I can hardly wait to clean up all the dead stuff. My shade bed which is all native ferns and some crinums is so empty. They all froze to the ground after the secobd set of deep freezes. I expected the gingers and caladiums to freeze-they do thst every winter but not the ferns and crinums. They have never frozen before. It's depressing.

My firebush and firespikes lost all their leaves after the first freeze so they must be a bit more sensitive.

Interestingly all three of my ponytail palms came through just fine.

I wait til the end of march...i have seen too many late cold snaps to fall for the nice weather lets garden fake out.

Too true Pea!

I normally wait till the first week of March but this year I'm getting started early. I started yesterday. So far I cleaned up 2 0f 5 bananas. trimmed the dead off of a mango. Weeded the butterfly garden and I've got so much more to do.

I wouldn't want to stimulate new growth too early on in the year on otherwise dormant plants but if the plants are already putting out loads of new growth then cleaning them up just makes sense.

Did y’all see what The Grumpy Gardener said about the month of February?

”Sometimes it behaves responsibly and provides the weather it’s supposed to - chilly days and cold nights. This tells our hardy plants that it’s not quite time to wake up so they remain dormant. But almost invariably, it perversely dupes our gardens with a week of 70-degree temperatures, coaxing trees, shrubs, and bulbs to bloom too early in the season. Then it snaps its jaws with a sudden freeze, and the hoodwinked flowers die.”

I don’t know if that’s what happens in Florida, but it seems like it.

Tonight the weatherman said it was a nice balmy 87° today...87° in February this is not good if we get a late cold snap.

Sharon, I don't do a lot of watering with the Firecrackers and I live in Brooksville. They need very little attention and they take over if you don't cut them back, those branches go down to the ground when they get long and root themselves.

Wow I didn't know you lived here too ... or maybe forgot. We'll have to get together sometime.

I have lots of oaks and not a lot of full sun areas so I've always planted them in part shade. Could that be the problem? Where do you have your firecracker planted.

I have them in all kinds of light conditions, they don't seem to care. I've been moving them into pots because they are so bent on spreading, I'm not going to call them invasive, but like I said before, whenever a branch touches the ground they take root there. They actually look fantastic in large mass plantings.

I'll have to give them another try. I will keep an eye out for them at lowes. Thanks.

Rita I'd love to get a firecracker but held back because of its tenderness. From everything I've read you have to bring it inside when it gets cols and I have no room left in the GH for another large plant.

I've also read that it may or not come back in the spring if we have a really cold spell. Can you please comment?

BTW you and Sharon and I are all in 9a and so is Carol. Maybe we could have a meet!!! We should PM.

I also cut the cuban buttercup down to about 3 inches tall (had been 3 feet) but never found any green as I was cutting the stalks, maybe it will sprout from its roots?

Bea, even when they freeze to the ground they wind up sprouting back in the Spring, at least it does here for me. I've got tons of freeze damage here, it's going to be rough getting it all pruned back with my bad back.

Found a new use for palm fronds to day while cleaning up yard. I got a lot of dead Palm fronds plus many in the empty lots around here. I shredded them by hand and mulched all kinds of things. Don't know why I never thought of it before but it cleaned up the yard and put them to use.

I am pink, tired, and will be sore tomorrow!!!

I am a happy girl!

I started some seeds in a seed starter and some direct sow.

I cleaned up some beds, planted some bulbs, added some mulch.

I still have all the tropical beds to chop up and pull weeds and cut back the seagrapes, but that is not as fun as playing with seeds and mulch!

The bad thing is all the work that still needs to be done is in the front yard! Oh well

Yes Bea we should have a meet! That would be great. I'll PM tomorrow or Tuesday.

Yeah Sweet I know I'll be sore tomorrow too ... I did yard work on and off all weekend and it felt great to get some much needed work done. I did seeds and mulch too and it was lots of fun. I love working in the yard! I'm so excited that spring is just around the corner! Can't wait for all my seeds to germinate! I started swamp milkweed, milk pea, senna, silver bells, swamp tupelo, alamo vine, saltmarsh mallow, scarlet hibiscus, and halberd leaf hibiscus. What did you start?

LOL I started seeds I bought late last spring and either never did or did a handful that did not take. AND a few that I collected from last springs flowers I had planted. I figured at least try them and if they don't work, I'll just buy some small plants!

Off the top of my head.. umm. ok so am not good w/ names or knowing anything so don't laugh at me too much. I do try to look things up on the internet before I buy, but I always end up forgetting what I read and just look at the packets at the store and say Ohhh that's pretty!

when I get home Ill look at what I planted, I cant even remember some of the names! lol

Omg, in 2 days a have a row sprouting!!!!

Wow - way to go Sweet ... super germination speed! Very nice for you. :) Most of mine will take months and the silver bells may not germinate until next year, BUT I got them in the pots ... better than I did last year. lol We're both ahead of the game ... you more so than me since yours are sprouting.

I'm still being good about not trimming back the dead stuff. It's so hard though. Each day I'm outside I want to start chopping. lol

Ok looking at things I am trying from seeds

Alyssum, Cosmos, Balloon flower, aster, straw, coneflower, Gerber daisy, blue dalph, sweet pea, forget me knot, (yellow daisy and small rusty, No idea real names, seeds I collected from plants i bought and planted last year, lol), teddy bear sunflower, sweat Williams.

I have Zinnia, but have not planted them yet.

Last year the Alyssum and Straw did great, the Sweet Pea started to grow, but never grew more than a foot and did not bloom.

I tried the cosmos, teddy bear, and balloon last year and nothing happened, but they were direct sow so maybe I let them dry out too much so they did not germinate.

The forget me knots are really old, (years), work gave them to us as part of earth day. Figured it was time to throw them into dirt!

Gerber daisy, I picked a spent bloom off a plant in the box store, ... I guess you could say I stole the seeds, but they were fixin to blow away in the wind anyways!

Aster, bought them the other yr bc the pic on the package was so pretty.

The others are seeds I collected from plants in my garden, it would be nice if some of them would grow!

Fingers crossed!

I have never used the seed starter thing before, but I am hoping this works out!

Dang those Alyssum, wow, I hope they keep going! I really like them and they are one of the only flowers I like the smell of, smells like honey!

Is the seed starter thing those little bags?

I have tried a lot of those flowers, but I don't water regularly so I always kill them. I wanted to stop being a flower murderer so I stopped trying with those and stick to natives or flowers that can survive on their own for the most part ... OH and they have to like shade 'cause I have lots of giant oaks. Sometimes direct sowing works for me and sometimes not, but I still try occasionally. I've noticed the last couple of years seed companies will put in their verbiage if direct sowing will be difficult ... 'bout time.

I will keep my fingers crossed for you. You'll have so many lovely flowers this year.

I will not be tempted by this warm February, a cold breeze can trundle down from the north at any time.

OH ... I'm ready to put things in the greenhouse in an instant if I have to. Most of my seeds need cold stratification anyway which is why I started them early. Decided to let nature take care of it instead of me keeping track of them in the fridge.

I think there would have to be a number of successive cold fronts to knock the temperature down from above 80 to 32° or below.

What I'm preparing most for is drought because let's say there are no more cold fronts making their way down to central Florida, then the temperature may stay way above normal with little to no rain until summer.

Fl joes the drought was so bad last year, I worked in same building that is surrounded by water for 11 years and last year the pond went dry, completely dry, it was crazy!

Sharon, not a great pic, but this is the seed starter i have.

It has 72 "brownies" lol well my husband thought I baked a tray of brownies!

Once your seedlings are big enough you pop the whole "brownie" into the garden where ya want it. The tray is reuseable you just buy new brownies for it. It has a little top cover to keep the heat in for the 1st so many days then take cover off.

This is my 1st ti.e trying it, well see how well it works!

I realized I had not checked them yet today

Now a row of Straw has popped and a lone Cosmos has shot up to be the tallest!!!

Ohhh crap I just realized some of the straw flower seeds were ones I collected from the plants I planted from seed last year!!!! I had directed sowed them last year and only 3 grew and they are tiny seeds, hence the reason there are seedling explosion going on, too small to garb so I tab my finger into the seeds and brush them off my finger tips.

I really liked them so I wanted to try starts this time around in hopes of have many straw flower this year!!!

Yes, it was terribly prolonged. My well went dry towards the end of it and stood dry all summer long. I was only using it once a week so it totally took me off guard. Straw flower? Tell me thats Xerochrysum bracteatum. I was tempted to buy some seed but wasn't confident enough in them doing well during summer. The really dark colored ones look really interesting to me.

Have unrooted thornless blackberry & Hardy Red Kiwi.

I am looking for cuttings of Florida sweet Barbados cherry, Sweet starfruit e.g kari or sri, wax jambu and white guava

Sweet the mini greenhouse is cool looking. I've seen those, but never tried them. So are the 'brownies' dried and then you add water to rehydrate them? The pics of your sprouting seeds make the brownies look so beefy and nice for starting seeds in. It's so great you have so many germinating already ... you'll be ready for spring for sure. I did get a couple of swamp milkweeds germinating, but nothing else yet ... and I have tons of seeds I started .. little pots everywhere. I can't wait until there is no danger of frost because I'm getting antsy to get rid of the deadwood and plant new things.

I did the tender tropicals a couple days after the freeze and the rest a week later. About half of it is starting to grow back so far. Looks empty but way better than brown.

The row of balloon flowers have a white spot, that is like mold or something right?

That can' be good or normal?

That's too bad sweet. Moldy seeds. I've salvaged seeds like that by soaking them in a weak bleach solution overnight. Unless you have plenty then just toss them. If you're planting more from the same batch I would soak them just to be safe.

I pruned a few things yesterday, already putting out growth at the bottom. Purple trailing Lantana, Mexican Heather, Firecracker plants. I still have a lot Honeysuckle is growing leaps and bounds.

Yes, even with my bad eyesight I can see all kinds of plants with new growth this week, not just in my yard but as I drive around!

When I was little it was always cold nights by the time the county fair came to my town, the last week of February/ 1st could of days March and that was in Zone 10, but I really dont think thing will dip cold enough at least for the bottom half of Florida to be able to do much harm.

Try watering with a peroxide solution instead of plain water

Here is a link for amounts

http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html

I have tried it and it works.

Hey Sweet ... are talking about the florida state fair? When I was little the florida state fair was held in downtown tampa and it was so much more enjoyable than the monstrosity it is now.

I hope we don't get another freeze, or even frost, this year. I have lots of new growth on my property too, but I'm going to control myself and not trim anything just yet.

Sharon, I have your email address from your website, I'll email you. I have a small clump of the firecracker plant that I'm going to pull out and you can have it if you want it.

Sharon,

No, I grew up on east coast of Fl, the treasure coast, in Fort. Pierce. It was just our little county fair. We were further south than Tampa is in zone 10, but fair nights were always cold and many time some of the days would be to! I was in 4H so I was at the fair daily so I have always remembered the timing of the fair and if the last weekend was cold I would be like what the heck it is march!!!

Now since I have been in florida since I was 4 my idea of cold might not be the same as others! Lol

I should of taken a before pic, but this whole section is full of golden torch, a couple of ginger, and 1 Ti plant, plus the still standing bird of paradise and at the very end a sea grape.

The golden torch already has new stalks growing, although I trampled a few when I was washing green algae off the wall and roof line.

The Ti had leaves, but they were dull and full of scale or mealybugs (or both) so I chopped it down to a few stalks, I do hope it comes back, I think it will.

There was black dots on the dead stuff, the rabbit statue and a few on the bird of paradise and the wall. I think is was some sort of hard body scale. Then tucked in the area were the Ti plant leaves attach to the stalk was white bugs, either mealy or soft body scale.

I pulled out the heave duty insecticide to give the regrowth a chance to grow with out so many problems from the beginning, not a fan of having to do it, but things had gotten out of hand in that bed, hoping this will be a fresh restart.

Normal a empty bed is not something I enjoy looking at, but this was all brown ragged grossness, could only see the tip tops of the bird of paradise. The clean of this pic is a real joy!

Well, I guess the joke's on many of us. After a very cold winter and recurrent freezes, we're having our hottest February on record. I have no qualms about cleanup. I have been a busy beaver. I had many plants just recovering from the hurricane only to be badly affected by freezes; so disheartening. I was forlorn until I saw my hibiscus recovering and the banana tree peeping up through the soil. Others are showing signs of life also. It seems what really thrived,,,,yes, weeds. I have spent all afternoon digging up stinging nettle. I kept getting attacked by this noxious weed and didn't know about it but I sure do now. When I accidentally pulled it up along with other weeds I suffered excruciating pain for two days and numbness that lasted longer than a week everywhere I touched the stuff so please beware. I'm in Brevard County, 9B.

Wow that's absolutely terrible! I hope you feel better. I didn't even know stinging nettle grow here

Oh, I have recovered from it thank you and now know exactly what to look for. I had a neighbor who is now deceased living on the other side of my privacy fence. The house is in probate and the yard left unattended except for mowing and seems to be where it's coming from. I spent another 3 hours this morning digging it up and once I have gotten the worst patches up, I will spray.

Oh man, that sucks! I have heard about it and I have seen pictures, but I never remember what it looks like. Need a wanted dead poster outside with it so I could remember to be on the look out.

SMC, it was so agonizing and I needed to get informed immediately so I googled it on my phone. Children especially have terrible reactions from it. When I catch my breath (I've been working outside all day) I will try to get a photo and post it.

I had stinging nettle pop up in my veggie garden this year. We had it several yrs ago about a half acre away. Hadn't seen it again till now. I hate that crap.