Hi Rita

What do you mean by "frozen"?

I have three in pots that I did not cover and the foliage looks like fireplace ashes, but I don't think the whole plant is frozen - I sure hope not!

I'm transplanted from Zone 10, so I don't know anything about frost and freezing. I'm just learning that my little neighborhood is colder than the surrounding areas for some reason, and all my poor tropicals from Chokoloskee have not adapted (despite my attempts and admonishments).

I figured Golden Dewdrops would take some cold . . . . WRONG!

Anyways, I guess it depends on how many cold winters we're gonna have - maybe next year your plants won't freeze and they'll bloom. Another thing I wonder is why, with all the new growth they get, they don't bloom in the summer?

Sorry I'm not any help on this. I hope someone else has some helpful words!

Susie

Well when I say "frozen" I mean frostbit, dead leaves, which will be like that all winter, that's the way it always happens. As I said before, after the last freeze I always cut the branches back to green wood and then it sprouts out again, but other than great looking foliage, no blooms for the last 2 years. I am wondering if the fact that they are on the Northeast side is preventing them from recovering soon enough to make blooms. They take a LONG time to recover after being froze back and then me cutting off the dead stuff. I used to live only 45 miles South of here and my Golden Dewdrops there would get bit by the cold, but when Spring came they would grow back taller than the utility shed that I had them planted next to.

You have to look for the micro-climates around in your yard. Every yard has them (places where the frost never seems to hit). The best way to find them is get outdoors at first light (NOT SUN UP) when you've had a freeze warning. You will see patches of white frost and patches of no frost. Draw a birds eye view of your yard on paper, then shade in those areas where you have patches of frost. Do that a few times on the same paper and you will start to see some areas never get shaded in.... Those are your micro-climate areas where to plant your most cold sensitive plants.

The places where you always get frost are where you plant your blueberry bushes or any other plant that needs chilling to make flowers or fruit.

You can then fill in your yard with the proper plants once you know your warm and cold areas and have less heartbreaks.
It's not foolproof because mother nature also has her cycle times too. LOL

Lou

Adding to what Lou said, a southern wall exposure would definitely help. The heat absorbed during the day is radiated back off the building during the night, slightly raising the temperature close to the structure...look for a sunny site on the south side of the house no more than 10 feet from the wall.

Tom

I know every situation is different, and it all depends on many factors, like big trees, location, etc...

I had a bunch of large dewdrops on the south-east side. 2 years ago they got heavily damaged by the cold. Initially I though, well they grow fast, they would probably recover quickly. At the end of the next year I took out a 1/3 of the plants I had b/c they did not recover.

I still had hopes for the remaining ones. Last year, guess what... they got damaged again and I took out a couple more... This year... they got attacked by bugs (no matter what I used to get rid of the bugs) and started to decline plus the cold we got last week started to damage them again.

So, I hate to say this, but I am replacing those by something even hardier.

I know some people still have them and they are not looking bad... but for me, they did not work.

I'll see next Spring if there is still green wood, if so, I might try to transplant them somewhere. No use in keeping them where they are. Maybe I'll plant them next to the corner fence posts at the end of the driveway. That way if they look like crap it's far away from the house. The way it's been going, the only things that are surviving without looking dead half the year are the Junipers and the Camillias. Other plants come back but it looks awful half the year. I expect more from the foundation plantings than that. The rest of the yard can look dead but I like for the foundation plantings to have some life to them year-long.

Well, I agree with you, Rita. And I've been looking around the neighborhood for the kind of plants that still look good after our last cold.
Azaleas and Indian Hawthorne, clumps of Aztec grass and ligustrum trees are pretty standard in these yards. . . like a prerequisite by the builder 30 years ago. But I can see the logic - those yards look way better than mine right now!

Susie

My Golden Dew Drop freezes back every year but returns and does well. It is on the southwest side of the property and last winter was freaking cold and it still returned healthy.

Lou you are right about micro climates. My veggie garden unfortunately is in the frosty part.

What gets me is, I see plants thriving very close to here, such as bouganvilla, (especially in Spring Hill) which I've always loved, yet mine died after 2 years of this cold here. They are slightly closer to the gulf than I am, I guess that's why. I understand about the microclimates, but it appears that my whole yard is a deep freeze in the winter. I've just resigned myself to not even try the tender plants here anymore. I realize that there are a lot of them that freeze and come back, but it takes them so long to recover. Between the harsh winters and the deer it's a real challenge.

I wish I could grow them here, but they freeze to the ground every winter. And then, IF they come back at all, they never get more than a few feet during the year, and then freeze back all over again. I've given up on them. I have two of the smaller gold mound ones that don't bloom heavily in a very sheltered spot, and they turn completely black, drop all of their leaves, but then leaf out again and manage to survive. But the ones that make the small tree, forget about it here in Sanford. At least, that's been my experience in the last two houses I've lived in.

Marcia

with regard to the comment about foundation plantings that look good in the winter....How about lorapetalum?(the lower growing ones, not the really tall one) Beautiful purple foliage and pink flowers( not sure when they are supposed to flower as mine flower at different times)Also bottle brush trees are nice, especially when pruned as a standard small tree (and the hummers love their red blooms)

Hi Ritaweeda:

Golden Dew Drop likes full sun. Mine also suffered from the cold/freeze this year. I just cut that part off and once it warms up, everything starts to come back.

Also, make sure that you are cutting off/removing the actual 'Golden Dew Drops'. That is the fruit and it prevents it from flowering. If you keep it trimmed, the plant will always have flowers.

It likes to be watered frequently but not heavily fertilized. Once I figured this part out, my plants are basically on 'auto-pilot' now where I can just enjoy the butterflies and humming birds visiting them.

Completely different climate down here in 10B, but I noticed frost damage on my golden dewdrop from one night when we left the barbecue cover off. The branches that were long enough to touch the bare metal that cool night died back. So they are clearly very tender to cold damage. I mean, it was warm enough to grill dinner, so it wasn't an outrageous cold, but they couldn't handle the cold metal.

You guys keep your blasphemy away from the ears of my golden dewdrop :)

It and a night blooming jasmine are along the fence in pots; about 20ft or so apart. The night blooming jasmine freezes back, the golden dewdrop does not. Mine came from California; maybe it has cold blood. I should start cuttings for the next plant swap - he-he

~dianne