Cold Weather and Your Florida Garden

We are now in the midst of the coldest weather that we have seen here in at least 13 years. Most of Palm Beach County and everything north were under a freeze warning this morning. Freezes are unusual in south Florida and so a lot of tropical plants are widely planted here. They thrive most of the time but are very vulnerable to freezing temperatures. What can you do to protect your tender tropicals?

It helps if you know ahead of time which plants can take the cold and how much. That way you can set priorities when preparing and spend your time and effort on the plants that need it most. Ask your landscaper or nursery professional when you buy a plant how cold hardy it is.

Start by watering everything thoroughly! You may not like to be wet when its cold but plants do. Most of the damage caused to plants in cold weather is caused by them drying out. Especially if it is windy. The the cold, dry wind with suck the water from the leaves quickly. So water the leaves and saturate the ground.

Small plants in pots should be taken indoors. If there isn't room then at least move them up against the house out of the wind. The warmth radiating out from the walls will in many cases be enough to save them. What can't be moved should be covered. Never cover plants with plastic! The plastic will burn them and cause more damage than good. Use light weight sheets, towels or newspapers. Of course if its windy you will need to anchor your coverings with rocks, bricks, or whatever you have. You may not have time or materials to cover everything so start with your most tender and most expensive plants first and save as much as you can.

As soon as possible the morning after a freeze, uncover everything. The longer wet sheets or newspapers lay on the plants, the more the chance of fungus or other problems. Take heart though, even in a bad freeze many plants will be damaged but most won't completely die. It will take at least a few days before you can assess the damage. You may be tempted to start cutting damaged plants back right away, but resist the temptation. In a future article we'll discuss what to do after the freeze to help your plants recover quickly.