How did my palms and subtropical plants do after the coldest week of winter?

We just got through a nasty cold spell. The southeastern states had it worse. Temperatures dropped to the single digits right to the gulf coast & Florida had their biggest snowfall on record. Some of the most iconic images from the bitter cold and historic storm came from New Orleans which saw one of the worst snow storms in the city's history. 

Here on Long Island, it was cold! We had our longest stretch of subfreezing temperatures in 7 years, 4 days in a row. Here's what my highs and lows looked like. 

Jan 19   40/24

Jan 20   25/15

Jan 21  20/10

Jan 22   21/12

Jan 23   30/12

Jan 24   33/18

Jan 25   32/19

Our biggest snow of the year, but not much! We got about 3" in my yard

Although we're still looking at a zone 8 winter, the duration of cold was very long lasting so I wrapped up and put lights on some of my plants and had the rest in the garage. 

These plants were covered with no lights or extra heating

Sabal minor before

Sabal minor after

Needle palm before

Needle Palm

Cast iron plant before 

Cast Iron Plant

Fatsia Japonica covered. Forgot to take an after pic, but it looks great! 

Frostproof Gardenia before

Frostproof Gardenia uncovered

Variegated Yucca Gloriosa. Yucca Silver Anniversary remained uncovered.

These plants received heat and covers. I used c9 christmas lights as a heat source! 

My cordyline australis was already severely damaged. If it makes it, it will probably sprout back from the base. Hopefully my Hedychium fiesta is good! It was coverd in lights but usually with perennials, mulch is preferred.

The cordyline has seen better days. Last year it sailed through our mild winter.

My windmill palm in the backyard is planted with Hedychium Daniel Weeks, Passiflora Incense, Colocasia Pink China, and a cast iron plant. 

I covered my front yard windmil palm with my Chuck Hayes Gardenia. This is the first winter for my Chuck Hayes. My Summer Snow Gardenia and Crown Jewel Gardenia at my parents house were completely unprotected by the way!

Chuck hayes looks good!

Overall the Trachycarpus looks good too!

Sabal Uresana looking okay!

This smaller windmill palm is looking ROUGH. It did last year too if I remember right. I used smaller christmas lights so it did not get a lot of heat.

And my garage plants are outside getting some sun. So far everything looks okay! The Citrus here are ... Owari Satsuma, Meyer Lemon, a Ponderosa from seed, calamondin, and Fukushu Kumquat. They're hard to see in this photo, but youc an see my Livistonia and my cycads doing well

Unfortunately I realized this week that my Musa Viente Cohol and Gran Nain Blood Banana hybrid I got from Miami last year has rotted. I'm hoping I can get them to sprout back. They went under grow lights today.

Indoor plants in bloom right now

The gang is all here! Featuring my Bismarkia Palm & Flamethrower Palm as well as the Bird of Paradise

In this photo you can see the Singapore Twist Ti plant which just finished blooming

Bilbergia nutans - Queens Tears Bromeliad 

Orange Bird of Paradise 

Stephanotis floribunda from Trader Joes. The smell is AMAZING 

Phalaenopsis orchids are blooming!

I waited 4 years for this orchid to bloom! 

Tacca chantrieri- Black Bat Flower. I just got this beauty this week!

Euphornia milli - Crown of Thorns 

Here are a few other updates! 

BANANAS! 

I checked on the bananas in the garage and unfortunately saw signs of rot on my viente cohol and my blood banana / gran nain hybrid has completely rotted. I'm going to try to save them. Fortunately the siam ruby is doing. well!

Surprisingly so is my variegated banana - Musa Ae Ae!

Trachycarpus fortunei is outside and covered up! I noticed it has this fun curve developing to the trunk,. It'd be exciting to see if this becomes more dramatic with age! 

Speaking of outside, my agave and spindle palm have a front row seat at our biggest snow storm so far this season.

It was below 20F for --- hours. Will my Palm Trees Survive?

I'm worried. Windmill palms usually won't show any damage as long as temperatures stay above 10F, but it's not just the overnight low that's a factor ... duration of cold plays a HUGE part in a plant's survival and there really isn't enough data on it. 

So that's where I come in! I want to show you not just how cold my plants got, but how LONG it stayed cold.

The Cold Snap

Temperatures dropped below freezing by midnight on Saturday, December 21 and stayed below freezing until Tuesday December 24th. Here's the high and low temperatures for these dates

(high/low) **temperatures are in Fahrenheit 

Dec 20: 37°/32°

Dec 21: 32°/20°

Dec 22: 20°/13°

Dec 23: 26°/12°

Dec 24: 36°/26°

Dec 25: 35°/27°

Temperatures dropped below 20F for 36 hours! It started just before 12AM on Dec 22 and remained below freezing all day. We jumped above freezing at noon on December 23. 

WHAT WAS PROTECTED?

- Sabal Uresana 

    Christmas lights and flipped a planter over to keep the heat in

- Cordyline australis 

    Christmas lights and a frost cloth tent. Very limited protection

- Large Windmill palms at my parents   

    Christmas lights & frost cloths. 

- Hardy Gardenia Summer Snow and Crown Jewel at my parents 

    Christmas lights & frost cloths 

WHAT WAS UNPROTECTED?

- Fatsia Japonica (including one that is containerized!)

- Gardenia "Frost proof" and Chuck Hayes (First year for the chuck hayes)

- Madison Star Jasmine 

- All 3 Windmill palms in my yard 

- My 2 Sabal minors 

- My Needle Palm

- My Farfugium japonica 

- Ruby Cactus (in a container) 

- Yucca gloriosa & "Thromping Around" (and of course the recurvifolia)

- Evergreen Dogwood (never gets covered)