Same here cestrum I felt like crying when I seen my garden the veggies are a shocking mess all the fourteen tomato plants are burnt so are the basil and all the pumpkin vines.

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The Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, are fine and Cos lettuce are Ok.
The Cos we are eating and the new seedlings get covered by old net curtains overnight to keep the bugs off it must have kept the frost off..

The Banana leaves are burnt.

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Melastoma affine *Native Tibouchina* was green on Tuesday now its all black except one green leaf right underneath.

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All the soft brightly coloured foliage plants are burnt though this Orchid near the Gum tree is Ok so are the Broms.

All the new growth on the bougainvillea I pruned two weeks ago is black.. I have not looked at all the garden its so upsetting also too many plants on this 3/4 acre block..
I lived in Melbourne for 45 years and have never seen this kind of damage but then I did not grow tropical plants down there, or tomatoes in the winter like we can here..

Probably nothing can be done for the veggies but I hope the shrubs and climbers come out of it OK.

Best of luck with your plants too ...Cheers....MM.

generally cope well with white frosts being prepared and giving plants some sort of cover to protect them helps a lot, with white frost getting up well before the sun and hosing off can help takes a lot of water though and can be hit an miss.

but thursday morn' we had a black frost not much that can be done against those ones, they even burn plants that normally would not suffer in a white frost. even tender plants that where covered got some damage.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

biggest white frost here this morning just to top off yesterdays black frost damage, the brassicas are loving it as are the citrus.

len

Yes same here, it got down to 0.04 just after 5am burrr Hubby had to smash the ice on both bird baths, poor little birds could not get a drink..

Darwin sounds good at present...MM.

This morning I surveyed the damage caused by the the second frost last night, and it was rather disheartening. The most precious plant I've lost is a potted Caribbean frangipani, grown from seed sent to me by a GardenWeb member in Texas. I thought it was safe under the gum trees, with the large banana stand on one side. Apparently not. At least I have another.

Bad as it seemed this morning, I've just come from outside where, after a day's sunshine, the frost-damaged plants look even worse now, as if they've been scorched--ironical that after a long hot summer of bucketing, mulching and conditioning with Seasol, that it's the winter frost that got them, not the drought. Except for the frangipani, everything else should recover. (Even a few of the common red hibiscus are shrivelled.)

Misty, thanks for your photos. (I posted only two yesterday, showing the brugmansias; you can find them on page 3 of the link below.) My bananas look like yours, and I lost the three cherry tomatoes that I grew for the first time this winter (after having the tomatoes infested with fruitfly in summer). Well, they were free of fruit fly!

As you say, though, so long as the permanent plantings (better to have lost the tomatoes than the orchids) come back, it's not too bad ... just depressing.

I wonder how the Sydneysiders are coping, as they grow many of the same subtropical plants and they've had a cold blast of weather this week too. And what about gardeners further north: not as cold, but their plants are more frost tender--how are they getting on, I wonder.

Ah, intersting times. We've had drought, now frost; I'm guessing it will be floods next, although I'm too far west for a cyclone ... or so people tell me!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cestrum's photo album

I see what you mean by the photo on the link Cestrum its a very sad sight and as you say very depressing, then another frost last night it actually dropped to -1 so was colder than I thought..

The black is terrible nine of my Hibiscus copped it, more Poinsettia's and I was shocked to see my beautiful yellow Allamanda that grows up on the the tall gum tree in the front is all black today. Now you have got me worried as you mention a very special Frangipani grown from seed that has been effected, I am so sorry to hear that as these plants are Irreplaceable.

I bought this Singapore Plumeria obtusa *Darwin Petite Pink * earlier on this year;
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And all the new growth has been ruined those beautiful buds, it sits in a big pot at the bottom of the back steps I would have though it would have had a little protection there but it didn't it looks burnt today though not black so maybe a small chance for that one.

I do hope your plants come back, and mine too. I have a friend in Gympie it was a few degrees even colder there who has also lost a lot of her veggies not sure about the other plants though as there are more trees there, and the Sydney-siders I guess their plants will have suffered like ours...Such a shame. Cheers..Misty

Misty, that's a very pretty frangipani and not that easy to come by--like you, I would have thought it was safe in its current position. While the flowers are lost, I do hope the plant revives in spring.

Unfortunately, I don't think my Caribbean frangipani will, as it's a true tropical. (I've posted a pic of it on page 4 of my photo album at the above link.) My evergreen frangipani--the common white, not your rarer dwarf pink--was hit hard, with its leaves turning to brown overnight. I don't know whether it will come back but, as luck would have it, I'd pruned off a large piece of it in autumn and placed it in the shed for planting up or out in spring. If this ground-grown one doesn't survive, then my cutting will be planted and kept in a container.

Last night it fell to about 3 deg C--it felt comparatively balmy after the previous bitterly cold nights. My concern now is that some of the damaged plants will be tempted to put on a new flush of growth before spring, and be hit by another frost. I think the safest thing they can do is sulk until September!

Hello ladies,
yes I can't remember freeze damage before in my GC garden in all the years, but like your experience the Brugs and banana most obviously affected, a couple of small rainforest trees too. Its so damned dry hard to know what's doing the most damage. Walking down round the (shrinking) lake on the flat today there is a lot of damage evident to the Macaranga trees and the singapore daisy (a weed here of course) completely black and shrivelled.

Hi cestrum I did the rounds again this morning some plants look worse others are still green in the stems so maybe they will be ok. The smaller green fruit on the tomato bushes are falling off the plants though the stems are still green. I had another look at your Frangipani pic on the link its so sad here are a couple of mine. Nothing wrong with the Fig or Jacaranda though.

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Those two are some of my Fruit Salad ones. The Pink, White and newly transplanted thick stump of my Red one have been burnt just as bad actually the White looks the worse droopy like your one.. I cannot tell what my White with the Pink edge or my Yellow look like as those two are under two years old not very tall and the leaves had already fallen off.. They should be fine. Maybe your Caribbean frangipani will be ok, if there is still sap in it surely it will burst out somewhere else and keep growing as long as we don't have any more frosts..Its hard to cover everything but with hubby's help we sure will try if the temp drops again.. You have to be positive here they WILL be OK..

Alison you are often in my thoughts at present as the Freesia Laxa seeds you gave me are also seeding at present
Sad that you have had frost damage too though good to hear that the Singapore daisy was burnt lets hope that one dies off.. Cheers..Misty.

Misty, all my other frangipanis look like your last image above. The growing tips seem Ok, though, so I think that (barring any more frost/severe frost) they should survive. The Caribbean one, though, I think has had it.

Alison, did we swap brugmansia cuttings a while back? Was it you who took that small cutting of pink B. versicolor on the first page of my photo album? If so, did it survive? The plants I received in return flowered in shades of cream/palest yellow (not in my photo album) and strongly scented white (which is). I love them all!

Thanks Cestrum that's good to know, here's hoping both of ours will flower in the warmer weather...Misty

Hi Cestrum, how's the frost damaged plants going? I wouldn't worry too much about the frangis, we used to live in the Maleny/Kenilworth area a few years ago and had frosts more often than not. The frangis didn't have a problem.

Usually frangis have dropped their leaves before any frosts but this year they haven't dropped them like usual which is why they look worse. Once the warmer weather arrives they should shoot again.

Our lowest here near Gympie this year was officially -4.3C but at my place -3C was the coldest. We have a rainforest style garden with tropical/sub-tropical plants but haven't had much damage as most of the tender plants are protected by the upperstorey. Some have yellowed off a little but often do anyway in winter. More plants have been affected by the lack of rain here. The main plants affected were some vegies and even they are still growing.

The brugmansias have all started reshooting and are covered in emerging new leaves and the cestrum hedge has started to show new growth too. I think you're right about the frangipanis; it was unusual for them to be hanging onto their leaves so far into winter. (I noticed that the large ones growing in exposed areas in surrounding gardens had generally all dropped their leaves while mine still had theirs.) The caribbean frangipani, alas, is the exception, but I have high hopes for the others come spring.

A canopy of taller plants would have helped but, because mine is a new garden with only two established trees (and those out in the front, away from most of my plantings), my plants don't have that protection yet. And the plants themselves are all still small and not well established yet, so that's probably why they were so hard hit.

Another 4-5 weeks and the danger of frost should be over (fingers crossed).

I live just inland from Cairns.

We had major frosts a couple of weeks ago.

My thermometer is situated 2m off the ground and under an overhang of the house, so it didnt record the coldest temperatures that others did. All the grass and many garden plants and trees have died from the frost.

Some of the tropical plants have succumbed incredibly from the sudden cold weather we had.

As you may have heard, places received down to -10 degrees on the Atherton Tablelands. We, where I'm living recorded closer to 1 degree on a couple of mornings with other mornings also recording 2-5 a few times. It is still mild with only last Tuesday morning we recorded 6 and two nights ago 5.4. As mentioned my thermometer is situated 2m above the ground and within a sheltered site, none of my plants located near the thermometer were at all affected by the cold however outside without the roof/awning of the house to protect them, they were scorched.
Many Spathodea's 20m tall had their crowns burnt, Large mature Schefflera actinophylla's lost all their leaves, a Schefflera bractescens up the road seems to have died all together. Many restoration plantings in the area have been dealt a serious blow (frost). I have seen mature Elaeocarpus grandis, 20m tall killed by the frost. There is a planting of over 2000 Blue Quandongs, for timber, just up the road from here. They all were standing proud at about 3-5 m tall and at least 75% of them have been totally killed by the frost. There is a frost band where all of the plants died and then another band on the highest side of the planting where they have mostly survived.
There are mature Wodyetia which have all their leaves burnt to black however seem green in the centre's. Mature Coconuts in Malanda seem to be fine- surprisingly.
Mature Cyathea cooperi's growing along the creeks on the tablelands - have no leaves left...this is predictable though.
I was in Cairns a couple of weeks ago, doing some work on a hillside and looked at the ground to notice the Praxelis clematidea had brown leaves as a result of the cold...I was standing at 60m asl at the most.
I was staying at the Daintree village the night of the worst frost and a local told us that it had got down to 6 degrees that morning.
A friend at Whyanbeel, just north of Mossman recorded cold (not frost) damage there.
Trees which are very susceptible to frost: at least up here.
Elaeocarpus grandis, Ficus septica, Ficus hispida, Delonix regia, Cassia javanica, Acmenosperma claviflorum, Homalanthus novo-guineensis, Alphitonia petrei, Cyathea cooperi, Schinus molle, Syzygium malaccense, Alocasia macrorhiza (exotic one), Pandanus species- especially oceanic species, Spathodea campanulata, Scindapsus, Pawpaw, Banana's, Dracaena fragrans, Allamanda cathartica, Euphorbia pulcherimma........Duranta had burnt tips and the ground covering Lantana totally died (possibly a good thing).
There are lots of species I have seen with burnt leaves.and also alot...

Hi Cestrum, yes I think that brugs exchange was us. My cutting arrived kind of bent in two but slowly straightened up?
Yours survived too, still potted and hasn't flowered yet, but keeping things going is my main aim right now. If it ever rains I mean.

Alison

It will rain, Alison! I am a bit disappointed that the brug hasn't flowered yet but, as you say, at least it's alive. My brugs flowered in flushes thru spring, summer and autumn (and looked set to continue thru winter, until the frost stopped them), but that's probably because I was able to keep them watered as my garden is only small. I simply cannot remember which of the brugs came from you (other than the pink, which came with me from Melb), but at least one of them must have and I'm most grateful for it/them.

Kris, you really put my losses into perspective. Although your temps didn't get as low as they did here, your plants were less able to cope. The most dispiriting thing is when mature plants get cut down, as they will take longest to replace. I'm not familiar with most of the plants you list, but I am surprised by a few I recognise. The delonix, for instance: my small potted plants were affected, but the street trees look fine. Also, the tree fern (cyathea): mine came thru unscathed and even provided some protection for the pot plants growing beneath it. I guess it's become acclimatised to Ipswich's winters. (My cassia javanica seems to be dead, too, so that obviously is highly susceptible to frost; even a few quisqualis look dead although not all of them.)

At least you've had rain!

I'll know in spring which plants have survived ... do you have spring up there? When will you be certain that a plant has died or only been temporarily affected by the cold?