Pretty bad damage I'd say. The initial frost cut things down but many were big enough to have some growth sheltered at the bottom.. the next event which wasn't as bad hit worse because there wasn't a long enough recovery.

Firebushes are completely to the roots as are all but two of my milkweeds. Firespikes got very bad damage, I have never had them go back to the roots before I don't think, even on years the firebushes do, so I'm actually a little bit worried about them. Also worried about my porterweed.. it was a 27 frost so it is supposed to be okay but I'm not sure. If my hibiscus survived and not them I'm gonna be weirded out lol

oh and the pygmy date palms are gonna look ugly for a while

Everything tender+in pots was placed inside so they are OK.

The silver lining is that the frost killed a lot of weeds and helped me find out that borage is even more cold-hardy than radishes so I plan on growing some as a winter-blooming herb.

Tender stuff that got left out got bit but should return from roots or seed. Bananas look wretched but the stalks at the bottom feel firm.

Stuff in the greenhouse is good. I have had to run the gh heater more than most winters. Some things dont like that dry heat. Hopefully they will recover.

I hope this Feb stays warm and we dont have any late freezes like we did last year. Last year, my dwarf mulberry was loaded down with baby fruits and almost all froze due to a late frost after a warm winter. Its supposed to freeze one night this week. So everything I pulled out of the gh has to go back in again. I loathe this time of the year here. I planted some herb seeds yesterday and some sweet peas. At least I can leave them out.

~Sjn

I hate this time of year too. My firebush got it during the first freeze but the second one got my firespikes and even some of the leaves on my three ponytail palms got burned.

My electric bill was outrageous. I have to heat the GH to no lower than 55 for many of my orchids and usually the heater only runs at bight but we had that bunch of days when temps stayed below 55.

Zone 9b (Highlands County) pretty bad damage here also. Didn't protect anything except my Desert Rose and my inground poinsettia. Lots of Hoyas, orchids and other potted plants died even though they were underneath some large oaks...probably about 20-25 so far but it's not over. Every few days I check I see more damage that's taking a while to show. Several inground bushes are damaged but those will survive only foliage damage I'm pretty sure... Won't be replacing them as I really needed to cut back anyways Lol...A couple of my mango trees branches have frost/freeze damage, one being the worst. Lychee tree had no damage at all...not sure if it had some "baby" blooms about to sprout if it did those are possibly damaged will have to wait and see if they survive in a few weeks? Mango blooms are also "iffy" will have to see if I get them in a few weeks...Fingers crossed!

I think our low was about 28. The mangos in my Tampa neighborhood look pitiful - especially the younger ones. The bananas? Forget them for a while - the ones that didn't get knocked down by Irma are fried. Looking on the bright side; we don't have to worry about what was looking to be an abundant starfruit crop. Ditto for pruning the star fruit - freeze pruning will be taking care of that. We have a huge bougainvillea in a large slash pine tree. The past few years the bougainvillea has been getting to the point of totally overtaking the pine. I had been planning to prune about half of the vertical stems but now won't have to bother. The freeze did a good job of pruning - just like the freezes used to but haven't for the last several years. I have always heard kale likes cold weather, but we had some lacinato that was freeze burned. I won't get into the orchids and broms. Hopefully most will recover.