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Monday, January 13, 2014

Damage Pics! The Good, The Bad, and the (maybe, possibly, I'm not entirely sure) dead.

Here are some pics of what's looking alive and what's not looking so alive after that cold snap we had last week. It was a cold one. My next post will probably be the weather data from my Vantage Pro at the end of the month so you can look at that to see what these plants went through and get an idea of their actual cold tolerance.

Here's some pics of the stuff that had NO protection at all.

There's a good chance my Saw Palmetto is dead. It looked great on January 11th (first 2 pics) but the 3rd pic was taken just 1 day later on January 12th! It's amazing what a day can do! 



Completely unprotected Trachy. Not sure if it will survive, but it might. If it doesn't survive it won't be a huge loss since it wasn't doing well in that spot to begin with.


Frost proof gardenia was covered in snow during part of the cold blast but a lot of it melted before the coldest night of the year. I think it will survive but some more damage may show. This gardenia is never protected and the most damage it's had was some leafdrop.


Potted Color Guard Yucca. These are amazing potted plants year round. I add a few annuals around it in spring to give some more color but other than that this pot looks the same and very nice 365 days a year.


Cast iron plants are showing some damage but hopefully they will pull through.


My Newly planted Southern Magnolia is looking good so far! 


The Camellias look great. I was a little worried about my Kramers Supreme Camellia since it is much more tender than the other hardy cultivators I have. 


Now here are some pics of the stuff who's lights did not turn on during the coldest night of the year. It was definitely the worst luck possible and I'm kicking myself for not triple checking that all the lights turned on because instead of having nice and green palms, I'm stuck with some brown ones. Here are the pics.

I am so worried about my oleander. This is one of my favorite plants in the yard because it's rare to see an oleander this tall here (its over 6 feet tall now). The small lights turned on under it's frost cloth but the big C7 lights did not. I have no idea how cold it got, but so far it looks okay. I won't know until spring.


My Med fan palm has never had damage with protection but since all it had during the coldest night of the winter (and the coldest night in 10 years) was a plastic garbage bin over it with no lights turned on, the damage was pretty severe. I really hope it comes back. Even if it does come back, it's going to be set back quite a bit.



Frostproof gardenia just had a tarp over it for the coldest night of the year and no lights. It looks good so far so I am cautiously optimistic! 


My pink oleander looks so-so also.


Close up of the oleander. Very weird color and it's impossible to say if it's going to make it or not.


Close up of the med fan palm. Still some green in the center so I'm hoping for the best!








But my Sabal Minor really impressed. There is no noticable damage on it at all after having no heat during the coldest night of the year. This Sabal Minor has always been very tender for me in the past, getting damage WITH protection after winter lows only in the teens so the fact that it saw single digit temperatures and is okay is pretty amazing and a huge improvement!


These plants were properly protected and they all look pretty good! 

My Kliems Hardy Gardenia is looking green.

The only issue was some foliage burn from the heat of the christmas lights, but not bad at all.

My Trachy has had more problems getting overheated in it's protection than it has with cold. I am worried that it has gotten heat damage, but surprisingly it looks good and seems to be growing so I'm staying optimistic about this palm and hoping for the best!


The plants by the pool are all bent up from being in their protection, but they look good otherwise.



 My Livistonia has less damage than usual and never went below the mid 30s in it's protection during this past cold spell. I think it will look better than ever this summer if it stays this green come spring.


My Trachy is getting protection from all moisture as a precaution.


The plants in the garage are out now to get some rain and fresh air. I had a space heater and fan running in there to keep everything more comfortable.




Saturday, January 4, 2014

A "little" Chilly...

It's been a relatively brutal winter so far, but it could be worse. We went down to 4F last night and it looks like more cold is on the way but there is plenty of moderation in between so it's not too bad.

All of my plants are well protected. Pics of those soon!

Also, lots of great plans for the yard this coming spring. I was originally planning on redoing the entire yard but I think I will be holding off on that until at least summer 2015.


Here's my 10 day forecast.