I didn't cover anything this year. have several plants that took a hit. most of my plants are Florida friendly. I will wait until March and cut them all back, some to the ground. I expect most will come back as they have in the past. looks ugly now but just have to wait it out. if you cut back now and it gets warm (as it is now) new growth will come and if we get another freeze, the plant will be more susceptible to damage and death.

[La lamy]

Interesting to hear about not cutting dead parts until March. Live and learn! But if it is because another frost could damage them badly, then I will certainly hope for balmy weather from now on. So sad to see so many plants around TV looking badly damaged, but also taking note of the ones that were okay.

[BigSteph]

I live south of 44. Covered most non-native plants. Some Hibiscus are burnt and the tops of a few palms. In any case, I'll leave them alone until March or later.

Back in Virginia, we planted Hibiscus (they may have been a different variety) and they died back each year. In spring, you either leave the stalks or cut them to the ground. By Summer they were 3' tall and near 4' by fall -- where they die off again.





I brought in all my potted plants into my garage and they were okay, but my flowering bush did not fare so well. I had to cut back all the dead flowers and leaves, and it's looking a tad naked, except for a branch that was hidden in the back with flowers on it. It's way higher than the rest but I just had to leave it! My grass is completely burned out from the freeze. :ohdear:

[birdawg]

Natures way of trimming. They will all come back.

[snhmhg]

I brought in all my potted plants into my garage and they were okay, but my flowering bush did not fare so well. I had to cut back all the dead flowers and leaves, and it's looking a tad naked, except for a branch that was hidden in the back with flowers on it. It's way higher than the rest but I just had to leave it! My grass is completely burned out from the freeze. :ohdear:
Pruning Brown Plants From Winter Damage - UF/IFAS Extension Duval County (https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/duvalco/2018/02/02/pruning-brown-plants-from-winter-damage/)

[Ptmckiou]

I covered everything with frost blankets but the banana tree, elephant ear, and bougainvilleas lost a lot of leaves. I won’t know until spring if it killed any of the Bougainvillea branches. Thank goodness we made frost frames out of pvc, for the lemon and lime trees. That way the frost blankets didn’t touch their leaves and damage them. Our lime has blossoms and the lemon has lots of fruit on the tree. Both came through unharmed and didn’t lose a leave. The frost blankets with the frames worked! Yea! I will trim in March.

[merrymini]

Major hair cut after Feb 15. Everything looks rotten for awhile and then grows back and will look great. Did this several years ago and they grew back like crazy. No problem.

[coconutmama]

We covered our 5 year old poinsettia with a frost bag. Still got some damage, maybe a 1/3 of it. Needed a trim anyway which we will do in a few weeks.

Hawaiian Ti by driveway will also need to be trimmed (wasn’t covered) but the Ti next to the house had no damage at all. It was sheltered by 2 palm trees & was not covered. So, we experienced a mix.

[FromDC]

Prune back roses on Valentines Day or near that date! Cut way back and remove all leaves as shown in image.

Trim back everything else after March 15th, the last day of potential frost.

[G.R.I.T.S.]

I brought in all my potted plants into my garage and they were okay, but my flowering bush did not fare so well. I had to cut back all the dead flowers and leaves, and it's looking a tad naked, except for a branch that was hidden in the back with flowers on it. It's way higher than the rest but I just had to leave it! My grass is completely burned out from the freeze. :ohdear:

Sorry to say but you cut it back too soon. “Dead” flowers and leaves would have protected any new growth from another freeze. Pruning should be delayed until mid march, when the historical date of possible cold weather passes.

[La lamy]

Pruning Brown Plants From Winter Damage - UF/IFAS Extension Duval County (https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/duvalco/2018/02/02/pruning-brown-plants-from-winter-damage/)

That link was so helpful. Thank you!

[La lamy]

I covered everything with frost blankets but the banana tree, elephant ear, and bougainvilleas lost a lot of leaves. I won’t know until spring if it killed any of the Bougainvillea branches. Thank goodness we made frost frames out of pvc, for the lemon and lime trees. That way the frost blankets didn’t touch their leaves and damage them. Our lime has blossoms and the lemon has lots of fruit on the tree. Both came through unharmed and didn’t lose a leave. The frost blankets with the frames worked! Yea! I will trim in March.

If you happen to come back to this thread, I would love to see your frost blankets/PVC contraption.

[Rsenholzi]

You shouldn’t have done that. Many will come back once the weather warms up. You can always cut back in the spring once you see aw
Hat really dies off

[Karen in the Villages]

I know it looks terrible but try to
delay pruning until after the last possible freeze. In Central Florida that is considered to be St Patty’s day. If you trim now, that encourages the plant to grow & new growth will be harmed if another cold snap occurs.

[fdpaq0580]

"I had to cut back all the dead flowers and leaves"

:1rotfl::1rotfl:

(I slept at a Holiday Inn Express)

Priceless!!! 😂😂😂

[fdpaq0580]

How are the plants doing??
Well, some came through alright.
Some really took a bad hit, but should be o.k.
Some are struggling.
A few are on life support and may not make it.
Only time will tell.

😳

[jimjamuser]

Our lawn guys showed us the small amount of damage on a few bushes. Told us they would not trim until spring. For us to leave them be. We didn’t cover. Our lawn had that winter look for a few weeks before the frost
I guess that the lawn people will have to stop cutting lawns for a while. Good, that will make the neighborhood less noisy!

[JerseyGurl]

Agreed. I’m not cutting back until March 10-15. We’ll see.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Our grass still has some green to it but not a lot. Most of the plants are dead, but most of them are perennials and will come right back. I already see some fresh shoots on the oregano. The lemon thyme did pretty well. The hostas look like a slimy limp mess, but there are fresh new ones growing in the middle of them. Basil's dead, but I'm surprised it held on as long as it did since I treat all my plants like perennials and basil clearly is not. I'll buy new ones, not a big deal. The impatiens reseed, so I just yanked all the dead ones out and the new ones will come in a couple of months. Hibiscus is borked - I'll trim that back in a couple of weeks and see if there's any life left in it. The "random orange flowers" are re-seeders, I yanked those out last month when last year's batch finally died. Some kind of thing I stuck in a nifty looking planter is pushing back up, we'll see how that does.

Ginger plants - was gone before the freeze, hoping the roots didn't die and they regrow again this year like they did last year. Their flowers are gorgeous. Some weird succulent grassy looking clump with tall yellow flowers that poke out of it did fine, no damage at all, still green. The ground-cover pink flowery clump got freezerburned but is still alive.

[Toddy]

Just plant what can handle the wild shift in temperatures.

[Rainger99]

I am surprised that all of the small flowers that The Villages plants in the roundabouts and at the intersections survived. They seem quite fragile and they look like they should have died with the freeze but they are still blooming and appear to be going strong.

[Madelaine Amee]

I am surprised that all of the small flowers that The Villages plants in the roundabouts and at the intersections survived. They seem quite fragile and they look like they should have died with the freeze but they are still blooming and appear to be going strong.

Follow the lead of TV and plant what they plant, they know what they are doing :icon_wink:

[La lamy]

Our grass still has some green to it but not a lot. Most of the plants are dead, but most of them are perennials and will come right back. I already see some fresh shoots on the oregano. The lemon thyme did pretty well. The hostas look like a slimy limp mess, but there are fresh new ones growing in the middle of them. Basil's dead, but I'm surprised it held on as long as it did since I treat all my plants like perennials and basil clearly is not. I'll buy new ones, not a big deal. The impatiens reseed, so I just yanked all the dead ones out and the new ones will come in a couple of months. Hibiscus is borked - I'll trim that back in a couple of weeks and see if there's any life left in it. The "random orange flowers" are re-seeders, I yanked those out last month when last year's batch finally died. Some kind of thing I stuck in a nifty looking planter is pushing back up, we'll see how that does.

Ginger plants - was gone before the freeze, hoping the roots didn't die and they regrow again this year like they did last year. Their flowers are gorgeous. Some weird succulent grassy looking clump with tall yellow flowers that poke out of it did fine, no damage at all, still green. The ground-cover pink flowery clump got freezerburned but is still alive.

Wow you've got a lot going on! Good for you.

[La lamy]

I am surprised that all of the small flowers that The Villages plants in the roundabouts and at the intersections survived. They seem quite fragile and they look like they should have died with the freeze but they are still blooming and appear to be going strong.

So true.