So far, everything. But this cold isn't over yet!

Yep, March 15 is when I will relax a bit, ha ha.

bigpaulie,
your porterweed, pentas and shrimp plants will most likely come back from the roots in spring when it warms up. They freeze ebery year here and come back. Especially the porterweed.

Not over yet...Low for Sunday for Tampa is 19. I am about to cry, or scream, or curse....

Some things that died back last winter are still doing okay (lantana, bougainvillea, several gingers...). I wonder if it's because we had more rain this summer so they weren't stressed to begin with.

The vote's not in yet on my brand new YTTs. They don't look very good but, maybe???? I totally forgot the ancient stag horn fern we have had in our back yard for over 20 years (and it was already old when we got it from a friend). Never had a problem before but this year we had the camphor tree that it's hung from heavilly trimmed to get some light below. That worked out well. However, we forgot that it also protected plants below. Does anyone know how to help my stag horn fern?

It's way, way too early to tell, even for the current cold snap. Give it 3 weeks or more and see what happens.

I put my stag horn fern under cover with the orchids, but even there I'm sure it is hating the cold. If your's is on a tree for 20 years I'm sure it's too big to move. I would try covering it for tonight because it's going to be even colder. Maybe drape something over the branch it's on?

Kate

Well of course it is hard to tell what will actually survive but this is what still not brown and crispy:

Vinca periwinkle
Roses
Artemesia
yarrow

The shrubs are fine of course. Just about all the potted plants are in the garage. Everything else is on its own. I believe most will come back.

Olyagrove, where do you see a low of 19 for Tampa? The places I've checked say a low of approx. 27-29. Only Wunderground has Tampa at 21-22, and I think that is probably an anomaly. I checked NOAA and Weather.com and they say 27-29 for Tampa, so I hope that you will be o.k. Also, your local weather forecasts a low of 28:
http://www2.tbo.com/weather/local/7-day-forecast/

Good luck!
Bluepalm

Ummmmm...yeah.... I'm not saying who is survivng until the next round is past - lows in the teens predicted here in Homosassa through Wed, Jan 13, I think. I covered the most tender, and I'm NOT looking under the covers...

What was not covered and was "iffy" is toast - I just hope the roots survive - being new here, I had some plants that had only been in the ground a few days.... If they were established,I wouldn't worry. But they were new.

Snow in the bed of our pickup truck this AM. Dang! I thought I'd moved to Florida! (heh heh ;-) )

Cordylines (Ti plant) have done remarkably well though they were up by the house.

I just found an interesting article from the Florida Native Plant Society for Central Florida from 1985. The study involved quite a list of shrubs and trees that were exposed to below 32* for eight hours with minimum 27* temperatures. May be helpful for future planning/planting?

http://www.fnps.org/palmetto/farnsworth_steve_cold_hardiness_report_on_tropical_native_plants_vol_5_no_3_fall_1985.pdf?PHPSESSID=8e0ca5a75da30033f6d73e20cbedfe08

ladywingr, that's an excellent link - thanks for posting it.

A potted Blanketflower that I had tucked under the Cape Honeysuckle, which also may make it. Surprisingly, my Wild Lime that was in a pot against the fence looks okay today.
Everything else in my butterfly garden looks toasted. My huge Pipevine (calico) that ran the length of my backyard and took me years to establish had only new growth since it had been eaten down 3 times this summer by the Polydamas cats is as black as night. Hoping the roots are okay. I did mulch them well and put comforters over all I could. Cassias are gone as well as my huge red pentas, the only thing the hummers had yesterday to nectar on are now gone. They were probably 8 years old and had served me so well. Am so sad right now. Picked a big bag of Honey tangerines this afternoon. They usually ripen later than most citrus. Tasted one and it was good so hopefully we got some for this season. Will see after tonight. Of course its only January....still 21/2 more months to survive.

Bougainvillea, geraniums, key lime, Meyers lemon, all fine. Bananas toast, of course. So is ixora (I'll remove it this time. Looks better in Ft. Myers). Crotons are insulted but still colorful and the daylilies are insanely happy. We got off light with a low of 30° on Saturday night.

This is in a somewhat toasty little microclimate in Ponce Inlet.

Here's a comprehensive listing with pictures, since its too lengthy to put here. We had lows in the low 20's for many nights, so I think this list gives a good idea of what works/doesn't in a zone 9 garden. I actually have some stuff like prayer plant, passionfruit, red mangrove, pond apple, birds nest fern etc. that are doing pretty well and all of my bromeliads are fine, despite having ice in them for most of the 2 weeks.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Rainforest Garden

My comfrey plants really surprised me. They're growing like there was no freeze.

Sheila