 |
Tropical Gardens with Hardy Plants |
pablus
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 23, 2003
Posts: 2149
From: www.crazedmugs.com
|  Posted: 2010-01-28 7:47 pm Permalink
We got crushed this year.
I'm hoping most of it comes back but we definitely lost about 15 palms.
My ti plants I grew from cuttings I brought back from Hawai'i look very beat down.
Lost all my night blooming jasmine - a huge stand.
I've got the largest "elephant ears" I've ever seen anywhere and they are done.
Wild gardenia - a wonderful specimen. Gone. Papayas - gone. My 20' avocado that was to start fruiting this year. Done. Lemons, limes - done. All plumerias and all crotons and all the bananas gone. I'm not sure if it will recover or not. Even the queen palms got burnt and they're hardy.
I did find out a few pretty hardy species of plants this year though and I can that queen palms can take it pretty cold. We got to 19 a few nights in a row. Pindo palms as well. Also my chinese fan palms did OK under the trees - the lady fingers did well. But mostly - it was a beat down.
I thought I lived in Florida but I was wrong.
|
RevBambooBen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 12, 2002
Posts: 7217
From: Huntikington Beach
| Posted: 2010-01-28 8:04 pm Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2010-01-28 19:47, pablus wrote:
We got crushed this year.
I'm hoping most of it comes back but we definitely lost about 15 palms.
My ti plants I grew from cuttings I brought back from Hawai'i look very beat down.
Lost all my night blooming jasmine - a huge stand.
I've got the largest "elephant ears" I've ever seen anywhere and they are done.
Wild gardenia - a wonderful specimen. Gone. Papayas - gone. My 20' avocado that was to start fruiting this year. Done. Lemons, limes - done. All plumerias and all crotons and all the bananas gone. I'm not sure if it will recover or not. Even the queen palms got burnt and they're hardy.
I did find out a few pretty hardy species of plants this year though and I can that queen palms can take it pretty cold. We got to 19 a few nights in a row. Pindo palms as well. Also my chinese fan palms did OK under the trees - the lady fingers did well. But mostly - it was a beat down.
I thought I lived in Florida but I was wrong.
|
|
Arrrrr!!!
_________________
Bamboo Ben
Custom Tropical Decor
I build Fun for you!
http://www.facebook.com/bambooben
|
MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years) 
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-01-29 06:14 am Permalink
Pablus, any chance the cold knocked out any of the invasive non-native plants you guys are having trouble with?
|
The Ragin' Rarotongan
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 26, 2004
Posts: 282
From: Now, Ocala Florida
| Posted: 2010-01-29 08:18 am Permalink
Pablus, I am in the same boat....Over the last few years I have invested much time and money to my back yard with what I thought were cold tolerant tropicals...Bismarkia Palm, Washintonia palm, queen palm, chinese fans, and caranry islands...I am up n of you in Ocala and my stuff is crushed as well....clip the dead off and hope that it comes back.
_________________
"Want a beer?'"...."It's 7:00 in the morning!"...."Scotch?"...."Not during working hours."
|
Haole'akamai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 2269
From: The Polynesian Port of NOLA
| Posted: 2010-01-29 08:55 am Permalink
Yeah, don't count them all out yet!
Many hardy sub-tropicals mimic deciduous plants in colder (though not freezing) climates, dying back (to the ground) and then re-emerging when the days become longer, sunnier, and warmer. We lose out Mint, Taro (Elephant Ear), Banana, Ginger and Heliconia pretty much every winter, but since it's well established, it all returns every Spring.
As far as citrus goes, they actually can stand quite a bit of cooler weather with little harm, if you take a few precautions. The thing that is a killer for citrus is icy wind and having dew freeze on their leaves. We prune the citrus here at "Lund Manor Estate Farms" to a smaller, bush-like shape and then are able to protect them by building a "cold frame" with bamboo poles (harvested from our Vivax) and plastic sheeting. Eventhough NorCal has gotten down to freezing several nights this winter, we've been able to keep the wind and freezing dew off the key limes and they've kept their blooms. 
_________________
"If you can't be a good example -- then you'll just have to be a horrible warning."
-Catherine Aird
|
HelloTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 23, 2005
Posts: 440
From: Kailua, Hawaii
| Posted: 2010-01-29 10:01 am Permalink
Did I miss Monstera Deliciosa ? Monstera's are Tiki and Movie favorites. They grow indoors and out in moderate to tropical very nicely.
|
pablus
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 23, 2003
Posts: 2149
From: www.crazedmugs.com
| Posted: 2010-01-29 11:44 am Permalink
<<
Pablus, any chance the cold knocked out any of the invasive non-native plants you guys are having trouble with?>>>
Not that I've seen so far. We've got this vine that they sell at nurseries around here that absolutely has taken over my yard. I didn't plant it - it seeds itself - it grows from root shoots - it won't be stopped. It's a little yellow trumpet vine that is the most insidious thing ever. Nothing stops it short of ripping it out of the ground and that man's work for days at my house. It seems fine... of course.
Yeah, I looked around today and we lost a lot more than I originally thought. Some of them are for sure dead. I've been growing this stuff for a decade or more and can't believe what I'm seeing.
But the bamboo is good. And the yuccas. So I don't have to start from scratch.
|
MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-01-29 12:11 pm Permalink
Quote:
| It seems fine... of course |
|
So much for the silver lining to your cloud. We get a cold snap every 10 years or so, kills all the young ficus trees
_________________
Clay, the oldest and most divine art media;
"And now, from the clay of the ground, the Lord God formed man" Genesis 2:7
Pirate Ship Tree House
|
Haole'akamai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 2269
From: The Polynesian Port of NOLA
| Posted: 2010-01-29 2:22 pm Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2010-01-29 11:44, pablus wrote:
We've got this vine that they sell at nurseries around here that absolutely has taken over my yard. I didn't plant it - it seeds itself - it grows from root shoots - it won't be stopped. It's a little yellow trumpet vine that is the most insidious thing ever. Nothing stops it short of ripping it out of the ground and that man's work for days at my house.
|
|
I feel the same way about the Oxalis that is contantly trying to overtake my fern mound.... GGGRRRRR!!
photo is from http://pirateneo1.blogspot.com website
_________________
"If you can't be a good example -- then you'll just have to be a horrible warning."
-Catherine Aird
|
MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-02-07 1:39 pm Permalink
I have a little different problem. We live in the desert and the RAIN killed 6 eucalyptus trees. The ground behind the trees is higher and very salty, our recent SoCal rains washed all that salt into my trees, I don't think they'll make it except the big one on the end. Three of the trees were ones I planted a month ago to replace trees killed by last year's rain 
|
ainokea
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 29, 2005
Posts: 23 | Posted: 2010-02-08 5:23 pm Permalink
Yikes... I first posted on this thread almost 5 years ago.
I've limit my tropical experiments to taro, 'awa, banana, kalamansi, and ginger that I winter indoors, but periodically check out the following sites for Zone 7 inspiration:
http://www.panamajohn.com/ (Use IE; not Firefox friendly)
http://bocajoe.smugmug.com/Tropical-Plants-in-a-Non
Thought you all might dig the sites.
|
tedtiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 06, 2004
Posts: 276
From: Sunny Springfield Illinois
| Posted: 2010-02-09 08:30 am Permalink
Hey thanks for the links. It gives me hope that I can actually have that tropical paradise in my own yard.
_________________
|
Haole'akamai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 2269
From: The Polynesian Port of NOLA
| Posted: 2010-02-09 08:52 am Permalink
Flowering Plumeria in Virginia?!
The pictures are wonderful. I want the blog that goes with them, detailing how they do it!!
_________________
"If you can't be a good example -- then you'll just have to be a horrible warning."
-Catherine Aird
|
Jungle Trader
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 04, 2003
Posts: 3692
From: Trader's Jungle Outpost, Turlock, Ca.
| Posted: 2010-02-09 09:25 am Permalink
Oh man I can smell that plumeria from here. SWEEEEEEEET.
I see some of you have lost a few beloved trees and plants. Here's a suggestion, may or may not work depending on the circumstances but try planting a canopy, trees that will protect undergrowth from the frost. It might take quite a few years to develop but it's worth a try. In the meantime you're helping Planet Earth. One tree planted by every family will reduce 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere. So plant 2 or 3 or 10 for the families that can't. I think I have over 30 trees, front and back combined. Also plant trees that won't cause root problems with your foundation or concrete/sidewalks. (Research) One of my faves is Podocarpus Gracilior an evergreen, very few root problems if watered deep when young. Plant onward bruthas and sistahs.
_________________
Oki NiKsoKoWa
(Hello all my relatives)
TikiJungle.com
|
ainokea
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 29, 2005
Posts: 23 | Posted: 2010-02-09 8:07 pm Permalink
Quote:
|
Flowering Plumeria in Virginia?!
The pictures are wonderful. I want the blog that goes with them, detailing how they do it!!
|
|
You may want to browse or even join the DC Tropics group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dctropics/ - Friendly folks and they respond well to questions. You can probably pick the brains of the gardener who grows those plumerias.
|
