What a very special story to go along with very special plants. My grandfather passed away several years before I was born, however, I've been told that I've picked up more than few of his qualities, particularly with gardening. Amelia, the elephants food plant that I sent you cuttings from actually has a history back to my grandfather. He had bought that plant on a business trip and brought it home for my grandmother. She planted it in the little bit of yard they had in the retirement village/trailer park. It nearly took over, grew like crazy. My grandmother gave cuttings of it to everyone. When my grandfather passed away, my grandmother moved to a smaller apartment, and forgot to take some of the plant with her. Till the day she died, she was never successful at growing it again from cuttings off my plant (which originally came from hers) or others. She was convinced my grandfather was upset she forgot to take cuttings from the original plant and wasn't going to let her have anymore LOL. So needless to say, next time I move, I'll be taking lots of cuttings with me! :-)

We survived with minimal damage. We didn't have wind gusts that high. The problem here were the sustained winds at 30-50 MPH for over 12 hours. Anything with big leaves like the bananas were shredded, buds lost, especially brug,s and some of the taller plumerias were horizontal but all in all it wasn't too bad. Hope your brug makes it. If it is snapped at the base I'd just cut it and root the stem. You'll get new growth from the base too. I spoke with friends that have a couple home in the Outer Banks. They found out that their homes weren't damaged but they can't get to them. I guess some bridges were washed out or something.

Have you been feeding them? It might be a mineral deficiency, magnesium and or calcium. It's also normal for the older lower leaves to yellow and drop, especially this time of year. Some might just be dropping naturally but there's definitely something not right. I have a feeling it's a deficiency of some type but see what others say. If it is a deficiency there's a product called CalMag Plus that works very well or you can just try Epsom Salts.

How sad!!!! I would do as Ken suggests. Leave them for a month. Dormant buds will emerge and leaf out because the plants want to survive. Whether it be deer eating the tops, or a freeze or a lawn mower. Then cut off all the ugly leaves that are still showing. Perhaps not a large as they were, but the plants should be fine. Many people don't remember the "hosta stomp" method of increasing eyes. You stomped on them as the eyes emerged and broke those, forcing dormant eyes to leaf out. Also, I recall Hostafreak (RIP) who proclaimed one spring that he was DONE for the year because either frost or hail had destroyed his whole lovely ravine garden. He came back about a month or so later with pics of renewed growth. And then there is the old story from the Hosta Journal that Van Wade actually mowed down his hostas due to hail (I think) that happened before a tour was supposed to happen, and that they all came back as beautiful as ever. Keep the faith, Santa. -Babka