Caring for your tropical plants during freezing weather

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It got down to freezing last night here in The Tropical Paradise for the first time this year. That's 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius. The weatherman was reporting it and I had friends get in touch with me to remind me about it. Cold can definitely kill tropical plants. And even if the frost doesn't kill your plants, it can severely damage them, burning the leaf tips, or blackening them, even killing leaves. But, this is no time to panic! I know, it's the perfect time to panic, but there are some thing you can do.

The most obvious thing is to be very, very careful about the cold-hardiness of the plants you have in your garden. But that's no fun, it eliminates just about all tropical plants. The tropics, of course, are those areas located very close to the equator. I am 30 degrees north of the equator, so I am far from the tropics. But a lot of people live within 30 degrees of the equator and successfully grow tropical plants, and plants that look tropical.

Chamaerops humilis
The best small palm tree for cold-hardiness is the Chamaerops humilis, the Mediterranean palm tree. I've seen very, very old specimens get to twenty feet tall, but they grow very slowly and in a nice bushy, clumping shape, so they won't turn into "telephone poles" in your yard. And I've seem photos of them with snow on them. They laugh off cold and heat. They are inexpensive and available at Home Depot, Walmart, or any nursery.

Your most cold-sensitive miniature palm is the Phoenix roebellini. At very small sizes, even a moderate frost can kill them. After they get a couple of feet high, they will be fine, but if you have planted little tiny ones from one-gallon containers (why did you do that?), they will need to be covered during a severe frost.

And by a severe frost, I don't mean just touching freezing, like it did last night. It is when it gets to freezing and stays there for several hours that you have to worry. The best thing to cover your plants with is old bed sheets (never plastic!). And be sure to uncover them right away in the morning as the sun begins to hit them. And never, ever trim a plant that has frost damage right away. That is just about a guarantee to kill them. I know it's tough, but leave the plant alone until the danger of frost is past, and then you can trim it.

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