Taking stock of frost damage.

[Junebug]

This is some of the damage inflicted by the recent 2 week cold front in Central Florida. During this time the night time temps. dipped into the mid to upper 20's. Covering all my vegetation was an impossible task, but even those plants that were covered could not escape unscathed.

It saddens me to see my once thriving Passiflora looking like toast. Her thickest branches are still green so I'm hoping she makes a comeback. The bananas and plantain are complete history and will be replaced by a small vegetable garden this spring. Evidence indicates that my Australian Tree Fern will be loosing several fronds and the Bougainvillia has lost all but a few leaves. My biggest concern is for the recovery of my Avocado and Mango trees who are both sporting crispy brown leaves. The only orchid left outdoors was my palm tree mounted Trichoglottis Brachiata. She too was damaged in spite of being carefully wrapped in several layers of blankets.

[trdyl]

What a shame.

[Jkelee]

I hear ya Junebug! My pretties are toast too =(
Everything in our yard.
I even covered things, and they still are toast (my phals)

[stefpix]

Hey sorry about that.
wouldnt the Banana rhizome possibly send out new growth? I would wait and see... I think it could be most likely.

I would be mowe worried about the Mango as I heard they do not survive temperatures below freezing

[SP2340]

Sad to see... I lost several orchids that were mounted outside. My Trichoglottis Brachiata did well when temps were in the 40's. I brought it inside when it dropped into the 30's.

[Ray]

That tricho doesn't look too bad...

[etex]

Ouch!! Looks painful!
We've had a banana come back from the roots for several years!
Also, birds have blessed us with passionflower seeds,the plants come back every year after dying back when it gets cold. Now ,if only the birds could stop spreading the wild blackberries all over!

[stefpix]

yeah bananas have a rhizome - should be ok. the plant anyways dies after flowering / bearing fruit and another shoot comes from the roots,
would not get rid of the banana.
tehre are some hardy ones in parks in nyc.
also saw some in planters in the street in brooklyn ny,
in the winter they chop the plant and it comes back from roots in the spring

[Paul]

As Ray said -- that trich doesn't look bad at all.

Though I've never grown one, I too would expect the banana to come back based on what I have heard about them.

Sorry to hear about the damage though.

[gsytch]

Bananas are weeds. They will be back in abundance since the tops were frozen although do not be surprised if a new growth juts out the top, even after cut. I have a large Mango Tree about 25' tall and wide, and it is also toasted, but the trunks are so thick I doubt it needs anything more than a good topping. However, grafted Mangoes will lose the grafts in a cold event like this. I've already noticed my Phaius and Spathoglotiis coming back quickly, and all were not burnt. There were some parts green! I live in New Port Richey, 45 mins N of St Pete but my back yard is very exposed to frosts. My Phals are bad, though. Too many days and nights of cold and they are dropping leaves like raindrops! Spray with Copper fungicide and a f/up in 14 days will help all cold/rot. Greg