Take them off,its more than safe as San Francisco never got lower than 38. Frost damage of even the most tender plants tends not to form above 36F here no matter what the dew points are. For me,nothing was ever burnt at 35F..33-34F will nip soft growth,tips of tender plants.

I am taking them off, what happened however, was it was 40 degrees in the day, and the plants got worse in the first day. The nighttime was not the only bad time. I have problems with the lantana, the brug, the black-eyed susan vine, a tropical rhododendron, some unknown plant from the tropicals, even the hydrangeas were all burned, every leaf ruined. Maybe they are ok, after they grow out, but I hate to see them set back in growth. Almost half my plants were affected in some way.

You must have meant SF Bay area and not the city? Brugs here in the eastbay were nipped.The mild November put alot of soft growth on my tropicals...thats where most frost damage hit.

My Jasmines and Mangoes and even a Jackfruit seedling have no damage - did not cover them, even. But, my gardenias, Princess Flower plants and Hibiscus and the tender growth of my Navel orange tree have all withered and blackened. Cannot figure out why the damage is so selective. There was ice everywhere in my yard.

I remember times when it has been colder, but for some reason this was very destructive to my plants. I think because it did not warm up during the day, so the plants were damaged by day and by night, instead of just at night.

leave the damaged plants alone until it warms up in March, i know its sad to see the burnt and blackened plants but most will come back. princess plants come back, sf has had hard frost before and my princess plant,fushias, jade,hydreageas all came back and they looked like mush.

There are parts of San Francisco that can get much colder than the official readings taken at Mission Dolores, Stan, so it isn't wise to say that this cold weather didn't get cold enough anywhere in San Francisco to damage some more tender plants. The Nursery/Greenhouse area at San Francisco Botanical Garden is a notoriously cold spot within Golden Gate Park, and would often get frost even in mild cold spells that my then garden at the edge of Golden Gate Park on Stanyon at Hayes never saw any frost, and the two areas are only 1/2 mile apart. I can't say for certain, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they did get some freeze damage within the Botanic Garden this past Tuesday/Wednesday mornings, even if the official SF low was only 38F.

For Tropical-Thought, most of your plants should be just fine as they regrow foliage. I would advise you to move the tropical Vireya(?) Rhododendron to a more protected spot, however, as this is the one plant you listed that might actually be killed or greatly set back by cold damage. The others will releaf when it warms back up. In future, if you want to keep things from getting damaged, try to avoid encouraging new fresh growth into the late fall by reducing irrigation and no fertilizers after late August, and you can also cover plants with a blanket or sheets ahead of a freeze warning. It is best to remove cover as soon as it warms back up, lack of light and rains upon covers can also do further damage if the covers aren't removed during the day.

I'm in the East Bay and had quite a bit of damage. But I had taken advantage of the sales ("fall is planting time!"), and had many small, new plants in the ground. I also had tons of cuttings going in pots, and plants that were still in pots as I hadn't gotten them planted yet (Strybing just had a sale). Luckily, I got a lot into the garage in time, but unfortunately have lost plants. Begonias look the worst, many salvias are burned, but my fuchsias look OK, amazingly. I did manage to get a few things covered (e.g. guavas).

My poor hummingbirds... I had SO many blooms until this freeze. I have put out a feeder, but they don't seem to know how to use it. I sure hope they like Hardenbergia, because that is starting to bloom.

I don't have a more protected area to move the tropical rhododendron. I had it in a pot for the first year, but it never really liked being a pot. It has had damage before, but never this much. I did cover it even on the first night.

The begonias are all dead, but I assume those are coming back because they are bulbs.

Maybe the humming birds can feed on roses? Those are doing fine.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of tropical rhododendron

I think overall,it was less damaging than last Januarys near freeze,and much less than 2007 when it was 30f in Hayward for a couple of nights and near freezing two more. But thats three years in a row of real cold after 2005-2006 when the low for me was 35f.Oh well, without global or urban warming maybe it could have been like 1972 or 1990.
As far as SF, I guess with so many hills and valleys some are stuck in frost pockets.

Maybe it was less damaging in your location, but there were certainly areas in the north bay that got plenty cold this time around, and I heard that Emerisa Nursery up in Santa Rosa got down to 17F earlier this week, and that is certainly pretty darn cold for the Bay Area in any one's book. It really isn't safe to generalize about damage and freezes across the SF Bay Area, and there are always parts of San Francisco that will get some damage any time we get some here in Berkeley and Oakland.

I think Tropical Thought's problem in his/her garden is lack of any overhead tree or large shrub canopy to protect against radiation freeze damage to open sky. Too bad about the Vireya rhododendron, it looked like it was really doing well. In my experience growing some, they are one of the first plants to show freeze damage right at 31/32F temps, so I never plant them out in the garden unless in a very protected spot. I bet it might have survived if you had a large evergreen tree in the yard and it was protected by the foliage.

I am continuing to find more plants in my own garden that suffered from minor frost damage, but the worst hit were the usual suspects with large soft leaves such as Brugmansia, Iochroma, Bartlettina, Dahlia imperialis, and Kalanchoe carnea. All will come back readily with not permanent damage, so no worries, really, except it is annoying to look out and see so much blacked, limp foliage. I find it hard to resist the urge to simply cut off all the damaged parts leaving the fresh foliage below, and generally can get away with it. This winter I am betting that there will be more freezing weather, so I am not so cavalier about immediately removing dead foliage.

I wouldnt consider Santa Rosa "bay area". Neither is Modesto or Gilroy-other citys that had record cold. I think I have a good idea of what bay area is-Sunset agrees that most of the bay area is z 16-17,coldest low areas 15. Nobodys perfect though-no way is southern coastal Oregon z 17 like say,z17 San Jose!-lol.

I guess you don't consider places like Walnut Creek, Danville, Alamo, Orinda as part of the Bay Area either! At least in the regional sense, all the counties touching the bay are considered part of the Bay Area, and Santa Rosa certainly has a climate that is influenced by the bay. Sunset's Bay Area zone maps include zone 14 as part of the Bay Area, and the highest mountains, also within sight of the bay can even be zone 7. Not many people are gardening in Bay Area zone 7 conditions, but geographically it is still part of the SF Bay Area, with weather and climate moderated by proximity to the bay.

I have considered a small evergreen tree that might double as a Christmas tree, if I wanted to put outdoor lights. I have Malibu lights and I am considering upgrading the transformer to allow Christmas lights. However, the prices on dwarf trees are expensive, and I could not decide which one to buy. I was in Grants Pass Oregon and I saw a great nursery with lots of dwarf trees, but it was closed when I had my short visit. Getting a tree that might be bigger would create an expense of having a pruner and create more shade. I have a tall building on one side that shades me, and I would like more sun as it is. The rhododendron liked being on the sunny side of yard. I had to cut it back a few times because it has so much growth it fell over. I had to tie and stake it, but I had recently removed the stakes and cut it back hoping it would take shape. The roots are very shallow and it becomes top heavy and uproots in high winds. Well, lots of plants just last a short time four years or so was a pretty good run.
My brug lost all it's leaves, but the one at Cafe International looks damage free.

Sacramento is influenced by the bay-you dont call it bay area do you?
Those affluent communitys usually refer to themselves as eastbay area.The newspaper weather sections also. Bay Area is Bay Area and near the Bay Area is near the Bay Area.
But,hey,we are all Americans!

Small trees/large shrubs in a San Francisco back yard don't have to be expensive or overly large. You could use fast growing things like Tibouchina urvilleana or Psidium cattleianum or Feijoa sellowiana as an overstory small tree, and all are relatively fast without getting too large. You might also consider some Citrus like a dwarf tangerine or mandarin or dwarf Meyer lemon to give you some canopy to protect more tender things like the Vireya rhododendrons. If you wanted a relatively small, slow growing conifer, I might suggest looking for Podocarpus latifolius 'Icee Blue' as a good one, that could do double duty as a decorated Christmas tree, without ever getting huge.

Bahai, Is it too late to dig it up and move it indoors at night or would it die from transplant shock due to the damaged condition. I do have a current photo.

Here is a link that might be useful: photo of cold damage

Thats not too bad, I wouldnt even think of digging it up. The shock would kill it in no time. Just cover it should we have another very cold snap..but,it doesnt look that bad really.I would expect new shoots as soon as spring gets here.

Your Vireya does look like it will probably recover, but with lots of stem tip damage and leaf loss. I'd also suggest that leaving it where it is, but driving some taller stakes around it so you can cover it with a blanket to the ground in the event of another frost. You really need to get some overhead canopy going to give you some additional protection from radiation frost in your backyard.

Frost damage here in my garden in the foothills above Santa Cruz consists of the following:

- brugs at the bottom of the hill lost some of their leaves, but are still in full bloom. Interestingly, a fully exposed brug. sanguinea has zero frost damage, so it seems much hardier than the regular brugs. Brugs at the top of the hill were completely undamaged.

- mountain papaya leaves got nipped back everywhere except where there was some overhead protection.

- Very fresh growth on cherimoyas and white sapotes at the bottom of the hill got nipped back, not a trace of damage on the same varieties at the top of the hill.

- All banana leaves got fried thanks to a sprinkler going off in the middle of the night, but ensete ventricosum is still green/red. Ensete ventricosum leaves appear to be a degree or two hardier than regular banana leaves. My Hawaiian apple banana was unphased by the cold, but it's growing in between two buildings.

- Ti plants appear to be amazingly tough, not a trace of damage on any of them! Collacacias under canopy appear to be fine, exposed ones have light damage.

- Cannas didn't get damaged, go figure that one out.

- All palms, including king, parajubaea, kentia, basically the works have zero damage.

- tropical guavas fine, even the fruit was undamaged. (Fruit ripens in April here)

- Some citrus varieties in the lower garden had really tender fresh growth nipped back.

- tropical low chill apple trees that are blooming now were unphased by the cold, fruit on my pink lady apple tree were not damaged either. Someone relayed back to me that their pink lady tree in Texas took 18F two weeks ago with fruit on the tree, and neither fruit nor leaves were even remotely phased by that cold temperature.

All in all, it was a very strange freeze, seems most of the damage is a result of frost/ice crystal formation on plant tissue. It never got very cold here, it just stayed right at freezing or slightly below for a good 8 hours, with lots of humidity in the air, hence so much frost formed. Pockets of the yard with poor air drainage and full exposure to the night sky got colder than other spots.

Now I am in favor of removing damaged tissue. The tissue is an entry point for pathogens and fungus. So I usually will cut off any rotten tissue as best I can.

Hi,

Just wanted to share my damage out in Fremont from a few weeks ago.

Heliconia Fire and Ice
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Ice Cream Banana
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Maurelli
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Musa Basjoo held up pretty well
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King Palms held up nicely
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Lovely photos
Everything came back, but the rhodondendron and the brugmansia, and the Bougainvillea.

Identical look in Hayward..only soft leaves subtropicals had burnt leaves. Some like the white form of Mandavilla vine took a browning,while Parasol Mandavilla red no damage at all,Red Riding Hood Mandavilla had some leaf burn. Other than that-if that's the worst 21st century arctic freezes will get,I will take it.

btw,Arent King palms worth their weight in gold?

yea gotta love the king palms, i just planted those spring 09 and have held their own so far.