Tropicals & Tender Perennials: How many cold climate people have a lot of tropical plants?, 0 by plantladylin

plantladylin wrote:
Holly: I've been in Florida since 1967 and we've had freezes over the years but they have been few and far between. Our coldest weather here in Daytona Beach is usually a few nights in the late January/early February time frame, but the weather patterns are certainly changing around the globe. It's really early for us to have temp's like we're seeing. Last winter was a record breaking one for the entire state of Florida, even the southernmost point of Key West saw temp's in the 30's which is unheard of. It's supposed to be in the 30's in south Florida tonight too. Our paper this morning showed a company in the Homestead/South Miami area (RF Orchids) that is installing propane heaters to try and keep their plants from freezing. Even though most growers try to be prepared for cold there's only so much they can do to protect the crops.

I went out early this a.m. to fill the bird feeders and chop the ice from the birdbaths to replace with warm water and it was sooo cold, I thought I was gonna turn into an icicle! Brrr ... I don't own a coat, so I just had on layers and couldn't stay out there too long! I'm sure I will only be outside for brief periods today, LOL. It got down to 24º last night and it's still only 40º outside now and not expected to make it out of the 40's all day! I walked around the yard and there doesn't seem to be any abnormal damage. A couple of Hibiscus have icky looking foliage but they will survive. The Philodendron bipinnatifidum look fine, a few are a bit droopy but they don't look bad at all and they always survive freezes.