Your plant should put out new leaves when it is warmer. I have many alba in large pot. My yard should be much colder. I have 3-4 inch ice slab formation from my large water basin, a historical record for my yard. Your remark prompt me to examine my alba plants. Interesting observation is that different locations of my yard have different temperatures. almost all my alba plants are ok to lush green, showing no damage so far. It is not a conclusion yet. After four weeks, if the plants are still OK, then it is good for sure. We have at least three freezing nights. Tonight is above freezing. I did water all my plants thoruoghly before freezing and water them again and again during next daytime. Was your plant well watered? What we having was dry cold. I broke the ice to prevent it possibly to crack my procelain basin( see picture). All my camellias and albas seemingly have no sign of welting or leaf dropping. Under the shade cloth tent and overhead trees, the plants might also have slightly more protection. Here is a link that might be useful:

Bruce, I almost didn't even mention the killer compost issue because even though it occurs, it still is fairly rare. Yours is only the second case I've heard of in OK, though I am sure there's likely been a lot more. I thought of you and your garden issue yesterday. I was working in the garden and Tim was mowing. When the grass catcher was full, he'd come to the garden to drop off the grass clippings for mulching. I looked up at one point and he was down by the road, mowing the roadside, the bar ditch and the utility easement. I began to wonder if he had already brought me clippings from that area. (I later learned he had not.) Last year, somebody (didn't see it happen, don't know who or how....) apparently had a herbicide leak right there in the road and their herbicide ran into our bar ditch and utility easement area and killed everything in a spot about 30' x 30'. The only way we knew this happened was that everything growing there abruptly died. When he brought that load of clippings to me, I told him we couldn't use them because of that herbicide spill. If your herbicide issue hadn't been fresh on my mind, I might not have remembered we shouldn't use those specific grass clippings. Yolos, I don't know if wheat straw would have been sprayed with the kind of herbicides we're talking about, but suppose it is possible. I have tested hay before by using scissors to cut some of it into tiny (1/4-1/2" long) pieces, mixing it 50-50 with a good quality soil-less growing mix, and sowing bean and pea seeds in it. In my case, no evidence of herbicide contamination was found and I used the hay for mulch. For future reference, if you want to use hay or straw, buy alfalfa. Alfalfa is a legume, which of course is a broad-leaf plant, so the type of persistent herbicides that cause problems cannot be sprayed on alfalfa because they would kill the alfalfa. When I need to buy a bale of hay for some reason, I only buy alfalfa, which is pretty expensive here compared to regular hay, so I don't buy it often. Dawn

Pug, I was searching for tropicals in the Brandon area. Maybe the time I was ther they were all out of mangoes and other tropicals. The only thing I could find was citrus, avocado, and bananas. I found some cool tropical herbs but that was it. I am hoping when I go in August this year, I will have better luck. I wonder if it is a season issue. Maybe tropical fruits are not planted this late in the year. When I went to another tropical fruit nursery they only had Nam Doc Mai, and Cogshell. Then again it is better for me to buy locally. I have a hard time seeing all those tropicals and not bring any home with me. I am going to have to hurry up and buy some lights for the basement and get them ready. I have a feeling I am going to almost doublw what I have all ready. I am completly obsessed. I need help. I wonder if there are support groups for people like me! Andrew

I realize that cold winters like this will come along every so often (every 10, 20, 30 years). After how cold it was, I'm glad my trees are even alive. My objective is to try to protect them (mango trees) until they get fairly large...then these occasional cold snaps will just knock the trees back moderately...not put them on the edge of death. Looking back, I would have run the sprinklers the night it got down to 25.7...IF I had known it would be this cold. Every weather forecaster had my low that night as 31, so I didn't realize it would be so bad. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the temperature at 7 a.m. Everything I had was covered with frost cloth/blankets, so I think that may have been the difference in keeping the trees alive. If it ever gets that cold again, the sprinklers will be on full-force. Does anyone have experience using sprinklers for cold protection? Any major pros/cons of using them? Thanks! Bluepalm