Florida had a once in a generation freeze! Which had many of us wondering what would survive in the subtropics. So whether you have a tropical or a subtropical garden… let’s see what worked… or didn’t.
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39 Comments
1st!🎉
Glad your garden looks so good. Zone 9a north east florida here 👋 we got down in the 20s and everything died but the arugula. Can’t wait for spring.
Your garden looks GREAT! In north Florida we got BEAT UP!! So much to prune back after last frost. MY banana plants look near death
Lol but will prune them after last frost.
Still excited for 2023 planner from Wild Floridian 🎉
You did very well. I live in South Georgia where we got down to about 19 F. I lost almost everything except the native plants. Some will come back in the spring from seeds. Thanks for sharing. Great video.
I'm in NE and I managed to get all my gardens covered in row covers and all my potted plants into a little pop-up greenhouse so everything made it except the bananas. They're just brown sticks. I planted them this summer so I'm just hoping they got established enough in 6 months that they'll bounce back. Luckily my orange ripened in October?! so no losses there lol Looks like you did pretty good!
I live in Atlantic Beach, Fl, zone 9a. It got down to 26 degrees and most things died. I live one mile from the ocean, so it didn't get as cold as parts of Jacksonville, which is also in zone 9a, but they got below the minimum temp for 9a (25 deg f). So what's the point of these hardiness zones….
We were 31 2 days in a row in Holiday
I was going to “winterize” my garden. But I have only one large raised bed, so I opted to harvest everything instead.
I cooked & froze what I could, and we are eating lots of lettuce & Bok Choy with our meals.
I’m going to plant some more Bok Choy, Turnips, and lettuce to see what pops up before spring planting begins.
Jacqueline, join Canning Rebels, its a great group and so helpful!
Will you be trimming anything before spring or do you leave everything until march?
I live in St. Pete and and I have never had any luck with strawberries, I would like to know how you do it. I thought maybe it was because they don’t actually get enough chill hours or something.
Hi Jacqueline. I am in 9b just north of Orlando. We got down to 28 for about 3 hours. Happi, all my natives survived just fine. The only thing I lost is my dwarf banana plant. It turned black. So I whacked it back and it has already started to grow back (she hasn't given a bunch yet). My sweet potatoes are not happy but still alive. Other than that, we, me, my dogsand my outside plants survived the freeze. 🙂
It was down to 27 where I am and the thing that surprised me the most was my amaranth seedlings. I didn't cover them and they all survived. I had no idea amaranth seedlings were that hardy. My bananas look terrible. Thankfully I know they will grow back. I've only had a truly Tiny and a Siam Ruby banana not grow back after damage.
HiJacqueline I’m in 10 b covered some plants in my small garden others are green thanks to you with your advice in Englewood ❤
We lived in NC and had palm trees. We had to put C-9 Christmas lights on our palms to help them through the winter. So this winter I put some on my banana trees with sheets over them and they didn’t even turn brown! Port Charlotte zone 10a
You faired very well I am in panhandle and we had 2 nights of 17 degrees and 3 nights of 25 degrees I protected all of my plants potatoes took a hit and so did my bananas trees only time will tell if they will recover. On the other hand my cabbage and Brussels sprouts did very well
Jacksonville here…I've only lived on this property for a year, when living in Lake Placid, Fl. I experienced many frosts/freeze, so not my first rodeo…all bananas are deadish, but I'm hopeful…mulberry leaves froze, some freeze on citrus and Barbados cherries, Australian tree ferns are good…the saddest is the monsterosa, black and drooping, same with elephant ears, firebush and roselle…but all in all, I'll play the waiting game for the buds to appear…but the weirdest thing was the bamboo, it was great till Xmas morning, all the leaves turned white and felt crunchy, today I checked and they were green and pliable…who knows, this weather is nuts…but I ain't skeered…!
Haha love the music editing over the status of the plants. I'm further north than you so all my medium sized banana plants turned brown. I think they'll be okay though. I still see some green in there 😆
My leaves on my orange sweet potatoes are brown. My white sweet potatoes are damaged but hanging on. Red potatoes are hanging on and I'll harvest in January. Merritt Island, FL
My sweet potatoes got nipped but will hopefully pull through. Upper 30’s here
We got down to 20F here in Alachua county. They say it sweetens the citrus, though.
Canopy layers are so important at the end of the day. If you're planting things like bananas out in the open, it's most likely going to die over the winter. I've noticed the bananas producing fruit around my neighborhood are all under some sort of oak tree canopy.
No freeze here Orlando way
What kind of papaya are those? I love that they have fruit so low to the ground. My papayas are from a grocery store here in Orlando and the fruit is so tall I can't reach it. Do you have ideas on how to harvest those at the top?
I'm in North Florida on the coast and I didn't even think about covering my shiny coffee because, native, but she did suffer some significant leaf damage. I'm certain she'll make a comeback, though. I also have a prized Sea Grape which I covered and came through just fine. I'm in zone 9a and we had sustained low temperatures of 26F for two nights in a row followed by another night of 32F – horrible. I did cover a roma tomato which sadly, did not make it, BUT I have a small everglades ('cuz of you 🙂 ) and its leaves are fine! I was glad to watch another video of yours to learn they take awhile to grow because that guy was little for what seemed like forever. I'm ready for Spring! Happy New Year! Thanks so much for sharing all your knowledge. You're really helping me fill out my garden.
Glad you didn’t loose many plants. My daughter surprise me the other day at Lowe’s. There were some Wilted plants. She touched them and said to me, mama these plants look very sad. I wonder where she got that from.? We are both fans.😂 She is only 4.
Even if our native plants die back, they will return in the spring. It's part of the natural cycle in colder zones
Happy New Year to all Wild Floridians, and may it bring us more interesting and bountiful harvests! (and a Planner from The Wildest Floridian)
Loved the choreography of the happy natives and sad edibles done to the Nutcracker. Perfect!
Since I am all about container gardening, most everything was fine (covered or moved to hug the house or even into garage). We in Tampa 9b, supposedly got to 27 degrees one night, but three nights running of below 30 degrees.
The only things that absolutely bought the farm are basils (even the African Blue, which was brought closer to the house, under roof, AND covered, lol). The Orinoco banana, which did not even budge from normal spot, looks perfect, dwarf Cavendishes, even covered, are whining, but will live. Papayas have been getting those spots and slowly losing leaves since November, so nothing new. Passionfruit look a little pale, but won't need heavy pruning. I even kept my 4" long, first and only luffa. So overall, ducked this one, we got lucky.
My yard is looking really sad. We’ve been in Florida a year now and it’s so disappointing to see all my plants looking dead and brown 😢. I covered most things but it just couldn’t handle 4 days in a row of frost/freeze. I still have a bit of hope that they will come back in the spring but it feels like I need to start completely over.
Is that a Juice Plus hat?!?!?! Of course you would! Thats awesome!!
I didn't have much in my 'overwinter' garden…the Moringa, Sissoo Spinach, Garlic Chives, Red Russian Kale, and some other stuff all survived. I have 3 tomatoes in containers (Super Sweet 100 and Everglade) that I've been keeping in garage and putting out for sun…they're surviving but my back is giving out on me so not sure how long I'll be able to keep it up. The newer dwarf Firebush appears to be doing ok…I have noticed some indications that the leaves received a bit more cold then it's happy with…sorry I only covered every thing with old sheets…once. Your garden(s) are looking like most things are surviving…YAY! I'm hoping January/February won't be like those same months in 2009/2010…I was here for Christmas with my family (didn't move here until later in 2010). It was way colder than I expected. Happy New Year to you and family 🎆🎇🎆🎇🎆 (9b PH)
Baby girl, you can't blow up cookers anymore. In the 1980s all pressure cookers/canners have pressure valves, the only thing that could happen is you blow the valve and a stream of liquid (scalding) will shoot to the ceiling and make a horrible mess. Pressure cookers are much much more safe to use than when I was young. And the new electric ones won't work if you don't have it set up correctly. 💗
Which canner did you get @wildfloridian ?
I am in 9b south Texas. The best thing we did was put Christmas lights on our newly planted avocados and covered them. They did great even to 22 degrees and 20 mile an hour winds. My lime suffered a lot but may survive even though covered. My loquat covered did great. My dragon fruit was the hardest hit even though we had them in a heated canopy. The wind was the culprit. Covered my newly planted cavendish with a bucket and tarp. Just a tiny bit of cold damage. My 30 year old dracaenas suffered a lot. This is the first time I didn’t bring them into the house-big mistake. They may recover.
So far dragging the potted peppers and toms into the barn is worth the effort, but they don't care for the dark either. Got to get them back out in the sun as soon as it warms to 40s.
I think we got to 32 in Seminole. My balcony garden did fine for the most part. The older leaves of my tomatoes took a hit, but they still look good on the newer growth and the fruit all looks good. My Holy Basil dropped about 75% of its leaves a couple days ago. That one makes me sad, but I did take cuttings before that happened so hopefully I'll get to keep it going!
I am glad you showed the Joe Pye — I didn't know it could grow in 10a.
My 3 Pekin ducks took out my Mexican petunia… And well anything else Green in their direction…. But the petunia hasn't come back 😂😂😂