Trust me, Areca palms can take much lower than 50 F. My huge areca went through several freezes until the big one that killed it back to the roots, but that didn't even kill it. Just took a chain saw and cut it back to the roots and it came right back out. They'll get some leaf burn from frost, but they grow out of it quickly. I don't know about up here, though. This was in 9b/10a where I had mine, but I think unless we have a killing frost, it would survive as long as you mulched the roots well. My banana seems to be surviving well after all these freezes, but it's close to the house.

Have you thought about growing a more cold-hardy palm? We have a gorgeous Pindo palm here. They grow very slowly and put out edible fruits, so that might be an option for you. Also, the silver dwarf palmettos are gorgeous, and cold hardy.

dirty 73 -Thanks for the reply. We may try an Areca or two... and look for those hardier ones you mentioned. I hate mail order since I had bad luck several times in the past ordering plants sight unseen. Are you finding these locally by any chance?

Michael - I bring the Dieffenbachia and other more tropical plants inside on cold nights. I'll check out the recommended sites.

Michael I agree with you about plant tags. I prefer to consult UFL.edu, Floridata and real-life gardeners.

Another take on this is to delve into what plants grew there prior to "development". I mean, for certain, that area, like anywhere in Florida, would have been clothed in greenery. I do know there is still a bias on the part of some folks against whatever vegetation "planted itself". But happily, that sentiment is fading as we begin to run out of intact, native plant communities.

Nor does it have to be an all-or-none proposition. Just because somebody was to take an interest in native plants doesn't mean they are henceforth banished from ever using an exotic species. That type of straight jacket really serves no purpose. Mix and match....Variety-the spice of life!

My yard is (and any future yard will be) about a 60/40 mix of natives and exotics, respectively. I agree with one garden designer who said that a garden should have a sense of place within the surrounding environment and not stick out like a sore thumb. To stick out can make it garish. As beautiful as Kanapaha and Leu Gardens are, they are still anchored in Florida by all the Oaks and other indigenous trees.

But I think this is getting away from the purpose of this thread. In the end, plant tags in the stores can often be misleading, obtuse and sometimes outright wrong. If have seen tags with full sun listed but planting them in such conditions would cause them to die quickly, plants simply labeled "Foliage Plant" with no name for the plant itself anywhere and Milkweed labeled "Butterfly Bush - Buddleia". Sometimes the tag inside the pot of the plant will be different from what is printed on the side of the pot, in these cases I usually look up what is on the pot, trusting the grower a tad more than the store.

Another take on this is to delve into what plants grew there prior to "development".

Yes, but in much of FL this isn't as straightforward as it seems, Tom. For instance, I just finished reading "Just One Backyard" (which I highly recommend) and he decided to do just that.

Since he works for SFWMD and was also working on a PhD, he had access to a lot of early documents that most people wouldn't.

His yard (west of Lake Worth) was mostly just typical FL sand and he figured it had been pine/sand scrub, since that was what the oldest residents in his neighborhood described, along with cow pasture, but he was amazed to discover it had originally been everglades marsh that had been drained and then the muck soil disintegrated the way it does, leaving only sand behind.

There's always surprises when delving backwards in time-you'll get no argument from me there. But perhaps loosen up a little. Surely there're areas nearby (maybe I shouldn't use the word 'surely, the way things are getting bulldozed down there) that can offer clues. I mean, I don't even live in Florida but I do know that the pine flatwoods plant community used to easily dominate the entire state, top to bottom. Now, since by definition, these woods are not "wetlands", they are being pushed mercilessly into piles and chipped/burned/gotten rid of so a new housing development can take place, or yet another walmart. My point is, I live one thousand miles away from you, but I bet I could name a hundred appropriate plant species just off the top of my head-and perhaps another hundred if I had just a little time to do the research-for someone wishing to retain a bit of "old Florida" flavor. Don't make it sound like an impossibility. It's not.

And it would be taking this concept to a ridiculous (and completely unnecessary) point if it was construed to mean that that site had to have exactly the vegetation it once held. That's taking this to a mandate that needn't even be there. But again, some very general trends are easily viewable when driving the highways of your state-wetlands held bald cypress and associated species, slightly higher/drier lands were pine flatwoods...and even if I was to oversimplify and stop right there-at just those two plant community types-it would still offer an endless array of possibilities to choose from.

I like the coontie (Zamia integrifolia or Z. pumila depending on your source) a lot, and just using that one plant as an example, it would be good in sun or shade, moist to dry, in most of the southern half of the state (I will admit to having less of an overall feeling for what goes in the north of your state). Or somebody -was it this thread or another one-mentioned the glaucus form of saw palmetto. That's the version with the blue-green foliage. It's a beautiful plant and sets off green foliage perfectly. I'm just running off at the fingers here now...not even having mentioned any forbs or grasses yet...but there's ideas aplenty.

Sorry if I upset you, Tom. I was just pointing out that it's often hard to know what kind of area it was originally. Those pine flatwoods, for instance, moved into a lot of drained marsh area in the southern half of FL once the state really got going on destroying "useless" wetlands to make them "productive".

No, I get you, no harm done. I'm just saying, don't tie yourself up in knots, with this little tidbit of info, that little morsel of fact. There's just so much that can be done!

The northern forests of my own state, which I love so much, seem eternal. Truth be told however, they all came about since the last ice age, which in geological time was but a brief minute ago. I'm not sitting here upset because my land will never have woolly mammoths on it! Just pick a look you like and go for it. Getting started is the key thing....you're going to change your mind a hundred times anyway! And lest you or me or anyone make a mistake, it's all going to be erased some day, by some enormous event. Florida....? My guess is that water will have something to do with the way that state's landforms-and the vegetation on that land-get rearranged in the not too distant future! Every single thing I'm doing up on my land will someday probably be buried under a sheet of ice perhaps two miles thick! Doesn't mean I can't plant some more trees this spring!

There is one reason to at least include plants endemic to an area and that is local wildlife, which I accept that not everyone is interested in bringing anything wilder than a bumblebee to their yard. Now obviously it is hard to revert a dry landscape to one that used to be bog/swamp, but by doing the research, we can at least plant one or two things that used to be where we live. This may give one or two critters (or dozens) the very things they need to return to the area. I did some research on my area and learned that historically speaking, it used to be Pine Sandhill. There are far more oaks in my area than pine, but I planted three slash pines and two longleaf pines. I won't be here to see it, but perhaps some day someone else will be living here when a pair of Bald Eagles decide to nest in one of those pines.

Michael, you might be interested in this:

http://justonebackyard.net/north-america-wildlife-corridor-initiative/

Sounds a bit like the Back Ten Feet, but on a national scale. I will have to read more into it. Thanks.

Yes, that's essentially what it is.

The property we're buying in Silver Springs is 1/2 an acre and has mostly native vegetation that was there when the place was turned into a small subdivision many years ago. That being some large live oaks, some junipers aka cedars, some tall "common" palms seen everywhere. A few bushy palmettos. Scrubby shrubs (common here in the wild) of some kind that are not real attractive. We will remove them for more attractive plants. The exotics would be one large magnolia, a row of azaleas as seen everywhere in the area and a long row of podocarpus not looking so great. We will fertilize them all as all look starved. Probably also lacking iron. Will do more reading on fert's for this area. I was surprised to see the cast-iron plant, popular in Victorian times, thriving at Silver Springs State Park this past week. Two other plants I see thriving in this area are the huge Monsteras of two kinds and the plant called elephant ears. A neighbor here at the RV park had her snake-plants freeze back but informed me they are not dead and should recover when it's warmer.

Please be very careful of the fertilizing. You may not know this, but in the 80's they had glass bottom boats at Silver Springs because the water was so clear. During the 90's so many people were irresponsibly fertilizing in the Ocala area (housing boom) that the Springs went green and stagnant from the nutrients entering the aquifer that feeds the Springs. They have spent the past three years trying to clean the area up and have made some progress, but it is going to be a constant fight with so many people congested in that area.

Thanks for saying, Michael. You saved me the trouble!