Everythings looking great Alex I'll post an update when i uncover everything

The losses so far are
1 sago palm
Unprotected thorn less
opuntia
and cow tongue cactus

My musa Basjoo trunk looks mushy but im hoping itl come back

I am really upset about the cow tounge cactuse because it was suppose to grow into a tree (see link)

Here is a link that might be useful: http://uvalde.tamu.edu/herbarium/opli.htm

Nice pics tropicalzone7!!! Everything looks like it is waiting to take off this spring. :)
Good luck!
US_Marine

Staten Island, I would be extremely surprised if you lost your Opuntia. The one most commonly available locally is Opuntia humifusa (which is native to areas from Long Island to the Jersey Shore around here). They do take on very different look in the cold but should pucker up and be fine once the weather turns milder.--At least that's been my experience with them and I've grown them for years now.

Time to remind people whose palms did take a (non-lethal) hit this winter, to leave those battered leaves on their palms. As long as they have some green in them, it'll help the palm to recover. I am also going to use Hydrogen peroxide on my Trachys just as a preventive to discourage any possible bud problems.

It's been a LONG Winter and we deserve a break already!

Thanks for the great comments everyone!
SIpalm, Sorry to hear about your losses, but like Nj said, they might come back. My eastern prickly pear cactus looks wilted until april. If it has a light green color then its probably dead, but if it just collapsed, then there is still a chance. Looking forward to seeing your other pics!
Usmarine, I cant wait to watch all these palms grow in the spring. Im hoping for some blooms from my sabal minor this year.
Nj, definitely very good advice to keep the damaged fronds on a palm until spring. I dont even touch my plants until at least March. Fortunately I dont see any major damage on the fronds, but it doesnt always show right away.

Thanks for looking!

The forecast looks amazing! 51F on Monday and 56F on Friday (It will probably get to 60F!). I will definitely be taking some plants out for some air.
I'll post some more pics later today or tomorrow.

-Alex

Looking good Alex

Not much longer to go until it stays,err,not so much winter(-;

Dennis

Mine did the same thing last winter,I was bummed because
it was starting to get some height and forming a nice tree shape.

I was going to leave the trunk as I thought it
would at least come back from there but it was rotted too.
Removed it.

The Imbricata is doing it's normal lay down for winter trick
but looks as though it survived and will live to fight again-
it is a shadow of it's former self as this is
the last piece to regrow from the trunk.

Good luck/happy gardening this year everybody-
spring is right around the corner-instead of the coroner!

I know the easter prickley pair wont die on me. The opuntia im talking about is a zone 8 plant i was expecting a mild winter like the last one. ill replace it in the spring and ill post damage photos

Thanks Jim! Much nicer day tomorrow and the rest of the week looks amazing (until the weekend when winter comes back!). Ill post some more pics tomorrow.

I hope that some of the cacti come back. I checked my prickly pear cactus yesterday and they were all healthy so they are another bulletproof cactus for the wet zone 7 (or at least it seems that way). I got some seeds from them last year (never planted because it wasnt worth getting through all those spines to get them). Hopefully I'll have more blooms from those this year.

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Here are some more pics. These were taken around Monday of this week so a lot more snow has melted. Actually the lawn only has a little snow left and I think it will all be gone by tomorrow.
Sabal minor with some tip damage. The snow around it has melted completely now.

My oleander is a little bent up, but its as green as it was in the fall. The snow in this pic is mostly gone (still a little left to the far left corner)

This is the only green thing left on my Sabal domingensis. All the other fronds are fried.

This windmill palm only had a plastic garbage bin over it for protection, no heat, no frost cloth. Other than a little damage, it made it through the low temperature of 5F-7F perfectly fine. Im still watching for spear pull and I will be protecting it from rain until March (same for all my palms). No snow left by this palm either.

My cast iron plants are completely green. All they had was a plastic garbage can lid over it. They dont have too many leaves because I bought them with all the leaves cut off. I hope that it grows some more this summer, but they are VERY slow growing!

Protected livistonia looks really good. Im very happy it survived!

This windmill palm was protected the same was as the livistonia (lights, frost cloth, and garbage bin). I think its actually growing a little!

All 3 of the palms together

Is this spanish moss dead? If it is than its been dead for a while because it still looks exactly like it has most of the summer. When it rained this past week, it did turn a green color which is making me think that it is still alive. If its alive then it really handled a bad winter!

Thanks for looking! Maybe 70F tomorrow, but definitely the 60s. Its going to be another very beautiful day! Next week looks more wintery, but still much better than all the previous weeks this winter before this week.
-Alex

My Sabal minor, S. Domingensis, Butia, and livistonia are being covered up tonight. Its suppose to go down to 24F. They will be uncovered until Monday beause of the rain and then I'll keep all my plants covered on Tuesday because its suppose to go down to 20F at night. After that, they will all be uncovered again, hopefully permanently!
-Alex

I bought an umbrella palm (Cyperus family and not actually a palm tree), a tricolor Hibiscus, and some ginger. So far it looks like all my palms outside survived the winter!
What are you all adding to your yard this summer? I dont think I will be adding more cold hardy palms because I have a lot to protect already, but I am going to try to add some more tropical potted palms including an adonidia (christmas palm), a Chambeyronia macrocarpa (watermelon palm) and a Pritchardia or maybe licuala.
Thanks for looking at the pics!
-Alex

Its suppose to get down to 23F here for a Low on Wednesday. Do you guys thing that I should cover the palms up or keep them uncovered? They did get a soaking from this rain so Im a little worried about bud rot if they see a hard freeze only 2 or 3 days after a heavy rain. Im thinking I might cover up the livistonia, Pindo, and Sabals and leave the rest alone. Some of the lights I use are broken now so I dont have the ability to add heat to most of them during this next cold spell.
Thanks if you can help me decide.
-Alex

Hi Alex,

I heard about the warm-up you were having here when I was in Florida. I knew you were having a field day. I took your advice and bought a bouginvilla for $6. Is that great.

Hey, all your plants made it. You must be elated. Even the tracky without lights. It goes show that our zone is "palm tolerable" if the plams are covered. For me, I like to play it safe with lights as well. I am interested in how you wintered your oleander. It looks great.

BTW, southwest Florida, Ft Meyers was in at least the low 80s every single day. It was the rebound we prayed for. Some days made it to 85-87. Nights were mid 50s to 60ish.I took some shots you might like. The coconut palms were damaged with some winter burn from the record cold in Dec/Jan and they just began recovering. No coconuts this year. Neighbors said the record low temps hit 25-29 one whole night and the coco palms were damaged. That never happened there before they said.

Greg, the weather was beautiful on some days. Even today felt like a summer day that was rainy. It got to about 60F this afternoon, but with lots of humidity which made it felt nicer. The forecast looks like some ups and downs, but I see at least 3 days out of 10 getting to the 50s and only 3 days with a freeze. And all the snow is gone in my area and Im sure its gone in Brooklyn too. Some of the parking lots still have some piles of snow, but they are getting much smaller and even the 5 foot piles of snow that were on my block just 25 days ago, are not completely gone!

The Bougainvillea was a great deal. They are really great plants. One thing I noticed is that they must have full sun and a bit of neglect to bloom well. Mine didnt bloom until late summer and fall because it wasnt in a huge amount of sunlight. They will grow very nicely when given shade and some water, but if kept on the dry side (but not too dry) and if given lots of sun, it should be loaded with blooms all summer! They are one of those plants that reward you with blooms if you pretend that they barely exist (which is hard to do when they are covered in blooms!)

I protected my oleander the same way as my other palms. I put some x-mas lights over it, a frost cloth, and a plastic garbage bin. I think I may have even over protected it because some seed pods opened and its also trying to start to grow! I cant wait until it starts blooming again.

It sounds like you are really enjoying the beautiful weather in Florida! I was looking at the forecast there and it looks amazing. I think Orlando was suppose to get close to 90F yesterday (not sure if they did or not). Im glad to here that the coconut palms are alive even if, unfortunately, they were damaged.

Enjoy the great weather in Florida. Hopefully spring will greet you when you come back to NYC!
-Alex

Hey Alex...

Great looking pics...everything looks so healthy and green...Great JOb!!!! you must be really pleased at hoe they all came through foor you...whatever you did.....it was the right choice for you!!!

DId i see a "Diine blooming" I had to wipe my eyes..because they are so hard to look at ..LOL...i love them...did you get my email about mmy Divine? I will have to post a pic of my Divine starting to push an inflo...i am so excited ..its been forever for any bloom on this Divive...but maybe this will be my summer for at least one bloom!!! LOL...

I'm thinking that this week i will atart the pruning process...and take Bills advice and mark my cuttungs asap after cutting...i can tell that i could easily do the same...

Hope all is well with you..

Take care everyone...

Laura in VB

Hi Laura! Sorry that I didnt see your email. Congrats on the inflo on your Plumeria "Divine". They are definitely more of my favorite plumerias! Definitely post some pics when they bloom for you (which is usually 2 or 3 months after the first sign of the inflo).
The plumeria blooming in my pic is "pretty princess". It always makes its inflos during the fall so usually I never end up getting blooms, but I kept it by a sunny window this year and its definitely happy!
It looks like my plumerias can probably go one more year without being pruned, but some of them will definitely need to be pruned this time next year.
Thanks for the kind words! The first day of March is here and we are now into spring (meteorological spring that is) and in about a month the plants will hopefully be enjoying the outdoors again!
-Alex

Hi Alex,

I retuned Saturday PM and yes, we were elated all the snow was gone and temps were finally fluxuating upward into 40s and 50s. Still a little glum compared to Florida but great for us and I peaked into my palms and they survived well! I can hardly wait to see how large my pindo get this year!!!

Thanks for the advise on the Bougainvillea and I plan on moving it to a sunny window based on what you suggested:) Your oleander looked so healthy too! I have 2 from Laura and she sent me her dark pink ones I think (Thanks Laura) and I hope they bloom this year. They are still small around 12-18 inches but thriving in pots.

Its definitely not as warm here as in Florida (not even close!), but at least its much better than January. It really hurt to be outside on many days this winter but that kind of cold is definitely behind us now!
I think your oleander will probably bloom this summer. They are pretty fast growing even in pots (mine put out over a foot of new growth over the summer.
The bougainvillea will love a sunny window. Dont worry if it loses most of its leaves indoors because its only due to the change in atmosphere and increased stress. Mine lost most of its leaves, but it still manages to flower and it will probably grow them back quickly when it goes outside for the summer.
Glad to hear that your palms survived! Definitely post some pics whenever you get the chance!
-Alex

Hello Everyone..

Just wanted to pop in and say "hello"...

BGreg....glad you had a great time in FLA..."lucky dog!!!" LOL...i cant wait for some warmth!!!

Alex...your "Pretty Princess is just beautiful...those bloooms dont look like the normal winter blooms...they look like summer blooms...Way to go!!!

I think that i will "pug" my plumies tomorrow....i think it will be soon that they will be going outside...i think that the Epsom Salts will go in the water tomorrow to give them a good drink...."time to wake up kids..."

Hello to everyone else...sorry that i have been away...i have been so busy with alot of things...but i have missed you all and just wanted to say "hey"...

Take care everyone...

Laura in VB

Thanks Laura! I have to admit, I was really surprised to see it blooming so well indoors. Right now its taking a little break from blooming, but Im hoping that it starts making some more blooms again.
I really cant wait until summer. Only 4 more weeks before the plants should all be starting to go outside and probably less for you! Tonight feels like winter again and we'll be going down to the low 20s, possibly even upper teens, but after that temperatures will be in the upper 40s to mid 50s.
Its definitely time to be waking them up. One of my plumerias is breaking dormancy all on its own (probably because of the longer days), but another plumeria right next to it is actually starting to go dormant now! I usually give them epsom salt when they first go outside or just before.

-Alex

LOL Laura. I was considering one day moving down there in FL. They are acutioning homes on aution.com at such a fair price its hard not to be temped. My wife is not as enthusized. The job market isn't so great in FL.

I would love to live in Florida one day. The houses are much nicer and cheaper than here and more importantly, the weather is amazing (minus a devastating hurricane somewhere in the state at least every 15-30 years).

Laura, sorry to say this, but the "pretty princess' plumeria's inflo. fell off yesterday :( It was completely healthy, not a single black bud. I guess these things happen. Hopefully another plumeria will decide to bloom once they all go outside in a few short weeks.

I saw some nice plants today around the area. Lots of tall rostratas that I never saw before, one that had a finished bloom on it and another that was at least 3 times my height, maybe a little more. I also saw a windmill palm and sabal minor that looked very good (probably got some protection). The spring bulbs are about halfway up, some a little more. I havent seen any budding, but in a week or 2, they daffodils should be, and the crocuses will probably be in bloom. Spring is starting to show!

-Alex