Here are some pictures of a Burrowing Owls nest near our house…

Consider rolling this one out into your garden… Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek has turned a stack of birch logs turned into a garden hideaway, office, shed, or whatever you can dream up. It’s outfitted with simple plastic and steel sliding windows fitted into specially designed frames.

Source Credit: Urban Gardens» Urban Gardens | Unlimited Thinking For Limited Spaces

The long run of freezing weather Florida experienced this year has taken a heavy toll on all but the large and established, extremely hearty or well protected palms and other tropical plants. For property owners at least, the big questions now are how many of these plants have died, and what actions can be taken to nurse the survivors back to health. The first question is still hard to answer… For now at least, I would treat all your trees and plants as if they may recover, which takes us to the question of how to care for these stressed out plants.

Bottle Palm (foreground) New Growth is Green Ponytail Palm (background) Unaffected by Cold

This Fishtail Palm is in Trouble (the tall section may recover though)

Things NOT to do would include any trimming or cutting, it is going to be best to simply leave things be until at least March. I would also refrain from the use of any fertilizers until you can clearly see obvious new growth and plenty of water is available (preferably in the form of rain). About all you can really do for now to help out is apply water every few days when rain is not taking care of that for you… Time is going to do the healing and we simply have to wait until our plants either start to recover, or don’t. The bright side is that I believe most trees will in fact recover, sensitive tropical plants may not be as lucky but I would still wait until you are SURE they have died before writing them off – unless you would rather just replace them in the spring.

Mango (foreground) Looks Bad, Should Recover Mature Mahogany (background) Was Unaffected

Some Can Take It – Others Can Not (all these plants will recover in spring)

How can you tell a plant is not going to recover and has in fact died? Sometimes this can be tricky, and depends on the type of plant you are dealing with… Bulbs and the like may die off completely above the ground, but will quickly re-grow as our days get longer. Others may look dead now, but as the weeks pass they will show signs of life. As a general rule, if any of the plant is still green (or the right color for non-green plants) it has a good chance for recovery. Plants that have lost all their ‘leaves’ also cannot be judged too quickly, give them a chance to sprout new growth before deciding they are gone… I would almost wait until April for this to occur. Plants that still remain completely brown and/or black are unlikely to survive, and if water does nothing to change this you must assume at some point that they have died. Palms that have dropped all their ‘leaves’ and do not sprout any new growth by the end of April are also probably beyond hope.

This Tropical Plant Should Recover in Spring

Christmas Palm (foreground) Still Partly Green The Silver Bismarck (right-back) Was Unaffected Coconut & Triangle (left-back) Will Recover in Spring

I plan to post an update to this article sometime in April, including information on how area plants have recovered, along with the progress of the plants shown here. We also grow palms and other plants on our lanai, so if we did lose a few palms we have replacements ready to go in… Even the minimal protection provided by the lanai was enough for the palms, though the tropical plants probably should have been brought inside, and I suspect a couple have died on us. Again, for now keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.