I have included here photos of the before and after of the landscaping and damage

Here is a link that might be useful: Before and after photos of landscaping

First: DO NOTHING!
Second: DO NOTHING!

The ground should have warmed enough to water, but that's it.
I know its tough but you'll just have to live through it. Landscape guy is correct, wait til March. Much discussion about removing dead leaves. Many think they protect. And don't even THINK about pruning!

Just wanted to get you a fast response before you made it worse. Am sure more knowledgeable will join in.

On a happier note.
Welcome to the friendliest site on the web.
You are NOT idiots. Many 'experienced' gardeners from other places are lost when they come to Florida. Hang in there and ask any 'stupid' questions you want.
ron

I agree with Ron, sit on your hands if you have too. ;o) I know it is hard to look at right now, but Fl is amazing and you'll be surprised at how fast things will bounce back as the weather warms.

You aren't idiots, Fl is a challenge, but fun. We here at GW will welcome you with open arms, and help whenever we can. I still ask tons of questions and I am here over 10 yrs.

I have been here over 50 years and I still ask questions.

Keep repeating to your self..........

The ground doesn't freeze , the ground doesn't freeze............

From what I can see in the pictures, nothing is really dead, just in severe shock. Be patient, most of it will come back. You can cut some of the dead fronds off the palms but that's about it for now. Wait several weeks, let the dead leaves drop from the shrubs, then cut back to below a node (where branches come from.)

Welcome to Florida where the weather rarely makes much sense.

What everybody else said. NExt year you'll be contacting us asking whether you should use a machete or chainsaw to cut back your plants. Your landscape design was very appealing. Welcome to the Friendly FLorida Forum.

I'm right there with you hmwende! Hang in there, you'd be amazed at what comes back from the dead in this climate :). Now that I read this thread I'm guessing it is because the ground doesn't actually freeze so the roots are fine...see, almost 3 years and I'm learning everyday!

Welcome to the forum, your home & landscaping is beautiful.

hmwende, before I moved to Florida in '98 I lived for many years in New England and California. I naively assumed when I started my first garden in Florida that I could take all I had learned about gardening in those other areas and easily apply it here. Big mistake. I'm now convinced that Central Florida presents one of the most challenging gardening environments in the country. It's a schizophrenic region that can't decide whether it is temperate or tropical. But as long as you are willing to suffer a few set backs (like the freeze earlier this month), gardening here can give you some incredible rewards.

With some judicious pruning in late February or early March and the addition of a handful of new plants to replace the ones that did not survive, in six months your garden should bear no resemblance to what you see today.

Here is a link that might be useful: centralfloridagarden

Thank you all so very much for your warm welcome and offering a bit of peace of mind! :-) One of the things I've certainly noticed is that overall, people are MUCH nicer here in Florida then in Baltimore.

I look forward to many discussions.

your landscaper did a really nice job and how devastating for you , so soon after it was completed! I am new to this gardening thing, but everyone here is very helpful and obviously you have nothing to worry about, it will come back!

I love the color of your house...can I ask what that color is??!! I showed it to my DH and he said he loves it,too! It looks great with the white trim.

teeka

DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT chop down anything! Ignore damage to crepes. They grow in zone 7 where it frequently freezes. Ditto for the powderpuff which, even if badly damaged, will produce from the root.
You should understand that windburn can be more damaging in near-freezing temperatures than freezing temperatures and calm winds. Plants that are unprotected or out in the open can receive damage at 40 degrees on a clear, windless night because they radiate heat to the night sky which meteorologists will tell you has an apparent temperature of -100F.
Inspect very carefully the centers or hearts of any palms. If the hearts are not green, the palms probably won't recover. But WAIT! In our last hard freeze in Pinellas Co., (several winters ago), there wasn't a single banana palm (among dozens in the area) that didn't look dead and gone. They all came back!
Dead palm fronds look unsightly but they do offer some protection to the palm heart during frosts and especially during winds. Trim them only if you just can't stand to see dead things!
The best way of telling whether the reed type plants are dead is to wait until spring, then squeeze the stalks. It they are squishy, the plants have probably gone to meet their makers. If you do decide to chop out the Ti plant, save the crown and chunks of the stalk and pot them. You might be lucky and grow a whole bunch more.
Where you are located, you should probably see very little cold weather damage. Covering the tender stock is a good idea if you can. And you should note that strawberry growers spray water on their plants during freezes to keep the berrys from seeing severe damage.

Like everyone's already said, don't worry. And again, leave things alone. I'm going through the same thing myself and I know how hard it can be!
It looks like the damage is from the cold, but is more pronounced since the plants were still getting acclimated. Most everything you have will come back. And besides, half the fun of Florida gardening is figuring out what does well and where!
Welcome to the show ;)

Looks pretty bad, doesn't it?
Well, at least you didn't have to shovel any heavy white stuff.
As everyone has already said, hang on. Within a month or so you should see new growth on everything. Then it'll be time to prune as needed, fertilize later in March, and stand back as everything grows!
Meanwhile, don't let the roots of your new plants dry out. They're still establishing themselves. Treat them as the newly planted landscape you have.
I'm looking forward to new pics in the spring.

Hello everyone,
It¡¦s been VERY difficult but I¡¦ve tried to follow your advice. Well¡K.mostly. It really is almost an obsessive addicting thing¡Kgoing out there every day and nosing around.
ÂX I noticed that the wandering jew was starting to grow back so I cut off the mushy brown leaves.
ÂX I also took the dead leaves off of the lantana and potato vine because they too have started to grow back. But that¡¦s it.
ÂX I¡¦ve left the crotons, bouganvilla, thunbergia, ixora, and passion vine alone ¡V they look the worst.
ÂX I think that the parilla magilla is already dead. Anyone know if they might come back?
ÂX I¡¦ve also left the palms the way they are. I just have anxiety about how to trim them when it¡¦s time¡KI also don¡¦t know how to trim the travelers tree.
ÂX I scratched the bottom of the bark on the thunbergia and ixora and saw green, so I imagine they¡¦ll grow back.
ÂX I can actually see new shoots at the bottom of the xanadu and would LOVE to chop off the top weeping leaves, but I¡¦m being a good girl and letting it look ugly.

Teeka ¡V hello, we used Benjamin Moore paints for the color of our house. The base color is Wilmington Tan and the trim is Standish White. You have to be careful with the trim. Initially, we had regular white that we already had a gallon of. It was too contrasting and there was no warmth, it looked pretty bad so we had to repaint the trim. We used Standish White and it looks nice, but we would have preferred something even darker to create less of a contrast. Good luck!

Your Magilla may be gone, it being a second cousin to the coleus. But there's a chance if there's still a little bit of hardness to the main stem.

Tsk, tsk. You're not being a very good girl, hmwande.
As katkin said in the beginning of this thread, "Sit on your hands, if you have to."
'I scratched the bark' Removing the protective cover for the next freeze, February is still coming.
If you're not careful you'll be getting a visit from FlaGWs with paddles for spanking.
In a recent conversation I was asked about what plants I had. My response was that I had a fine selection of tan, brown, black, and sticks. LOL
Seriously, RELAX! Close your blinds/drapes if you really can't stand to look at your garden and look at gardening books or pics on the internet til March. Last year I had one plant that didn't show its head til July and almost planted over it.
ron

As a former Yankee from Central NY, home of the Lake Ontario snowbelt, it took me several years to learn gardening in NE Florida. I did not follow our neighbor's advice a few years ago, and in February of that year (I think it was 2002 or 03), I cut back all my perennials that had dead stalks/leaves. In early March, we had a hard freeze and I lost a few plants. He told me so!!
Listen to your fellow gardeners and follow their advice. I can't speak for 'palms' as I don't like them, and don't have any, but for the rest of my garden of 'natives', I can speak. Leave them alone, they will grow back and then in March you can cut off all of the dead stuff, leaving just the lush green growth that will already be there.

Happy gardening - it's a year 'round thing to do here. I LOVE it!!

Okay, Okay, Okay.....I thought I was being pretty good but I see that I wasn't as good as I thought. Thank you for bringing me back to reality.

I haven't touched anymore and it looks ugly! See? I'm being a good girl I promise.

Heather

I brought several ixora last spring , this was my first winter with them . I live in Mississippi and our weather is one day warm the next is freezing . My ixora had froze , I thought I had them covered but wasn't good enough . The leaves are brown . My thanks to all of you that gave advice to not cut them back and to wait and see . I was on my way to cut them back when I decided to go check it out on the computer. Can't wait to see if they recover . THANKS !

Not only all that, but the fact your irrigation went on as usual probably helped matters. Is this not standard practice in the orange groves-to run irrigation all through the night/early morning on cold spells? I know up here, in the spring, we use that same technique if tender spring buds are threatened by late frost or freeze.

+oM

Welcome to FL and the GW. This is my second gardening season here and everyone on this post is right. You'll be surprised how many of your plants come back. And everything grows much faster here than up north. I've been a gardner for 30+ years and down here, sometimes I feel like I should forget almost everything I knew up north about gardening.

When we moved here I thought freezes were a thing of the past, left behind me in KY. Boy was I wrong! Here in the Jax area we get a handful of hard freezes every winter. I had to become familiar with covering beds and frostcloths. On the other hand no white stuff, it's warm during the day regardless of night temps, my potatoes are already planted and I get to plant beets, corn and cukes March 1! Compare that with May 1 in KY! And flower gardening is basically year round. Can't beat it!

You're right about everyone being friendlier down here. I find that to be true too. And it took me a while to get used to the "yes mam" that I get from everybody. I was told that it is the polite way to address a woman and a basic manner taught to all children in the south.

BTW I tried to look at your photos but for some reason they wouldn't come up. I'm on my iPad. It might be that. Anyone else have that problem?