This is completely anecdotal, but my father is CONVINCED that having Christmas Lights in his Japanese flowering cherry back in '89 saved it from dying. I forget the cultivar, but my father used to have three Japanese flowering cherries, a more tender variety, in his yard in Ohio (zone 5 on old ,ap. zone 6 on new map). During the December, '89 cold wave, the temps in his yard bottomed out one night somewhere around 22 below zero. Two of his flowering cherries never leafed out the following spring. The third, which he had decorated for Christmas wtih the old style "fat" Christmas lights, survived and bloomed, and managed in fact to live until the next very cold winter, which was in '94. He believes the fact he had those lights on that night all night (despite my mother's complaints that it wastes electricity) warmed the tree enough to save it. I guess it's possible.

Yes all the plants you mentioned should thrive! I use "self-watering" containers for my balcony, bought at the Mountain View Walmart they have a tray at the bottom that holds extra water and a wick system that waters the plants without rotting the root (air still reaches them). With these containers the plants can go a week or so with no added water on my full-south facing balcony with no shade... see the link below, I found them in the outdoor garden area. I didn't make a custom mix although experienced container gardeners recommend it - I just used the nursery's mix for containers - it drains well. The citrus will need regular feeding. I currently have potted dwarf Meyer lemon, thai lime, Sun Parasols (shrubby vine) and sweet bay topiary trees with climbing rosemary and a topiary fruitless olive tree. ALl of these I bought at Summerwinds nursery on San Antonia Rd in Mountain View - they have a great selection and helpful staff. Welcome to the peninsula! I am in Palo Alto, been here 13 years and never want to leave. Here is a link that might be useful: Self watering pot for balcony

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

Very nice plants Jacklord! I am always very jealous to see the prices of tropicals in nursuries down south since they are often half the price (sometimes even less than that) than the prices they go for at nursuries here. There are a few nursuries here that have good prices on the tropical "annuals" (I wish they were not sold just as annuals!) but its hard to find good prices on the hardy subtropicals! Thanks Ben! Glad that you like the butia! I really like the variegated Alphinas, I see them all the time in Florida and in California and they are really beautiful plants. I wish I can find the variegated ones here, but Im happy that I at least found the green variety since those aren't usually found here either! The Monstera vine is going to be a potted plant for me. I wish it could grow outdoors, but its way too tropical (Tree Philodendrons might make it with protection though, I always wanted to try them in the ground, but they do well in pots so I guess its easy enough to bring them in). Monsteras are one of my favorite plants also and mine is just starting to get those nice spilt leaves so Im hoping that it will have lots of adult leaves by the end of summer! Your lucky to be able to grow philodendrons in your area, they are a great family of plants! I fogot the name of the tulips I bought, but I think they are early or mid spring bloomers. I used to not really be crazy about spring blooming plants but like you said, it takes such a long time for the tropical plants to start looking nice so the spring bulbs at least give me something to look forward to (and I dont have to give them any care which is another big plus!). Thanks for looking! Im going to post pics of my 2 new plants definitely by tomorrow! -Alex